WOMEN OF GOD: DIVINELY DESIGNED AND DEFINED
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Second Sunday of Lent
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him" (Mt. 17:1-9)
The Gospel for the Second Sunday of Lent, Matthew 17:1-9, focuses on the Transfiguration of Jesus. The disciples, on top of the mountain, gathered in fear as they saw a vision of Jesus in a cloud talking to Moses and Elijah. In (v.5), they heard a voice in the cloud: “This is my Beloved son, with whom I am well pleased; LISTEN to him.” “…Jesus came and touched them, saying ‘Rise, and do not be afraid.” (v.7) To me, that means: they were healed together as a group, moving from collective-crises-fear to the Beloved Community of Christ’s Peace and Joy.
In the last few months, the word LISTEN has been popping up in my scripture prayer reflections, and it has grabbed my heart as I sit to meditate in the quiet: “Be still and know I am God" (Ps. 46:10). I ask God: “Why does the word LISTEN have so much meaning right now for me? What do I hear from my Father-God’s voice in my spirit?”
Singing: Just a little talk with Jesus made me whole. Listening and trusting in God, I remembered times in scripture when the women surrendered and listened to God. Within their circumstances, they were transformed in the love of God and in their relationships with people of goodwill. For example, the widow of faith encountered Elijah in 1 Kings 17:7-15. She listened to Elijah and God, and fulfilled the prophet’s request by serving all that she had—a cup of water and a cake. Her reward was a miraculous supply of flour and oil for a year.
About 10 years ago, my sister-friend Therese Wilson Favors gave a talk, ‘Walking with the Saints,’ a series offered by the Institute for Black Catholic Studies. I’ll never forget the livestream when Therese said: "...We are divinely designed and divinely defined” in this journey towards holiness.
She continued: “The sweeping hand of God has no limits…The hand of God stretches out to the least expected; it bends down to touch those who seem most likely not to succeed; and it lifts up those who, once they know their purpose as being divinely designed and divinely defined by the Creator, are transformed….Once you go up on the mountain with God, you come back down empowered.”
As we continue to celebrate our Black History throughout the year, it is important to be intentional about including African American women in the ancestral depiction of Black Herstory/History. Just mentioning some -- Ida B. Wells, Mary McCloud Bethune, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Claudette Colbert, Barbara Johns, Diane Nash, and Coretta Scott King. These women listened to God because they were diniely designed and defined.
In 1989, the late Fr. James Goode, OFM, began the National Day of Prayer for the African American and African Family on the First Sundays of February, as a reminder that Black Catholics, too, are commemorated in Black History Month and throughout the year. Afterall, where would we be without our Saintly Seven, who have fought the good fight and are on the road to canonization: Venerable Mother Mary Lange, Fr. Augustus Tolton, Pierre Toussaint, Mother Henriette Delille, as well as Servant of God Friar Martin DePorres, Maria Ward, Julia Greeley, and Sr. Thea Bowman. These individuals certainly listened to God because they, too, were diniely designed and defined.
Singing: When he calls me, I will answer…I’ll be somewhere listening for my name. Where would we be without our present-day historians, theologians, activists, the late Fr. Cyprian Davis, OSB, Sr. Jamie Phelps, and Spiritan Fr. A.J. McKnight, CSSp; and among the living Dr. Shannen Dee Williams, Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt, Dr. M. Shawn Copeland, Fr. Bryan Massingale, and Dr. Diana L. Hayes. These are just some of the African American women and men who are listening to our Good God. Include on the list the co-founders of the Eat the Scroll Ministry, Professor Michael Howard and Charlene Howard, Executive Director of Pax Christi USA. See the ETSM resource list written for this blog below. God be praised!
Cecilia Thomas Braveboy is a volunteer coordinator of Minkisi, an interracial, contemplative prayer, action, and African heritage ministry at Our Lady Queen of Peace parish, Arlington, VA. Since 2002, Cecilia has been a member/program leader in Sisters in the Spirit, Archdiocese of Washington.
A Resource list for the Sunday, March 2, 2026, Gospel--Matthew 17:1-9 article, WOMEN OF GOD: DIVINELY DESIGNED AND DEFINED by Cecilia Thomas Braveboy.
About Servant of God Sr. Thea Bowman (next level of Venerable coming soon).
Bowman, FSPA Sr. Thea, edit., Families: Black and Catholic, Catholic and Black, United States Catholic Conference, 1985.
Brown, SJ, Fr. Joseph A., A Retreat with Thea Bowman and Bede Abram: Leaning on the Lord, second printing incl. opening and closing reflections by Dr. Cynthia Bailey Mann and Fr. Maurice J. Nutt, CSsR, One Subject Press, 2025. (First edition published by St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1997.)
Nutt, CSsR, Fr. Maurice J. edit., Thea Bowman: In My Own Words, Ligouri, Missouri, 2009. Thea Bowman, Faithful and Free, Liturgical Press, Minnesota, 2019.
Smith, FSPA, Sr. Charlene, and John Feister, Thea’s Song: The Life of Thea Bowman, Orbis Books, 2009.
Other Black Catholic Authors.
Copeland, Dr. M. Shawn, edit., Uncommon Faithfulness: The Black Catholic Experience, Orbis Books, 2009.
Davis, OSB, Fr. Cyprian, The History of Black Catholics in the United States, Crossroad, 1990 and 2000. Diana L. Hayes and Cyprian Davis, OSB, edits., Taking Down Our Harps: Black Catholics in the United States, Orbis Books, 1998.
Hayes, Dr. Dianna L., Were You There? Stations of the Cross, Orbis Books, 2000. Forged in the Fiery Furnace: African American Spirituality, Orbis Books, 2012. No Crystal Stair—Womanist Spirituality, Orbis Books, 2016.
Massingale, Fr. Bryan N., Racial Justice and the Catholic Church, Orbis, 2010.
McKnight, CSSp, Fr. A.J., and edit, Ronnie M. Moore, Whistling in the Wind, (out of print), Southern Development Foundation Inc., Opelousas, LA, 1994.
Moore, Dr. Cecilia, Dr. C. Vanessa White, and Fr. Paul Marshall, SM, edits., Songs of Our Heart, Mediations of Our Souls, St. Anthony Messenger, OH, 2006.
Phelps, OP., Sr. Jamie T, edit., Black and Catholic, the Challenge and gift of Black Folk, editor, Marquette University Press, 2002.
Pratt, Dr. Tia Noelle, Black and Catholic: Racism, Identity and Religion, University of Notre Dame Press, Indiana, 2025.
Williams, Dr. Shannen Dee, Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle.
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