DISFIGURED OR TRANSFIGURED

Pope Leo XIV recently visited Assisi, home of St. Francis and St. Clare. The occasion was a Franciscan Youth Gathering with the theme, ‘Go!’

The visit took place on 6 August 2026, and the Holy Father celebrated the Mass of the Transfiguration for the young ones:

We have come here to understand where history is heading and where we ourselves are going.

Assisi is a good place to get our bearings.

We know that St. Francis stayed awake for many hours each night asking God two questions:

God, who are you?

God, who am I?

Francis died age 44. Was his premature death due to lack of food and lack of sleep?

It doesn’t matter.

He reached his goal of sanctity and eternity, and like all the saints awaits his definitive resurrection in the Lord.

If we let ourselves be taken, just like Peter, James and John (Matthew 17), then we will be transfigured in this life and the next.

Or we can take another route that ends in disaster:

‘Disfigured’ by separating ourselves from Jesus and from others.

It all begins with letting ourselves be taken by the Lord, or by refusing to be taken.

AMEN.