Strength Disguised in Weakness

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to meet the challenges of being diminished in status, wealth, or influence as an opportunity to grow even while planted in a difficult field.

Strong and True

The Reading from the Book of Nahum declares Nineveh’s Inescapable Fate

a. [3:1] Is 10:13–14; Hb 2:12. (Nahum, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB, n.d.)

The response from the Book of Deuteronomy is a poetic sermon, having for its theme the Lord’s benefits to Israel.

* [32:1–43] The whole song is a poetic sermon, having for its theme the Lord’s benefits to Israel (vv. 1–14) and Israel’s ingratitude and idolatry in turning to the gods of the nations; these sins will be punished by the nations themselves (vv. 15–29); in turn, the foolish pride of the nations will be punished, and the Lord’s honor will be vindicated (vv. 30–43).

* [32:36] Neither bond nor free: an all-inclusive expression; cf. 1 Kgs 14:10; 2 Kgs 9:8. (Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 32 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus proclaims to deny someone is to disown him (see Mt 10:33; 26:34–35) and to deny oneself is to disown oneself as the center of one’s existence.

* [16:24] Deny himself: to deny someone is to disown him (see Mt 10:33; 26:34–35) and to deny oneself is to disown oneself as the center of one’s existence.

* [16:25] See notes on Mt 10:38, 39.

* [16:27] The parousia and final judgment are described in Mt 25:31 in terms almost identical with these.

* [16:28] Coming in his kingdom: since the kingdom of the Son of Man has been described as “the world” and Jesus’ sovereignty precedes his final coming in glory (Mt 13:38, 41), the coming in this verse is not the parousia as in the preceding but the manifestation of Jesus’ rule after his resurrection; see notes on Mt 13:38, 41. (Matthew, CHAPTER 16 | USCCB, n.d.)

Becky Nickerson reflects there is often a temptation to focus on achievement, recognition, or control. Yet Jesus’ invitation to “deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me” reminds me that true leadership and discipleship begin with humility, trust, and a willingness to let faith guide my actions.

The call to take up my cross is not necessarily about dramatic acts of sacrifice but about the daily choices I make. As a professional, it may mean putting people before projects and leading with integrity rather than seeking personal success. As a family member and friend, it may mean being patient, present, and supportive even when it requires setting aside my own ideas or timeline. In every role I hold, following Christ pushes me to look beyond my own preferences and priorities, choosing instead to lead, serve, and love in ways that place others at the center. Through these daily acts of selflessness, I am continually shaped by God’s grace and grow in my faith. (Nickerson, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Walk as Christ has walked,” by Caesarius of Arles (470-543 AD).

"When the Lord tells us in the Gospel that anyone who wants to be his follower must renounce himself, the injunction seems harsh; we think he is imposing a burden on us. But an order is no burden when it is given by one who helps in carrying it out. To what place are we to follow Christ if not where he has already gone? We know that he has risen and ascended into heaven; there, then, we must follow him. There is no cause for despair - by ourselves we can do nothing, but we have Christ's promise... One who claims to abide in Christ ought to walk as he walked. Would you follow Christ? Then be humble as he was humble. Do not scorn his lowliness if you want to reach his exaltation. Human sin made the road rough. Christ's resurrection leveled it. By passing over it himself, he transformed the narrowest of tracks into a royal highway. Two feet are needed to run along this highway; they are humility and charity. Everyone wants to get to the top - well, the first step to take is humility. Why take strides that are too big for you - do you want to fall instead of going up? Begin with the first step, humility, and you will already be climbing." (excerpt from SERMONS 159, 1.4-6) (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler shares a reflection on today's Mass readings. Nathum is a prophet who tends to be vindictive against the Assyrians who were infamous for crimes against humanity. It is one way in which the Hebrew Testament differs from Jesus' Testament. We have to follow Christ in the martyrdom of pinpricks. The Son Of Man will repay each for transgressions and there will be a time of reckoning. Friar Jude invites us to ponder the declaration in the Gospel of Matthew declares that some will not taste death until they will see the transcendent reality of Jesus and the defeat of evil.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 16:24-28 comments Jesus is asking us to follow in his footsteps—not to embrace martyrdom, unless that is the Lord’s will, but to “deny” ourselves and to “lose” our lives as we follow him (Matthew 16:24, 25). Let’s look at a common everyday situation that can help us see how the Lord might be calling us to do this.

