August 6, 2023 - From the Desk of Fr. Stephen

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

We are already beginning a new school year, and I wanted to thank everyone in our wonderful school for all the hard work getting ready! Let’s pray for a year filled with God’s blessings for all of our Faculty, students and families.

The usual schedule of Ordinary Time readings is interrupted by this week’s feast, which always occurs on August 6. The Transfiguration is also recounted each year on the Second Sunday of Lent. In the context of each of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which record it, the Transfiguration is an event which takes place before Jesus’ final journey through Galilee toward Jerusalem, and his suffering and death. It serves as both a strengthening of the three Apostles closest to Jesus, as well as a preview of the glory of the Resurrection.

In the vision on the mountain, which is never named, Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus. These two prophets, who each had their mountaintop encounter with God, now converse with Jesus. Peter, James, and John now have the privileged places of Moses and Elijah in witnessing the divine presence on a height which God has designated. And for Jesus himself this special moment of communion with the Father and the Spirit, symbolized here by the overshadowing cloud, is a preparation for his ultimate glorification in the Resurrection.

God gives us what we need, sometimes when we least expect it, and in the most unconventional ways. May we be open to all that God sends us to transfigure and embolden us, as we proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God with our lives.

Lord Jesus, keep me always alert to you, to your word, your action, and your constant presence in my life. Let me see your glory.

Have a blessed and happy week!
Fr. Stephen