Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever. 
Today, the Feast of the Transfiguration, marks the 47th anniversary of the death of Pope St. Paul VI, who died on August 6, 1978. At the beginning of their pontificates, each pope chooses a coat of arms with different designs and symbols, which represent different mysteries of the faith, which are important to the new pope. Also, the pope chooses a motto in Latin to characterize his papacy. For example, Pope Leo XIV's motto is, "In illo uno unum," in the one, meaning Christ, we are one. So, it's a focus on Church unity, taken from St. Augustine. Pope Francis' motto was, "Miserandur adque elegendur," which means miserable, yet chosen. Pope Benedict's motto was, "Cooperatore veritatis," cooperators of the truth. Famously, Pope St. John Paul II's motto was, "Totus tuus," totally or completely yours, referring to his total consecration to Our Lady. Pope John Paul I's motto was, "Humilitas," humility. He died after 33 days in office as pope. That's a pretty humble legacy when you think about it.
And finally, Pope Paul VI's motto was, "Cum ipso in monte, in nomine domini," which means with Him, with Christ, on the mount or on the mountain, in the name of the Lord. What's interesting about Pope Paul VI's papal motto is that, in part, it reflects his name. He was Cardinal Montini before he was elected pope. Montini in Latin means little mountains, monte in Latin, and in Italian means a mountain. Also, that same motto, "Cum ipso in monte," with Him, with Jesus, on the mountain, it's actually what's depicted on the pope's coat of arms. In his coat of arms, there were three fleur-de-lis figures hanging in midair with a little mountain of rocks below. His motto and his coat of arms refer to the mystery that we actually celebrate today, our Lord's transfiguration. When above on a small mountain in Palestine, Jesus was taken up into the sky and transfigured before His disciples, and Moses and Elijah appeared on either side of Him, to the astonishment of the apostles Peter, James, and John.
Isn't it interesting that Pope Paul VI, who died on the feast of the transfiguration 15 years beforehand, so when he was elected pope in June of 1963, it's interesting that he had actually explicitly referred to today's feast in his papal motto and his papal coat of arms, same day that he ended up dying 15 years later. With God, nothing happens by coincidence. Nothing is left to what's called blind chance. Life is profoundly meaningful, and our Lord gives us many signs of how meaningful it is, how meaningful life is, how meaningful our life is, too, how important we are to Him. Not just signs in the past, like His transfiguration on Mount Tabor, but even signs today, here and now.
Just a few weeks ago, the president of the farm, the retreat center here, Jerry Walker, passed away. Jerry was 91 years old. I had the privilege of being with him and his family the day before his passing. We had a communion service by his bedside in his home and an anointing service, as well, too. One of his sons told me after that that years before, he had asked Jerry, he had asked his dad, to come and give him a hand with a job that he was doing. Jerry came over. They worked together on the project. And at one point, his son noticed that Jerry was wearing a brown scapular around his neck. He asked his dad. He said, "Dad, what is that?" Jerry told him it was a brown scapular, Our Lady's scapular. Jerry also told his son that he was hoping or praying that when he died, he would be surrounded by his family members. That evening before he passed away, all eight of Jerry's children were by his bedside, along with two of his grandchildren, who were praying the rosary, Divine Mercy chaplet. He passed away early the next morning, a little after 6 AM. You know what day it was that he passed away? It was July 16. What's July 16? It's actually the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Feast of Our Lady of the Brown Scapular, essentially.
Everything really is providential. Everything is ordered and ordained by God's providence. As we noted before, we should look at the important days of our life, in our life, and see who or what are connected to those days. For example, your birthday. What saint does the Church celebrate? What saints do the Church celebrate on your birthday? Is there any saint that has the same birthday as you? Also, as Pope Francis said, and at least one of his general audiences, you need to know the day you were baptized as well, because that's even more important than your birthday, spiritually, certainly. It's the day you had the sin of Adam and Eve washed away from your soul. It's the day you became an adopted child of God. Do you know the day of your baptism? It's important to know that. Also, think about the important anniversaries in your life, too. All these things are precious to God, because essentially we are precious to Him. You are precious to Him.
And because our Lord speaks to us through anniversaries, birthdays, names, liturgical feasts, all these things, and many other ways as well, He speaks to us. The last thing that we'll mention about names and dates and anniversaries and the like being important to our Lord is essentially what got me thinking along these lines in the first place. It's the fact that not only today, Feast of the Transfiguration, does it mark the 47th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's death, but as I've told some of you before, I was also baptized on the same exact day, 47 years ago, same day that the Pope actually passed away. It's something which, believe it or not, I didn't discover until just a few years ago when I was in seminary. I found a poster of him. It had the day of his birth, day of his death on it. I looked at the day of his death, and I said, "That day sounds or looks familiar." And I went and pulled out my baptismal certificate, October 6th, 1978. If it wasn't for Pope St. Paul VI's reforms, I probably wouldn't be a priest right now. I would not be a priest right now. I might not have even been baptized, actually. Not all of my siblings were baptized. Come to think of it, I might not have even been born in the first place since Roe versus Wade was legalized in 73. I was born in 78. My parents were not married. Perhaps it was through Pope Paul VI's prayers and also the offering of his life that my mom chose life. We'll only know in the next life, in a certain sense.
So today, I encourage you to look at yourselves and see if you can find the fingerprints of God in your own life as well. What you discover might surprise you, and it will bring you closer to the Lord. Let's ask Our Lady today for the grace to see the Lord's hand in our life and allow Him to transform us more into the likeness of His beloved Son. 
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.