2nd Sunday of Lent - 2026 - Year A

Jeff Bagnall • 19 February 2026

The first reading is about the initial call of Abraham; it is used by the editors of the Book of Genesis as the launch of an extended saga of Abraham and his offspring. He is a semi-nomad who moves around with his large extended family from place to place; in this short account of his vocation, he is summoned by God to leave the past – his ancestors – behind and set off to a place that God will point out to him and will make his own. Responding to this, Abraham will not only be blest himself but will be a source of blessing to those who come across him – indeed to all people. But God is not understood quite the way we might envisage Him today, for he tells Abraham that He will curse those who curse him.

The letters to Timothy and Titus are called the Pastoral Epistles because they take the form of guidance written by Paul to these Church leaders about how to conduct themselves and how to lead the Christian communities under their care. Just as Paul suffered in his vocation of preaching and making converts, so these ‘overseers’ of Christian communities will have difficulties to face up to – that is the pattern of life for those who try to fulfil the tasks God has for them. The developed state of the organisation of the church depicted in places in these letters is one of the reasons that many think that they come from a time after Paul though perhaps using some of his material extant at that time. They are still part of the Bible and as such express something of the Word of God to us. In our short extract from the second letter to Timothy it reminds the church leader that he is not called because of his worthiness but in order to let the strength of God work through him for the fulfilment of God’s overall plan.

In Matthew’s gospel the Transfiguration comes after Peter’s answer to Jesus’ question: “Who do you say I am?” In his account it seems that it is beginning to dawn on some of the disciples, that, despite the popular expectation of a Messiah as a political liberator, Jesus the confident but kindly person is the one sent from God as the Messiah. Matthew follows this event with Jesus’ first announcement of his forthcoming arrest, trial and death, followed by resurrection. That last phrase might seem difficult for the disciples, yet there were beliefs that Moses never quite died and that Elijah would return to earth again, before the Messiah comes. It is after these events in Matthew’s story of Jesus, that the inner three disciples are taken onto a mountain (in the bible a place of revelations) and there they had a vision (as Matthew calls it) of the glory of Jesus, in conversation with Moses and Elijah, and then comes a cloud of God’s presence, and they hear God’s voice (which often refers to thunder during a storm). An announcement comes, as made at Jesus’ baptism, proclaiming: “my beloved son” but adding “listen to him!” Hear what he has said, namely, that opposition, suffering and death will come and then new life. Matthew’s good news for you and me might be that life will not be easy all the time, but for those who can see it the deeper reality is there, and there will certainly come death, but just as surely, life after death, when we have fulfilled out vocation.

See Jeff’s Jottings – Lent Talks Week 2

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Jeff Bagnall was a lecturer for many years at Craiglockhart College teaching RE to many future Catholic Primary teachers.

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ - 2026 - Year A

by Jeff Bagnall • 5 June 2026

The first five books of the Bible are called the Pentateuch, which comes from the Greek words for five and for scroll; together these books are called the Law, particularly in the Jewish religion. The last of these five books is called Deuteronomy, which comes from the Greek words for second and for law, because this book is like a summing up of the laws and experiences of the previous books of the Law. It is chiefly a story of the relationship between God and the people; he saves and looks after them time and again in wonderful ways, they repeatedly complain and let Him down – it’s the story of our lives too, perhaps. The verses we have today focus on the manna, which they received as a gift from God when they found themselves in the desert with no knowledge of how to survive there and hence made a complaint against God for leading them there through Moses. Manna was seen as miraculous food that was the gift of life for them from God even though they were not deserving. From this it is clear how this is related to the sacrament of Communion.

The Mosst Holy Trinity - 2026 - Year A

by Jeff Bagnall • 28 May 2026

Exodus is the second book of the Bible; it is based on and around the story of slaves escaping from their oppression in Egypt and travelling through the hostile desert under the leadership of Moses; and it was in this process that a relationship was built up between them and the one God who would be theirs from then on forever; it was the God with the mysterious name of Yahweh, meaning something like ‘I am who is.’ This basic oral account over time gained a great number of elaborations and additions before it settled into the written form in the Bible that has now been more or less unaltered for about two and a half thousand years. In our extract for today’s first reading we hear of this aloof and even fearful God condescending to meet with Moses the people’s leader on the heights of the sacred Mount Sinai. This God then announces himself (always referred to in this personal way) as kind and forgiving, despite the unfaithfulness of the people whose God He is. Moses is encouraged by this revelation and feels enabled to respond on behalf of the people he leads, with worship and prayer for blessing and forgiveness. It is this threefold pattern in this section of the Exodus story that is seen by Christians to suit this day’s Feast of the Trinity – the threefold pattern of God the aloof, the one who shows Himself and the one who enables an appropriate response.