August 6th - Feast of the Transfiguration

This Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration, the miracle that was revealed to Jesus’ apostles present there – Peter, James, and John, His heavenly glory, and a source of encouragement for all Christians.

A key word for us to pay attention to from today’s Gospel is “listen”. Real listening requires us to pay attention and focus on the message being delivered and the message we hear today is so important. In one powerful statement, God the Father
reveals His Son Jesus to the apostles and tells them to listen to Him. The message was not only for the apostles; it was also for us.

One of the best ways to continue to listen to God is through reading Sacred Scripture. It is so easy these days to always have the Word of God with us. Many of us have mobile devices that we can download a Bible app to or open our browser and search for the daily readings. There’s even a podcast that goes through the whole Bible in a year, about 20 minutes a
day.
I get it, life is busy and who has an extra twenty minutes for anything? If we take a good look at where we spend our time, I’m sure we could each find way more than twenty minutes to listen to Jesus and read a few passages from the gospels. When we listen to the words of Jesus we carry them in our heart and the Word grows. As Pope Francis says, “By giving it to the other, the Word of Christ grows in us when we proclaim it, when we give it to others! And this is what Christian life is. It is a mission for the whole Church, for all the baptized, for us all: listen to Jesus and offer him to others.”

In this month, dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, let’s seek Mary’s intercession for ourselves, the Catholic Community of Buffalo, North and our Diocese.

A.M.D.G.,
Fr Dave Richards