Dan 7:9-10,13-14; Ps 96(97):1-2,5-6,9; 2 Pet 1:16-19; Matt 17:1-9
Theme: It is Good For Us to Stay Here.
Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Transfiguration. It is important we know that the feast does not just celebrate the revelation of Jesus’ glory to his three disciples, but also the presentation of the Trinitarian experience of every believer and the fulfilment of the Law and prophets in Jesus. In the Transfiguration scene, we see the presence of God the Father through his voice, and the presence of the Holy Spirit through the Cloud that overshadowed them.
From the gospel and the feast of the day, we can meditate on the following:
a. Consolation at the Other Side of Suffering
A woman was pregnant of twins. When the time for delivery came, she was possessed by a great fear that the nurses feared she would not make it. As the woman was lying on the bed shivering, and the doctor was planning of going through CIS, one of the mid-wives, came into the labor room, put on the television and searched for “the moments with my twins”. Many videos of mothers who gave birth to twins and were playing with their kids showed up. The mid-wife put one of the videos for the woman to watch. It was so wonderful seeing how children were sweetly playing with their mum. It was
as if their mother did not go through the pain of pregnancy and labor in order to give birth to them.
The happiness of this mum playing with her children changed the atmosphere and the feeling of this helpless pregnant woman in labor. The mid-wife said to the woman in labor, “few minutes from now, your two babies will be lying sweetly beside you. And few weeks from now, they will be playing with you as you just watched”. Just as the mid-wife was still speaking, the woman pushed out her first child. This is exactly what Jesus did for his disciples at the scene of transfiguration.
At this stage in the ministry of Jesus, he has started moving towards the hour of his suffering and death. In Matt 16, Jesus began to speak strictly and specifically of his passion and death (16:21), and the cost of true discipleship (16:24-26). It became a hard moment for the disciples to accept (16:22). Jesus knows that he is moving towards his glory, but for that glorious moment to come, he must pass through the pain of the cross. Just like in the story of the pregnant woman, Jesus decided to show his disciples the glory that awaits his suffering. And this is why he cautioned the three disciples not to tell anyone about the vision until after he had risen.
Dearest in Christ, there is the glory that awaits our turbulent moments. There is the glory that awaits our difficult times. We only need to keep faith with God and fix our gaze on him. Glorious moments are achieved through pain and sacrifices. Sometimes the pains and the difficulties may be so excruciating. Seeing how beautiful children are, even the mother forgets the pains she endured for nine months, and the excruciating pain of the labor room. In our own labor room, may we keep our gaze on the glory that comes from our pushing and sweating,
b. It is Good For Us to Be Here
This is the remark of Peter when he beheld the tremendous shining of Jesus’s face and his white garments. Peter did not wish to go away from that moment. He wished that it does not stop.
We must pray for this divine encounter that makes one not to desire going back to his formal life. No one ever encounters God and his splendor and desires to go back. St. Teresa of Avila, in her deepest contemplation that brought her facing the glory of God, had to cry heavily asking God “Please
do not take me back to where I come from”. St. Augustine, just after that sweet encounter of the divine glory, could only exclaim “Late had I known”. Imagine what made saints to abandon the riches and the glories in the world, and run into desert, in order not to be distracted from the sweetness that comes from moments with God!!!
We ourselves encounter God in his most Transfigurative form, in the Holy Eucharist. If only our eyes can be opened for a second so that we see the divine awesomeness that surrounds the altar of the Eucharist, we can only but exclaim like Peter “Most Awesome God, I want us to be here FOREVER”.
Secondly, we have to ask ourselves, do we radiate the glory of God that makes people to desire meeting us and staying with us, or are we so toxic that everyone who encounters us ends up cursing God for having created us? We cannot be God’s children without possessing the same glory of our Father. People must be able to see our shining faces, and the immaculate garments of the characters which we put on.
How does our presence alleviate the painful moments of others? Does our presence bring enough consolation to people about the love and mercy of God? In our families, neighborhoods, places of works, church, societies, associations, etc., do people desire to have our presence in their midst because of the beauty of our smiles, the purity of our love, the sincerity of our heart, the sacrificial tone of our words, the forgiving spirit that we possess?
On this day of Transfiguration, Jesus gives us a foretaste of the glory that awaits us at the end of the suffering moment, and he wants us to bring this his shining face to everyone who comes across us. The question then is, “Are you a child of Transfiguration?”
Wishing You a Very Holy and Wonderful Feast of the Lord