Thursday of this week and next Sunday, August 6 and August 9, are the anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Let us pray that God will lead the world to embrace the love and peace of Jesus and bring all war to an end.

On Wednesday, Aug. 4, we celebrate the feast of St. John Vianney. He is known as the Cure’ of Ars. (Cure’ was the French name for a priest, translated into English as Curate). He died in 1859, known for his compassion in the confessional, as well as his powerful preaching.  John Vianney is the patron saint of parish priests.

There are four major basilicas in Rome. These are St. Peter’s Basilica, St. John Lateran Basilica, the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, and the Basilica of St. Mary Major. The Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major is Wednesday, Aug. 5.
    
In 431 AD, the Council of Ephesus declared Mary to be the Theotokos, the God Bearer, or the Mother of God, emphasizing that her child was both divine and human.  Pope Sixtus then built and consecrated the first, and still the largest, church dedicated to the Blessed Mother. It is the most elaborate and beautiful of the four basilicas.  Pope Francis had a particular love of that Church, and whenever he returned to Rome in his travels, he went directly from the airport to St. Mary Major to pray.

This Thursday is the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, recalling the moment on Mount Tabor, when Jesus took Peter, and James, and John, and was transfigured before them in His Resurrected Glory, though He had not yet been crucified. With Him were Moses the Lawgiver, and Elijah the Prophet, to emphasize that the Law and the Prophets both testified to Him. Finally, the voice of God the Father proclaimed: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.”