Today in the Church we celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up to a high mountain and is transfigured. Now the Greek word used for Transfiguration is “met-am-or-fo-o,” which means: “to be changed into another form.” Jesus’ human body is mysteriously transformed and his face shines like the sun, and his garments become dazzling white. Jesus unleashes a glimpse of his divinity to his closest Apostles. The bright light illuminates their eyes and their minds to see the truth about his identity.
Jesus did all of this on His way to Calvary, to strengthen His Apostle’s faith before his passion. It was also a foretaste of his future splendor at His resurrection and ascension. This “shot in the arm” also gave them courage and strength to endure the persecutions and martyrdom they were to face and to not fall into doubt or despair. They now knew that nothing in this world would compare to the glory to come.
Usually, in life, the Lord’s divine glory is hidden. But now and then, we get little glimpses of God, like the sun piercing through the clouds on an overcast day. When we have one of these moments of “contact,” we may experience a strong sense of God’s presence or some mystical encounter with Christ. These moments are gifts of grace from God and they lead us to deeper conversion and contemplation.
And even if we don’t experience these powerful feelings often, it doesn’t mean God isn’t present or that He doesn’t love us. It usually means He is drawing us closer to Himself and strengthening our faith.
Like Peter, we may wish to stay on the top of the mountain with these intense experiences. But, as we know, these moments fade, and we have to go back down the mountain to the reality of life, where challenges, fears, and disappointments await us.
But, as the Apostles did, we must let the encounters we have had on the top of the mountain, strengthen us to carry our crosses in the dark valleys, as we journey towards heaven.
And if we meditate on these intimate glimpses throughout our lives, and give thanks to God for them, we can grow in faith and understanding in His love for us. This will lead us to persevere in prayer, and over time, God will transform us.
If we take a moment to step back, we see that the Transfiguration of Jesus is an incredible scene and is actually quite strange and mind-boggling. And I think we should reflect on it because it shows us who Christ really is. Many people believe that Jesus was just a nice guy, who had good moral teachings and that’s it. Or we as faithful followers sometimes forget that Jesus is truly the incarnate son of God who can and will transfigure us if we ask him!
So, what is it that you need to be transfigured in your life? Whatever it is, bring it to Jesus and ask Him to shine his glorious light on you. He can transform our doubt into faith, our loneliness into companionship, our fears into trust.
On earth, we will never fully see God as He truly is, and we have to settle for small, hazy glimpses. But our faith in the Apostles’ credible eye-witness testimony should fill us with wonder. We pray that if we persevere in trust and hope, we too might be transfigured to Christ on earth and ultimately in heaven where we will see His face in all his splendid glory.