More thoughts on the Transfiguration

 

Second Sunday of Lent

Matthew 17:1–9

Friends, today’s Gospel celebrates the transfiguration. Christ came not just to make us nice people or morally upright folks but rather to give us a share in his divine life, to make us denizens of heaven, people capable of living in that new environment. What gave the first Christians this conviction? The answer is the resurrection—and the great anticipation of the resurrection, which is the transfiguration. This ordinary Jesus somehow became transformed, elevated, enhanced in his manner of being.  The first thing we notice is that his appearance becomes more beautiful. These somewhat grubby bodies of ours are destined for a transfigured, elevated beauty.  Secondly, in his transfigured state, Jesus transcends space and time, since he is talking with Moses and Elijah. In this world, we are caught in one moment of space and time, but in heaven, we will live in the eternal now of God’s life.  Have you ever noticed that even as we appreciate all that is wonderful about this life, we are never really at home? There is a permanent restlessness about human life. But a higher, richer, more beautiful, and spiritually fulfilling life awaits us. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on loving our enemies

 

First Week of Lent

Matthew 5:43–48

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus commands us to love our enemies. The first reason we love our enemies is because this is the best way to test the quality of our love. Love is not primarily an emotion but an act of the will. It is willing the good of the other as other. A second reason to love your enemies is that they tell you about yourself. There is a very good chance that the people who most bother you are those who most reveal to you unsavory truths about yourself.  Third, perhaps the person you consider your enemy is actually pointing out to you the inadequacy of your own life. Maybe he is right and good, and it’s you who are off-center. Could it be that your enemy is in fact a kind of saint who is indirectly indicating your own weakness and lack of moral courage? A final reason to love your enemies: You might win them back. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on the Transfiguration of Jesus

 “Coming down the mountain”

“This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased”—the words from the Father, as we contemplate the Transfiguration of Jesus on this second Sunday in Lent. This is a moment of complete affirmation and loving support for Jesus. This loving affirmation prepares Him for the future, for the way he will be called to live out all the events of his life on his journey to Jerusalem: his suffering, death, his self-gift. We will see, as we continue our Lenten journey, that He never” forgets” who He is. He will be encouraged by those affirmations, especially in those moments of trial and suffering.

For us, too, in times of trial or suffering, memories of those moments of “transfiguration” and confirmation are meant to buoy us up on our journey with Jesus as our companion. He shares our journey with us.

As Jesus comes down the mountain from this beautiful experience, he tells his friends that the “whole story” had to be lived out so that we could know/trust that God’s love and companionship will prevail in our lives as well.

Peter says, “It is good for us to be here.” The Father says, “Listen to Him.” Entering into this scene through our imagination, and joining Jesus and the disciples could offer us a joyful and loving opportunity to unite with Him in His journey, and to take to heart these words from God meant for us as well: “You are my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”



Len Kraus, S.J.

Thoughts on celebrations

 

Celebrating Life

From: Lifesigns: Intimacy, Fecundity, and Ecstasy in Christian Perspective

Celebration is not a party on special occasions, but an ongoing awareness that every moment is special and asks to be lifted up and recognized as a blessing from on high. There is Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and the many feast days of the Saints. There are countless birthdays, anniversaries, and memorial days. And then there are days to welcome and to say farewell, to receive guests and to visit friends, to start a project and to finish it, to sew and to reap, to open a season and to close it. But even these moments do not exhaust the full meaning of celebration. Celebration lifts up, not only the happy moments, but the sad moments as well. Since ecstatic joy embraces all of life, it does not shy away from the painful moments of failure, departure, and death. In the house of love even death is celebrated, not because death is desirable or attractive, but because in the face of death life can be proclaimed as victorious.

Reflection Question: In what ways do I resist celebrating the difficult or sorrowful moments of life, and how might God invite me to see their meaning?

Thoughts on prayer

 

First Week of Lent

Matthew 6:7–15

Friends, the Gospel for today is a great moment, for in it the Son of God teaches us to pray. Our teacher is not just a guru, a spiritual sage, or a religious genius, but the Son of God. This is why the Our Father is the model of all prayer. A desire to pray is planted deep within us, the desire to speak to God and to listen to him. We can forget to pray, neglect to pray, become lazy in prayer, but we can never really lose the desire to pray. And so let us attend carefully to the first words of Jesus’s great prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” Our basic problem is getting our priorities mixed up. We seek all kinds of worldly things—money, pleasure, power, honor—all of which are unsatisfying. What we should desire, first, is God. This is precisely what the prayer to hallow the name of God is all about. It’s not that God’s name isn’t in fact hallowed, but we’re praying that we might keep it that way, that we might honor God in all things. We’re praying for a radical reorientation of our consciousness. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on joy

 

Joy is a Divine Gift

From: Lifesigns: Intimacy, Fecundity, and Ecstasy in Christian Perspective

The joy that Jesus offers his disciples is his own joy, which flows from his intimate communion with the One who sent him. It is a joy that does not separate happy days from sad days, successful moments from moments of failure, experiences of honour from experiences of dishonor, passion from resurrection. This joy is a divine gift that does not leave us during times of illness, poverty, oppression, or persecution. It is present even when the world laughs or tortures, robs or maims, fights or kills. It is truly ecstatic, always moving us away from the house of fear into the house of love, and always proclaiming that death no longer has the final say, though its noise remains loud and its devastation visible. The joy of Jesus lifts up life to be celebrated.

