🌿 Sunday, March 1, 2026
The Transfiguration
Fully Rejuvenating Our Soul

Photo created by James Dacey, Jr. using Co-Pilot.

Second Sunday of Lent • Year A • Lent 2026 • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II

✝️ Today's Mass Readings

First Reading: Genesis 12:1-4a

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1:8b-10

Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9

📖 The Gospel - Matthew 17:1-9

Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a high mountain, and right before their eyes, He is transfigured. His face shines like the sun, His clothes become dazzling white, Moses and Elijah appear, and the voice of the Father speaks from a cloud: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him. And then it is over. And Jesus touches them and says, get up, don't be afraid.

🙏 Gospel Reflection

The Transfiguration is given to us on the Second Sunday of Lent every year, and it is a gift placed perfectly in the middle of the hard work of these forty days. You've been praying and fasting while wrestling with the readings all week. And now, just when the road feels long, today’s gospel reading brings you up the mountain for a moment of pure glory. This is who Jesus really is. Don't lose heart, let’s keep going.

Abraham heard the voice of God telling him to leave everything he had ever known, his land, his family, his future as he had imagined it, and go to a place he had never seen. And he went. The Scriptures say simply, so Abram went as the Lord directed him. No drama. No long deliberation. He heard the voice, and he went. That is the faith the Transfiguration is calling us toward, a trust so deep that when God says go, you go.

Peter's first instinct on the mountain was to build three tents and stay forever. I understand that dedicated commitment to stay and build, completely. There are moments in our spiritual life, being on a retreat, attending a profound Mass, experiencing a Rosary prayed in deep peace, where you just want to pitch a tent and live there. But Jesus always says the same thing He said on that mountain: get up. The glory is given for the journey, not as an escape from it.

All those years ago, God gave me a mountaintop experience in that little church in Richmondtown, when the Holy Spirit moved through me, and I have never been the same. But He didn't let me stay on that mountaintop. He sent me down into communities, on a mission, into several prayer groups, and to begin Rosary Making and a life poured out entirely for our Lord and Our Lady. That mountaintop experience for me was fuel for the road ahead, sharing and spreading the rosary without fanfare or reward. Honestly, even though it’s been 43 years since the day I gave my life fully to Jesus, I feel like I am only just getting started. Our Lord has a most incredible way to rejuvenate the soul and inspire us with His love.

💭 Reflection Question

When was the last time God gave you a mountaintop moment, a glimpse of His glory meant to sustain you for the road ahead, and are you letting that memory fuel your Lenten journey right now, or have you forgotten it?

📿 Today's Rosary - The Sorrowful Mysteries

Today's Focus Mystery: The Agony in the Garden

Just days after the Transfiguration, these same three disciples would be with Jesus in Gethsemane, watching Him pray in anguish. The glory of the mountain and the darkness of the garden are inseparable. As you pray your Rosary today, bring both the moments of consolation and the moments of desolation, and lay them both before the Lord who is Lord of both.

🌹 Our Lady of Fatima - Today's Connection

Abraham left his homeland alone, following a voice toward an unseen destination. Our Lady of Fatima came to three children in an obscure village, calling humanity to a road of prayer and sacrifice and trust. Like Abraham, the children said yes before they could even see where the road was going. Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta were transfigured in their own way; they saw visions of heaven and were sent back down the mountain to live ordinary lives with extraordinary faith. That is the invitation for all of us today.

🕊️ Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You for the mountaintop moments You have given me, the glimpses of Your glory that remind me who You are and why I am on this road. When the journey gets hard, let me remember what I have seen. Lift me up. Send me forward. I am not afraid. Amen.



©2026 James Dacey, Jr., OFS

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Want to know more about My Spiritual Journey?
Read My Story: An Invitation To Read My Story - My Testimony

Location: Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA

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