As you do, the Holy Spirit enables you to step back from your strong reaction and viewpoint, and you begin to see things differently. Maybe you realize that you have a very different personality and way to approach life’s circumstances than the other person. Your upbringing and life experience—both positive and negative—are different from the other person’s. And the opportunities that you’ve been given—whether many or few—have given you a lens through which you view many situations, including this one.

This perspective helps you. Now you see that the best approach to the conflict is to choose humility. You resolve in your heart to “deny” yourself and “lose” your life a little bit. You decide to deny the drive to defend yourself and you lose the urge to be proven right at all costs. You decide to apologize, if necessary, and to see the good in the other person. Being right isn’t the point; following Jesus is.

How is Jesus leading you to follow in his footsteps of humility? (Meditation on Matthew 16:24-28, n.d.)

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, reflects on Job’s story as a source of wisdom about the path of transformation. Every movement toward union with God will feel like a loss of self-importance and self-control. We are realigned with truth when the real person meets the real God—which is exactly the stuff of spirituality, good theology, and transformation.

The book of Job ultimately assures us that faith can forever be found, like the hill of Calvary, “outside the walls.” In fact, that is where it finds its most ready soil—at the bottom, the broken, the edges of things.

If no meaning can be given to human suffering, if our wounds are not capable of becoming sacred wounds, the human project is surely doomed to a blaming war of all against all. The future, like the past, will be full of scapegoats and victims. This is no peripheral question the book of Job pursues.

Without the response from God in the whirlwind—what we might call today the sacred or transcendent dimension—life will surely be “nasty, brutish, and short” for most people in the twenty-first century. There will be no place to go to make our wounds sacred, but they will still be wounds, sore and bleeding. If there is no voice from the whirlwind, no calming eyes in the heart of the tempest, humanity can only “sit on its dung heap picking at its sores.” But in Job and in Jesus, we have heard a story that is always true, a story that makes all our wounds sacred. (Rohr, n.d.)

We implore the inspiration of the Spirit to accept that true leadership and discipleship begin with humility, trust, and a willingness to let faith guide our actions as we seek to demonstrate that strength can be disguised in weakness.

References

Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 32 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/32?35 

Matthew, CHAPTER 16 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/16?24 

Meditation on Matthew 16:24-28. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/08/07/1640975/ 

Nahum, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/nahum/0 

Nickerson, B. (n.d.). Daily Reflection August 7, 2026 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-august-7-2026 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). From Suffering to Sacred Wounds. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/from-suffering-to-sacred-wounds/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Whoever Loses His Life for My Sake Will Find It. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

The Theme of Transfiguration

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, invite us to contemplate the "luminous moments of revelation" on our journey and the consequence on our ministry for full life.

Transformed in Transfiguration

The Reading from the Book of Daniel presents a vision of the heavenly throne of God.

* [7:9–10] A vision of the heavenly throne of God (the Ancient of Days), who sits in judgment over the nations. Some of the details of the vision, depicting the divine majesty and omnipotence, are to be found in Ezekiel 1. Others are paralleled in 1 Enoch, a contemporary Jewish apocalypse.

* [7:13–14] One like a son of man: In contrast to the worldly kingdoms opposed to God, which are represented as grotesque beasts, the coming Kingdom of God is represented by a human figure. Scholars disagree as to whether this figure should be taken as a collective symbol for the people of God (cf. 7:27) or identified as a particular individual, e.g., the archangel Michael (cf. 12:1) or the messiah. The phrase “Son of Man” becomes a title for Jesus in the gospels, especially in passages dealing with the Second Coming (Mk 13 and parallels). (Daniel, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Second Letter of Peter recalls eyewitness testimony to Christ and the true prophetic message.

