Dear Friends,
This past Thursday, August 6th, we celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a high mountain. There, before their eyes, He is transfigured: His face shines like the sun, and His clothes become dazzling white. Many see this great mystery as a foretaste of the Resurrected Jesus, an illuminating display of his divinity to His inner circle of disciples.
But it’s not only that. Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, appear and speak with the Lord to reveal that all Scripture finds its fulfillment in Him. Then a bright cloud overshadows them, and the voice of the Father is heard: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
That raises the question: listen to what? Jesus hadn’t said anything coming up the mount. Previously, the last thing He’d said was to predict His Passion after Peter had professed his faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Then, after they’d made their way down the mount, Jesus must step in to heal a boy the disciples could not. Jesus then repeats the prediction of His passion. The glory revealed on the mountain does not remove the necessity of suffering; it makes the coming suffering meaningful.
Taken together, the before-and-after framing shows that the Transfiguration is not an isolated moment of glory. It is a revelation given in the shadow of the Cross.
- Before: the cost of discipleship is announced.
- On the mountain: the glory that awaits is revealed.
- After: the disciples are sent back into the ordinary struggles of faith and mission, carrying both the memory of glory and the call to follow the Lord.
In Matthew’s Gospel, the Transfiguration stands as a hinge: it confirms who Jesus is, clarifies the path He must walk, and gives the disciples (and us) a reason to hope while walking that same path.
Pope St. John Paul II helps us to better meditate on this great mystery when he made it the Fourth Luminous Mystery of the Rosary.
With gratitude and joy for the days ahead!
Fr. Seth