Transfigured bodies

 

There is a risk that in focussing so much on the  external reality of the Blessed Sacrament offered in the Holy Mass and reserved for adoration and communion of the sick between masses that we neglect the very real presence of the Eucharistic Jesus in us in the moments, hours and days following Holy Communion. We should receive with the same attitude and expectation that we might have that this could be my last communion. Today’s Gospel reading from Matthew about the transfiguration of the Lord reminds us that death and resurrection are never far even as Jesus’ transfigured being was revealed to his disciples in a moment of profound insight and joy.

Our bodies and souls live in hope, awaiting the glory that faith assures us will one day be ours.

Bowing low

 

In Psalm 95 (v6) we shout out at the beginning of the day:

O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

The greatest act of humility by our saviour is that he became a tiny, vulnerable human being in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is our faith.

The next greatest act of humility is that Jesus made himself the living bread broken, shared and given for us on the night of his betrayal and finished on the cross on Good Friday.

Who is the Word?

 

The Word is Jesus the Christ who was made flesh for us.  He gave us himself – body, blood, soul and divinity.  In the Eucharist he gives us Himself both in his Body and in his Word. True, the words of scripture were composed by human beings but they were directly inspired to write and their writings became over time authoritative in the church and were, eventually, entered into the ‘canon’ of the New Testament.

From a distance

 

Sunday 1 March 2026

 Lectio Divina:*

Genesis 12:1-4

Psalm 32(33)

2 Timothy 1:8-10

Matthew 17:1-9

 Meditatio:

“…they saw no one except Jesus himself alone” (Matthew 17:8)

The Word at work

 

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

So write Saint Paul in his first letter to the Christians at the church in Thessalonika (2:13).  The Word is always at work in us. It is the seed of our faith in Christ as Paul indicates in his letter to the Romans (10:17).  We hear the Word, it sinks deep into us and change happens. Maybe it is the work of a lifetime before the fruits are evident (let’s hope that it does not take so long!).

Attuning our way of thinking

 Saint Irenaeus famously once wrote according to many popular translations:

Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking. 

Finding our tribe

Finding one’s tribe is a deep instinct of the human heart. We are made for belonging, and we feel its absence keenly. As we grow from childhood into adulthood, the search for identity can be confusing, painful, even traumatic. A certain distancing from parents is almost inevitable for a time. Beneath it all lies a simple longing: to be welcomed, included, and loved as we are. Many people struggle for years to accept themselves; some never fully reveal who they are, even to themselves.