the other: John XXIII, John Paul II...

From the gospel of the Transfiguration: “ And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun and his garments became white as light.” (Mt. 17:1-2)

And from the book of Genesis: “Take your son Isaac, your only one whom, you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.” (Gen. 22:2)

There were two on that mountain of the transfiguration with Christ: Moses, the giver of the Law, and Elijah the great prophet. They were there with the Onewho fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, Jesus Christ. But there was present also not in bodily form but surely spiritually the one who the Roman Canon calls Abraham, our father in faith. For the covenant God made with Abraham reached its fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. And it is the test of Abraham by God in the sacrifice of his beloved Son, Isaac, that points to in a direct line to the sacrifice of the only Son of God by God the Father which act is the definition of love.

This Monday, February 26, 2018, there will be a Solemn Requiem Mass and Absolution at the Catafalque to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Happy Valley Racecourse Fire in Hong Kong at which 670 people perished.