Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose,
Most people realize that there is a major celebration of the Church in August.  It is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated on August 15th.  It is a Holy Day of Obligation, and this year it occurs on the first day of school.  So, the very first thing Mary Immaculate students will do on the first day of school is attend Mass to celebrate that the Blessed Virgin Mary was taken body and soul up into Heaven. What a great beginning for our new school year!
There is another rather important Feast earlier in the month of August.  It is not a Holy Day of Obligation, so it can pass unnoticed.  August 6th is the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus.
Shortly before Jesus and His apostles made their final entry into Jerusalem and Jesus entered into His Passion, Jesus went to Mount Tabor.  He asked Peter, James, and John to go with Him to the summit of the mountain.
There on the top of the mountain Jesus was transfigured in their sight and they were able to see Him in all of His glory.  He appeared to them with Moses and Elijah to show that Jesus was the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.  While they witnessed this, the voice of God spoke to the apostles saying, “This is My Beloved Son: Listen to Him.”  And then everything went back to normal.  They descended from the mountain and went to Jerusalem.
Peter, James, and John were granted this grace to give them the strength and faith to endure the suffering and death of Jesus.  They still ran away when Jesus was arrested, they still were fearful, they still doubted, but the glory of the Transfiguration must have been in their minds in the days leading up to the Resurrection.
In our own lives, we too receive glimpses of the glory of God, moments when our faith is strong and vibrant and all is right with the world. But then come days of darkness and doubt and God can seem very far away. In these moments we can only make the prayer of faith, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”  We hold on trusting that God is there even when He seems absent to us.
The Transfiguration reminds us of the brief and powerful moments of faith that mark our own lives.  May these moments of glory be our light and our hope.  May the eyes of faith help us to see more clearly the presence of God.                   
                                                                                                                                Msgr. Cox

 The Transfiguration by Raphael, 1516‐20