Reflection Question: What practices help me remain connected to Jesus' joy even in times of pain, loss, or injustice?

“Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”   - Nehemiah 8:10

Thoughts on the Chair of St. Peter

 

“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

– Jesus to St. Peter (Matthew 16:18-19) 

What is the Chair of St. Peter?   While an actual chair exists in Rome that some believe was used by St. Peter, the Chair of St. Peter represents the papacy, the unbroken succession of popes throughout the Church’s 2,000-year history. Given by Christ Himself to St. Peter in the Gospel of Matthew 16:13-18, Peter’s supreme pastoral office is passed to each of his successors as Bishop of Rome.   The feast of the Chair of St. Peter is usually celebrated on February 22. However, it’s not on the Church calendar in 2026 since it falls on a Sunday.

Today, we encourage you to read our special page dedicated to the Chair of St. Peter, where we answer questions such as: What is the role of the papacy? Who was the next pope after St. Peter? Can the pope contradict the Bible? Where is St. Peter buried? On the page, we also offer a free eBook, Praying With the Popes, to guide you in prayer through the words of St. Peter’s successors. We hope that this page and eBook will help deepen your understanding of the gift Christ gave His Church through the papacy.   In Christ,   Your EWTN Family Copyright © 2026 EWTN, Inc. 5817 Old Leeds Rd, Irondale, AL, 35210. All rights reserved

Thoughts on conversion

 

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Luke 5:27–32

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells Matthew, “Follow me.” The call of Jesus addresses the mind, but it is meant to move through the mind into the body, and through the body into the whole of one’s life, into the most practical of moves and decisions. “Follow me” has the sense of “apprentice to me” or “walk as I walk; think as I think; choose as I choose.” Discipleship entails an entire reworking of the self according to the pattern and manner of Jesus. Upon hearing the address of the Lord, the tax collector, we are told, “got up and followed him.” The Greek word behind “got up” is anastas, the same word used to describe the resurrection (anastasis) of Jesus from the dead. Following Jesus is indeed a kind of resurrection from the dead, since it involves the transition from a lower form of life to a higher, from a preoccupation with the temporary goods of this world to an immersion in the goodness of God. Those who have undergone a profound conversion tend to speak of their former life as a kind of illusion, something not entirely real. Thus Paul can say, “I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me”; Thomas Merton can speak of the “false self” that has given way to the authentic self; and, perhaps most movingly, the father of the prodigal son can say, “Your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on temptations

 

This past Wednesday we began our annual Lenten journey, subjecting ourselves to the imposition of ashes and the exhortation, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” The Scripture readings for the First Sunday of Lent call us not only to repent of our sins but to confront the temptations that might lead us into sin. 

From the perspective of Christianity, of course, there is a crucial difference between a temptation and a sin. Sins are “unloving choices”; temptations are occasions/invitations to make a choice. That choice can wind up being either loving or unloving. If we make loving choices even while tempted to do otherwise, we grow in virtue and holiness. If we succumb to the temptation and make an unloving choice, we alienate ourselves from peace and goodness, eroding our fundamental orientation toward God and love. Sometimes when people come to confession and state that they are “struggling” with something, what they are saying is not that they have actually sinned, but that they have been tempted to do so. Often, of course, we experience that struggle as exhausting, and so it is for good reason that we pray, echoing the words of the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead me not into temptation.” Temptations aren’t sins, but they can wear us out!

We might dismiss the temptations which Jesus faced as portrayed in this Sunday’s Gospel as uniquely his own. That would be a mistake. Jesus’ temptations occur soon after Jesus has had the powerful experience at his baptism of being filled with the Spirit and knowing in a profound way that he is God’s beloved Son. It is this very sense of his identify that the tempter tries to undermine. So too with us. We know who we are, who we are called to be by God, and who we want at our best to be. In our lives, it is our identities as beloved sons and daughters of God, as faithful disciples of Christ, that the tempter seeks to call into question and undermine.

What is important about the temptations of Jesus is that they were real temptations over which he had to mull and struggle. In his case, all of his temptations could easily become occasions for discouragement. Let us pray that as we struggle with temptation in our lives, we not become discouraged, but find within them opportunities to grow in our deepest identity as those who love and serve in the manner of Jesus.

Lenten Blessings.

Fr. Frank Reale, S.J.

More thoughts on Lent

 

We enter once again into the holy and grace-filled season of Lent. The Church, in her wisdom, gives us three clear practices every year: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. During Lent, we are meant to take on these concrete disciplines so that our hearts can be drawn more deeply to the Lord. Watch here.

Let me offer three very specific recommendations this year.

First, prayer.

