August 2025

As we close this radiant month of July 2025 — still carrying the Precious Blood of Jesus in our veins from its solemnity and the apostolic zeal of St. Ignatius Loyola on the 31st — the entire Church is already feeling the pull of August, the month when the Father will manifest His Son in glory on Mount Tabor and then crown the masterpiece of His creation by assuming the Immaculate Mother body and soul into heaven. This August, in the blazing heart of the Jubilee Year of Hope, will be nothing less than a new Pentecost for the young Church. Hundreds of thousands of young Catholics will flood Rome for the Jubilee of Youth (July 28 – August 3, culminating in the great closing Mass with Pope Leo XIV), and the fire that falls upon them will spread to every parish, every seminary, every cloister, every family altar across the globe. Under the bold, Christ-centered leadership of Pope Leo XIV — who continues to preach Jesus Christ crucified and risen without apology or dilution — August will be the month when the Church remembers that she is not a humanitarian NGO, but the very Body of Christ, called to be transfigured by the Eucharist and sent out to set the world on fire.

The liturgical calendar of August 2025 is a theological masterpiece pointing relentlessly to Christ. We begin on Thursday, July 31 with St. Ignatius Loyola — whose Spiritual Exercises have formed saints and missionaries for centuries — and enter August proper on Friday the 1st with St. Alphonsus Liguori, the Doctor of moral theology who taught the certainty of Christ’s mercy for sinners. Sunday, August 3 will still throb with the aftershock of the Jubilee of Youth closing Mass. Then comes Wednesday, August 6 — the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, when Jesus will reveal His glory to Peter, James, and John, and to every soul who climbs the mountain of prayer and adoration in these Jubilee days. The crown of the month is Thursday, August 15 — the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Holy Day of Obligation worldwide, when we celebrate the first fruits of the Resurrection: the sinless Mother of God taken body and soul into heaven because she first bore the Incarnate Word in her womb.

The month closes with a litany of saints who keep our eyes fixed on Jesus: St. Dominic (August 8), whose rosary preaching converted nations; St. John Vianney (August 4), patron of parish priests; St. Clare (August 11); St. Rose of Lima (August 23); St. Bartholomew (August 24); St. Monica and St. Augustine (August 27–28); and the Beheading of St. John the Baptist (August 29). Every feast screams one truth: Jesus Christ is Lord, and He alone satisfies the human heart.

The Jubilee of Youth will be the beating heart of August. Beginning July 28 and running through August 3, this will be the largest gathering of Catholic youth since World Youth Day Lisbon — but this time inside the full flood of Jubilee graces. Over 500,000 young people are expected in Rome, with millions more participating in local events. They will pass through the Holy Door, receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation in over 50 languages, adore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in circus-style tents across the city, and hear Pope Leo XIV preach the full Gospel: chastity, repentance, mission, the reality of hell, the glory of heaven, and the urgent need to bring Christ to a dying world. The Holy Father has already said his message will center on the Transfiguration: “Young people, you are called to show the world the radiant face of Christ — not a comfortable Christianity, but the real Jesus who demands everything and gives everything.”

Our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV has designated August as the month of Eucharistic transfiguration. His prayer intention for August, released in the Pope Video filmed in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, is “for those suffering from addiction and despair, that they may encounter the healing presence of Christ in the Eucharist and in the community of the Church.” On August 6, the Feast of the Transfiguration itself, he will preside at a worldwide Holy Hour broadcast from St. Peter’s, with the Blessed Sacrament exposed beneath the Bernini baldacchino while youth from every continent lead the prayers. On August 17 he will celebrate Mass and share lunch with over 150 homeless persons in the Paul VI Hall — showing that the same Jesus adored on the altar is present in the poorest of the poor.

Around the world the Church is answering with heroic faith.

In Africa, the bishops of Nigeria have declared August a “Month of Eucharistic Warfare,” with 24-hour adoration in every parish that has not been burned by jihadists, explicitly for the conversion of persecutors and the protection of the Church. The Democratic Republic of Congo is preparing a national Eucharistic Congress in Kinshasa August 9–15, with hundreds of thousands walking for days to adore Jesus and pray for peace.

In Asia, the Church in the Philippines is mobilizing over two million youth for simultaneous local Jubilee celebrations when Rome is too far, with Manila hosting what may be the largest Eucharistic procession in history on August 15. Indian bishops are consecrating every diocese to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus on the Transfiguration feast.

In Latin America, Brazilian youth are organizing “Transfiguration Missions” — teams of young people taking the Blessed Sacrament in procession through favelas every night of August, preaching repentance and healing. The bishops of Mexico have called for every parish to have exposition of the Blessed Sacrament every day of August until midnight.

In Europe, the Polish Church is preparing a nine-day Transfiguration-to-Assumption novena of perpetual adoration across the nation, with President Duda expected to participate publicly. German and French bishops are jointly organizing “Eucharistic reconciliation” events for divided Catholic communities.

In the United States, the National Eucharistic Revival reaches its climactic phase this month. Dozens of dioceses are holding Eucharistic Congresses on or around August 6, with bishops leading public processions through city streets — some for the first time since the 1940s. Reports from the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage routes indicate that over 300,000 people have returned to the sacraments since May, and vocations directors are being overwhelmed with inquiries.

Our bishops are leading with apostolic fire. Many are issuing strong pastoral letters on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the necessity of Sunday obligation, and the non-negotiable truths of faith and morals. Several have announced they will personally hear confessions for hours during the Assumption vigil Masses.

Our priests — those men who make the Eucharist possible every day — will be stretched to their limits this August and will radiate Christ more brightly because of it. The Jubilee of Youth alone will generate tens of thousands of confessions. This is our moment to fast one day a week for our priests, to enroll them in spiritual bouquet chains, to slip notes of gratitude into the confessional kneeler.

Seminaries are reporting something close to a miracle: formation houses are full, and new applicants keep coming — many of them young men who encountered Christ during World Youth Day remnants or the Eucharistic Revival and now want to give their lives so that others may receive Him. One Midwestern seminary rector told me privately: “We haven’t seen numbers like this since the 1950s. The Jubilee is doing what decades of programs could not.”

And our consecrated brothers and sisters — the contemplative powerhouses and active missionaries — are the hidden engine of every grace. August 15 is the triumph of the first consecrated virgin, assumed into heaven. Cloistered communities are being inundated with prayer requests from youth who met them during the Jubilee events and now want to discern. Many monasteries have opened their doors for the first time in decades for “Transfiguration retreats” for young men and women.

My dear brothers and sisters, August 2025 is the month when Jesus Christ wants to transfigure His Church through the Eucharist and through the yes of a new generation. Go to daily Mass if you can. Adore Him nightly if possible. Bring one fallen-away young person with you to the Assumption Mass. Live as though the glory shining on Tabor is meant for you — because it is.