Daily Reflections — March 1, 2026

0:00Welcome to our day of the reflection for this Sunday March 1st, it's hard to believe it's March 1st, isn't it? And of course every Sunday we remember the Lord's Resurrection and that's going to be particularly true in a certain way today because we are in the second Sunday of Lent and we're going to have in the Gospel today, Jesus going up on a mountain with Peter, James and John and it's going to be the mystery of the Transfiguration and the Transfiguration is giving us a foreshadowing of all of our Lent and Journey and Jesus' journey which will start now from the northern country where Mount Taver is as he makes his journey now from this point all the way down to Jerusalem where the Passover will be happening and where he will suffer and die for us. And so we'll reach the climax of that moment when we re-celebrate Holy Week at the end

1:01of our Lent and Journey. And so before Jesus begins this journey that will be his kind of via De La Rosa, his way to the cross. He brings his disciples, especially the three closest ones, Peter, James and John, up the mountain where they're going to catch a glimpse of his glory and that is to sustain them as they're going to go through a great trial. They're going to see Jesus mocked, falsely accused, arrested, you're going to see him tortured and then crucified. And yet Jesus gives them a glimpse of his glory before all that happens as they go through that darkness and that time of great trial. They will have faith and hope in the light that comes from Christ and who he is. And so that's also for us as we continue our Lent and Journey and the Dredgery and Challenges and Tribulations of our own life and our own sacrifices and our own carrying our own cross. We too can be reminded by giving this glimpse that the story doesn't end with the cross.

2:04It doesn't end in Calvary, it doesn't end in Suffering, it ends in Glory and that should give us hope. And so this Sunday is about fortifying our hope in the Resurrection and that's what every Sunday really is, as we are reminded that Jesus is risen from the dead. And so we see that he is victorious over death. And so if every Friday is kind of a good Friday, every Sunday is like Easter, an echo of Easter. And so we can hear that echo. Now the first reason today is from the Book of Genesis and it's a great promise in the call of Abraham that God is promising that he is going to bless all the families of the world through the descendants of Abraham. And so that great promise to Abraham is something that Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the greatest and mightiest of all the prophets, are going to witness a mount table on the Mount of Transfiguration. So Moses and Elijah are on the mountain with Jesus as he's transfigured into glory and

3:06his face shines like the sun. Moses and Elijah are there to witness. And they're the two witnesses of Jesus, that he is the son of God. The voice from the heavens, God himself will give testimony that Jesus is his beloved son with whom he's well pleased. And yet also Moses and Elijah. Now it's interesting that the law says you need two witnesses to bear testimony, right, to have an official testimony in a trial. And so Moses and Elijah are bearing. Jesus gives us this great, great summary of his way. And his way is be merciful as his Heavenly Father is merciful. The model for all of our love, for all of our behavior as Christians is our Father in heaven and his mercy. Now I think a lot of people think, wait, wait, isn't it Jesus, isn't Jesus the model for how we are to live in the New Testament, the New Covenant, you know, or kind of the New Testament is God's nice Jesus and the Old Testament is God's vengeful, angry, mad.

4:07And that is not the case. That's a false dichotomy that comes from the devil and his deceptions. Jesus is revealing the heart of God and he's saying that the heart of his Father is merciful. And that's the heart we need to emulate and imitate. And so today let's be like our Father because the danger of judging and condemning is once I judge somebody, I have a label on them, you know, I'll be like, oh, they're lazy or oh, they're, you know, for, you know, somebody can say, oh, that person is a, you know, as a Jew or there is Samaritan or there are American or whatever they are. Once we put a label on people, we think of them in terms of a label, we objectify them. And we don't see them as a person made in the image like this of God. And what the problem of judging does is it incapacitates us from loving them. Whenever you judge somebody and whenever you condemn somebody, it is very hard to love them. And so you're, you're ambushing your ability to be a missionary of love. And so Jesus is saying, don't do that, your call is to be merciful, your call is the love.

5:10So don't judge in that way. May the Lord bless and keep you. And it is a season known for what we give up. But of course we give up in order to get closer to God, to get God, to receive His grace. And so all of our prayers, fasting, almsgiving, all these things are done to draw us ever closer to the heart of Christ and to our Heavenly Father. And so as you enter into this season of Lent and in your prayers, think about how you can give to the gustitude as part of your almsgiving, this Lent and season help us to help Catholics understand, live and share their faith. To sign up and start receiving these daily reflections in your inbox every day for free, visit form.org slash daily and enter your email. You can watch these reflections in video format by visiting formed.org.

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