Lent is the privileged time to renew our friendship with the Lord. Can I urge you this year to set aside some quiet time every day—five minutes, ten minutes, whatever you can manage—to sit with God? Speak to him honestly, listen in the silence, meditate on Scripture. If you need a bit of structure, follow the daily Lenten reflections from Word on Fire or any other good Catholic apostolate offering a daily spiritual program. The key is intentionality: Carve out that space to let the Lord speak to your heart.

Second, fasting.

Of course, follow the Church’s norms on abstaining from meat and limiting food intake. But I’d also challenge you to fast from some of the habits that occupy too much of your attention—maybe it’s scrolling through social media on your phone, binge-watching television, or playing video games. You don’t have to necessarily eliminate them entirely, but cut them back significantly. Why? Because when we quiet these distractions, we make room for more prayerful reflection, and we allow a deeper hunger for God to rise within us.

Third, almsgiving.

This is the practice of giving: giving money, giving time, giving attention. Be intentional about generosity this Lent by performing one concrete act of mercy each week. Donate to a charity or a nonprofit ministry. Give to the poor. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Visit someone who is sick or lonely. Whatever you do, give alms. Almsgiving expresses that great spiritual truth: Our souls expand in the measure that we give ourselves away.

May I humbly suggest that one way you might direct your almsgiving is toward Word on Fire? Your contribution will help us to continue to evangelize the culture with free content that reaches millions of people.

So, this Lent: Pray in a focused and quiet way, fast from the things that clutter your heart and mind, and give in a spirit of sincere generosity. If we take up these disciplines, Lent won’t become a burden. It will become a season of renewal, clarity, and deep joy. May God bless you with a transformative and fruitful Lent. In Christ,

Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on Lent

After fasting for forty days and conquering every temptation that came His way, Jesus returned to Galilee and began His public ministry with these words,  “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

Indeed, now is the hour of fulfillment. 

We are called by Christ and Our Lady of Fatima this Ash Wednesday to once again acknowledge our sinfulness, so that through God’s grace and mercy we may be purified and share in Christ’s victory.

Each Lent we are invited to join in the Lord’s time of fasting for forty days. 

As Jesus warned in the parable of the sower, cares of the world and a delight in riches and earthly things threatens to choke out our spiritual life like thorns engulfing a bush (Mk. 4:18). 

By generously giving to others and by offering up the pains of fasting and mortification this Lent, the Lord purifies our hearts from earthly attachment and these pains are instead joined to His sacrifice as an offering of love for the salvation of souls.

Yet, fasting and almsgiving are challenging, and at the beginning of Lent, such trials can be daunting. 

Spiritual exercises make clear the spiritual combat which is always present. 

As the Enemy vainly tried to through and during this time of fasting, so will that same Enemy try to lead us to discouragement and to abandon the resolutions we take on this Lent.

The good news is that we need not be afraid to face this battle! 

Instead, let us take refuge in the Immaculate Heart of Mary and follow the example of our Savior. 

Each time the devil tempted Christ, the Lord responded by dispelling the attack with the power and truth of Scripture. 

So while we fast, we must also pray!

When we pray the Rosary and reflect upon the lives of Jesus and Mary, we are given the wisdom and strength we need to see past any sinful illusions and to overcome the temptations we might face this Lent.

Therefore, through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, let us hear the call of Christ, echoed by Our Lady of Fatima. 

Let us repent and believe in the Gospel!

In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,

Christopher P. Wendt
International Director
Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima

Thoughts on Ash Wednesday

 

Ash Wednesday

In the Gospel for Ash Wednesday, we hear Jesus remind us three times that our hidden acts are neither unseen nor unrewarded. No, “your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.” Taking up our daily cross (see Luke 9:23) is the most important penance we can offer—the daily cross of our state of life, such as: going to sometimes unsatisfying work for your family; helping your children for the umpteenth time with patient love and a smile even when tired or upset; as a Religious or Priest, rising early once again, to offer praise to God and to intercede for the many needs we learn of, and working to alleviate them; and at the eve of life, being patient with the infirmities and limitations as they increase—and offering them with prayer for others. “And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”   Those hidden acts of self-sacrifice are neither unseen nor unrewarded. In fact, they are proofs of genuine love. We deepen our conversion through the often-unchosen penances of daily life.   Grumbling makes our burdens un-bearable. Love, however, is healing and lightens the load: loving God in prayer; loving others in self-giving generosity; and loving ourselves in fasting, which quiets the demands of our untamed nature.    Lord God, help us as we begin this Holy Season to take up our daily cross with love, so that our conversion to You may ever deepen. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.   In His healing wounds,   Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe, MFVA

Thoughts on gratitude

 

A Spirit of Gratitude

From: Lifesigns: Intimacy, Fecundity, and Ecstasy in Christian Perspective

Life loses its dynamism and exuberance when everything that happens to us is viewed as a predictable result of predictable actions….. Without a spirit of gratitude, life flattens out and becomes dull and boring. But when we continue to be surprised by new manifestations of life and continue to praise and thank God and our neighbor, routine and boredom cannot take hold. Then all of life becomes a reason for saying thanks.

Reflection Question: What would change if I approached even ordinary moments as reasons for thanksgiving?

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”   - 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18