Descending from Mount Tabor

Today, the Eucharist which we are preparing to celebrate takes us in spirit to Mount Tabor together with the Apostles Peter, James and John, to admire in rapture the splendour of the transfigured Lord. In the event of the Transfiguration we contemplate the mysterious encounter between history, which is being built every day, and the blessed inheritance that awaits us in heaven in full union with Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.

We, pilgrims on earth, are granted to rejoice in the company of the transfigured Lord when we immerse ourselves in the things of above through prayer and the celebration of the divine mysteries. But, like the disciples, we too must descend from Tabor into daily life where human events challenge our faith. On the mountain we saw; on the paths of life we are asked tirelessly to proclaim the Gospel which illuminates the steps of believers…

…May Mary, our tender and caring Mother, help us to be bright rays of the saving light of her Son Jesus.

-Blessed John Paul II, Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, August 6, 1999

St. James, the Patron of Pilgrims

Today is the feast of St. James the Apostle, brother of the beloved Apostle, St. John.  On his Apostolic Journey to Spain for the 4^th World Youth Day, Blessed John Paul II recited this prayer before the tomb of St. James:

St James!
Behold me here, once again, beside your tomb
which I approach today, a pilgrim of all the pathways of the earth,
to honour your memory and implore your protection.

I come from luminous and perennial Rome
to you who became a pilgrim, following the footprints of Christ
and who brought his name and his voice
to this farthest part of the earth.

I come from Peter's side
and, as his successor, I bring to you,
to you who, with him, are a pillar of the Church,
the fraternal embrace that traverses centuries
and the song which resounds firm and apostolic in its catholicity.

Happy Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles

Today is the feast of Saints Philip and James—both apostles of Jesus and true servants of His Gospel after His death and resurrection. St. Philip, first a disciple of St. John the Baptist, preached and performed miracles in Jesus’ name in Phrygias (modern day Turkey) until the day he was martyred. St. James, a cousin of the Lord, ruled over the Church in Jerusalem, converting many people of the Jewish faith. He also suffered martyrdom, in the year 62.

Saints Philip and James, we ask your intercession, that we may be as open to Christ’s call as you were and that we may follow Him until the end of our earthly days.