* [1:12–19] The purpose in writing is to call to mind the apostle’s witness to the truth, even as he faces the end of his life (2 Pt 1:12–15), his eyewitness testimony to Christ (1 Pt 1:16–18), and the true prophetic message (2 Pt 1:19) through the Spirit in scripture (2 Pt 1:20–21), in contrast to what false teachers are setting forth (2 Pt 2).

* [1:13] Tent: a biblical image for transitory human life (Is 38:12), here combined with a verb that suggests not folding or packing up a tent but its being discarded in death (cf. 2 Cor 5:1–4).

* [1:16] Coming: in Greek parousia, used at 2 Pt 3:4, 12 of the second coming of Christ. The word was used in the extrabiblical writings for the visitation of someone in authority; in Greek cult and Hellenistic Judaism it was used for the manifestation of the divine presence. That the apostles made known has been interpreted to refer to Jesus’ transfiguration (2 Pt 1:17) or to his entire first coming or to his future coming in power (2 Pt 3).

* [1:17] The author assures the readers of the reliability of the apostolic message (including Jesus’ power, glory, and coming; cf. note on 2 Pt 1:16) by appeal to the transfiguration of Jesus in glory (cf. Mt 17:1–8 and parallels) and by appeal to the prophetic message (2 Pt 1:19; perhaps Nm 24:17). Here, as elsewhere, the New Testament insists on continued reminders as necessary to preserve the historical facts about Jesus and the truths of the faith; cf. 2 Pt 3:1–2; 1 Cor 11:2; 15:1–3. My Son, my beloved: or, “my beloved Son.”

* [1:18] We: at Jesus’ transfiguration, referring to Peter, James, and John (Mt 17:1). (2 Peter, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 97 begins with God appearing in a storm.

* [Psalm 97] The hymn begins with God appearing in a storm, a traditional picture of some ancient Near Eastern gods (Ps 97:1–6); cf. Ps 18:8–16; Mi 1:3–4; Heb 3:3–15. Israel rejoices in the overthrowing of idol worshipers and their gods (Ps 97:7–9) and the rewarding of the faithful righteous (Ps 97:10–12). (Psalms, PSALM 97 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel Matthew presents the account of the Transfiguration.

* [17:1–8] The account of the transfiguration confirms that Jesus is the Son of God (Mt 17:5) and points to fulfillment of the prediction that he will come in his Father’s glory at the end of the age (Mt 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 noncanonical Jewish apocalyptic literature that express the presence of the heavenly and the divine, e.g., brilliant light, white garments, and the overshadowing cloud.

* [17:1] These three disciples are also taken apart from the others by Jesus in Gethsemane (Mt 26:37). A high mountain: this has been identified with Tabor or Hermon, but probably no specific mountain was intended by the evangelist or by his Marcan source (Mk 9:2). Its meaning is theological rather than geographical, possibly recalling the revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai (Ex 24:12–18) and to Elijah at the same place (1 Kgs 19:8–18; Horeb = Sinai).

* [17:2] His face shone like the sun: this is a Matthean addition; cf. Dn 10:6. His clothes became white as light: cf. Dn 7:9, where the clothing of God appears “snow bright.” For the white garments of other heavenly beings, see Rev 4:4; 7:9; 19:14.

* [17:3] See note on Mk 9:5.

* [17:4] Three tents: the booths in which the Israelites lived during the feast of Tabernacles (cf. Jn 7:2) were meant to recall their ancestors’ dwelling in booths during the journey from Egypt to the promised land (Lv 23:39–42). The same Greek word, skēnē, here translated tents, is used in the LXX for the booths of that feast, and some scholars have suggested that there is an allusion here to that liturgical custom.

* [17:5] Cloud cast a shadow over them: see note on Mk 9:7. This is my beloved Son…listen to him: cf. Mt 3:17. The voice repeats the baptismal proclamation about Jesus, with the addition of the command listen to him. The latter is a reference to Dt 18:15 in which the Israelites are commanded to listen to the prophet like Moses whom God will raise up for them. The command to listen to Jesus is general, but in this context it probably applies particularly to the preceding predictions of his passion and resurrection (Mt 16:21) and of his coming (Mt 16:27, 28).

