On the day of 7 August

At Augusta of the Vindelici* in Raetia, of Saint Afra, martyr, who, a sinner converted to Christ but not yet baptized, is said to have been delivered up to fire on account of her profession of Christ.

*Augsburg
**Saint/Feast of the day segment copied from the USCCB page.


Reading 1: Jeremiah 31:31-34

According to the footnotes in the New American Bible, prophets since Hosea were talking about this "new covenant". You know, God tried to tell us over and over that he had a whole new kind of arrangement coming for the whole world. It seems like he kept trying to figure out how to save humanity from our own crapulence. Well, apparently, he had a plan all along and gave us plenty of foreshadowing. For your reading pleasure, I give you the rest of the footnote: " [31-34] The new covenant to be made with Israel is a common theme of the prophets, beginning with Hosea. According to Jeremiah, the qualities of the new covenant that make it different from the old are: (a) It will not be broken, but will last forever; (b) Its law will be written in the heart, not merely on tablets of stone; (c) The knowledge of God will be so generally shown forth in the life of the people that it will no longer be necessary to put it into words of instruction. In the fullest sense, this prophecy was fulfilled only through the work of Jesus Christ; cf Luke 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25."


Gospel Reading: Matthew 16:13-23


This confused me a little so I went and looked back at yesterday's reading. All of this happened before the transfiguration. So Peter already knew, in his heart, just like Jeremiah had prophesied, who Jesus was. This was something that Saint Afra (Ah, the tie-in with the saint!) spoke about in her confession, prior to being burned at the stake.

But the reading goes on to show that Peter got scared when Jesus told him that bad times were ahead. Peter wanted to protect Jesus from persecution. Understandable. Jesus was Peter's friend, and it must have been hard not to view him as flesh and blood. Jesus should have laughed at him instead of getting mad. Protect the living God made incarnate? It's pretty silly when you think about it. Poor Peter must have lived in confusion most of the time he was around Jesus. I think that all of us who have invited Jesus to be a part of our own lives has to live with that confusion a bit as well. I think that maybe these readings today have been about opening our hearts to hear the true words and direction of the Holy Spirit.

On the day of 6 August


The Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, in which Christ Jesus, beloved only-begotten Son of the eternal Father, revealed his glory in the presence of the holy Apostles Peter, James and John, with the law and prophets as witnesses, so that he might make the regeneration of grace visible in the lowliness of our servile form which he had united himself, and the image of God in which man was created, although corrupted in Adam, might be proclaimed restored in Christ unto the ends of the earth.
**Saint/Feast of the day segment copied from the USCCB page.

First Reading: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14

This is what the footnotes from the NAB say on this: "Just as our Lord applied the figure of the stone hewn from the mountain to himself (Daniel 2:36-45), he also made the title "Son of Man" his most characteristic way of referring to himself, as the One in whom and through whom the salvation of God's people came to be realized."

This passage is pure prophecy, in my mind. It'd hard to see how Daniel could be talking about anything else than the coming messiah.

Second Reading: 2 Peter 1:16-19

Peter is telling people over and over that the things that he says about Jesus are true. He knows that they are true because he saw them with his own eyes. It's very easy to disregard, or to distance ourselves from ancient biblical times, but truth be told, Peter got himself killed in Rome because he couldn't shut up about what he'd seen with his own eyes. What better testament to the truth? Who would get himself crucified over a lie or a bid for power as a false prophet? Maybe one crazy man, but 11 of the 12 apostles died proclaiming the same things about Jesus.

Gospel Reading: Matthew 17:1-9

This is what the NAB footnotes have to say: "[1-8] The account of the transfiguration confirms that Jesus is the Son of God (Matthew 17:5) and points to fulfillment of the prediction that he will come in his Father's glory at the end of the age (Matthew 16:27). It has been explained by some as a resurrection appearance retrojected into the time of Jesus' ministry, but that is not probable since the account lacks many of the usual elements of the resurrection-appearance narratives. It draws upon motifs from the Old Testament and non canonical Jewish apocalyptic literature that express the presence of the heavenly and the divine, e.g., brilliant light, white garments, and the overshadowing cloud."

This is what most of the apostles died to tell everyone. For them, I'm sure, the beginning of the truth started with this event, and ended with Jesus' Ascension.