* [17:6–7] A Matthean addition; cf. Dn 10:9–10, 18–19. (Matthew, CHAPTER 17 | USCCB, n.d.)

Jay Carney comments that the feast of the Transfiguration reminds us that God is king, and the Father has given dominion, glory, and kingship to the Son.

We cannot capture or control this reality, as Peter strives to do with his tent strategy (if only he had a smart phone – he could document everything!). But nor are we left cowering in slavish fear before Christ the Lord. Rather, Jesus reaches out, touches us, lifts us up, and echoes those most familiar words in the gospels: “Do not be afraid.” The Beloved One shows us that we too are beloved. The King has a place for each of us in a kingdom that will never end. (Carney, 2026)

Don Schwager quotes “Listen to Him,” by Leo the Great, 400?-461 A.D.

"A voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” I am manifested through his preaching. I am glorified through his humility. So listen to him without hesitation. He is the truth and the life. He is my strength and wisdom. "Listen to him" whom the mysteries of the law foreshadowed, of whom the mouths of the prophets sang. "Listen to him" who by his blood redeemed the world, who binds the devil and seizes his vessels, who breaks the debt of sin and the bondage of iniquity. "Listen to him" who opens the way to heaven and by the pain of the cross prepares for you the steps of ascent into his kingdom." (excerpt from Sermon 38,7) (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler shares a reflection on today's Mass readings. In the passage the Ancient of Days Yahweh appears in Transcendence and Wisdom and very much of the experience of Ezekiel and Enoch is applied to the Jewish people who would receive dominion in a time of persecution. In Jesus' time “Son Of Man “ applied to Himself, referring to this and the songs of the Suffering Servant, a mysterious figure, who would die and be raised in service of the people. The Second Letter of Peter is dated to 128 CE and was not written by Peter but as if Peter had written it. In the Gospel of Matthew, Peter James and John, who accompany Him in big events are witness to the power of the transcendent Moses representing the Law and Elijah as the Prophet who is taken up in fiery chariot. “This is my Beloved Son, “Listen to Him” Why now ? Most probably the Passion was imminent and to give them the possibility of belief beyond the limits of reality. God does this for us when we are taken beyond everyday reality. Friar Jude expresses the prayer  “May God bless us with Trust in the Lord.”

The Word Among Us Meditation on 2 Peter 1:16-19 comments that as we read or hear the Gospel for today’s feast of the Transfiguration, know that God himself is speaking to us, as he spoke to Peter, James, and John on the mountain: “This is my beloved Son . . . ; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5).

What might the Spirit want to say to you through these readings? He may want to teach you something new or remind you of something you already know but may have lost sight of. Perhaps, as he did for Peter, he wants to show you his glory in the face of his Son. Or he may want to reassure you that you can hear him. The same Holy Spirit who inspired Peter lives in you! You can ask him to open the eyes and ears of your heart—today, tomorrow, and every day after.

“Lord, let your word come alive in me today.” (Meditation on 2 Peter 1:16-19, n.d.)

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Gregorio Nsomboro who relates that this is what his community lives with every day. 

With the death of innocent children, … people who have studied but live poor without jobs, people that suffer sicknesses without knowing where it comes from. Nevertheless many criminals appear increasingly successful in life.(Rohr, n.d.)

The Spirit is our guide today to the experiences that confirm for us the Presence of God in our world and the mission we have as witnesses to share love, faith, and hope with the people in our environment.

References

Carney, J. (2026, August 6). Daily Reflection August 6, 2026 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved August 6, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-august-6-2026 

Daniel, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved August 6, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/daniel/7?9 

Matthew, CHAPTER 17 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved August 6, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/17?1 

Meditation on 2 Peter 1:16-19. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved Aug 6, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/08/06/1640385/ 

Psalms, PSALM 97 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved August 6, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/97?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Unjust Suffering Continues. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved August 6, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/unjust-suffering-continues/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Listen to My Beloved Son. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved August 6, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

2 Peter, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved August 6, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2peter/1?