"Glorious" Memories that Sustain Us in Times of Difficulty

Today we celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration. Imagine being Peter, James or John.  They must have felt special to be chosen to accompany Jesus on this trip up the mountain.  Then all of a sudden they see Jesus in all his glory and Moses and Elijah talking to Him. Peter is so excited that, on impulse, he says whatever comes to his mind. His speech sounds something like this:  “Let’s build three tents here, Lord, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.  Let’s stay up here. This is great.” Then suddenly, a cloud overshadows them and they hear a voice saying: “This is my Son, my Beloved. Listen to Him.” Peter, James and John are overcome with fear. Jesus touches them and says: “Do not be afraid” and they are then alone with Jesus. Together they leave the mountain and Jesus says to them: “Tell no one of the vision until the Son of Man has risen from the death.” The three of them are even more confused: “What does he mean, ‘Rise from the dead,’” they ask themselves privately.

There are events in our lives  that we, too, wish would never end. “Let’s stay here forever.” “I wish we were this joy-filled, peace-filled always,” and so on.  But it is not to be. We do not live on Mount Tabor. Like the apostles, who had to go back down the mountain and join the other nine apostles, including Jesus’ betrayer, and who, within a short time would be with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, we live, the majority of time, in ordinary time, with its disappointments, losses, setbacks, and tragedies. Jesus’ message to us: “Be not afraid. I am with you always.”

We are given “Tabor” experiences, I believe, to help us through the tough times, as were Peter, James and John, the same apostles Jesus took with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane. Yes, Jesus, prepares us from life’s tragic moments! What a loving, caring, concerned God we have manifested to us in Jesus!

These are some of my thoughts on the Transfiguration. What are yours?

Citizenship in heaven

In today’s Gospel, Jesus takes Peter,  James and John to Mount Tabor, where they  witness Jesus conversing with Moses and Elijah and  see Him  transfigured in His glory. Paul tells us in today’s second reading, Phil. 3: 17-4:1, that   “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.” The transfiguration is testament to the truth of Jesus’ promises to us.  We can be as sure of our citizenship in heaven and our own transfiguration as Abraham was assured that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and that God would give him the land that he promised (today’s first reading, Gen 15: 5-12 and 17-18).  Our transfiguration into Christ begins with our Baptism, is sealed by our Confirmation, and enacted in the events of our lives as we put on the Lord Jesus Christ by our love, our forgiveness, our compassion, our being in right relationship with others or striving to be so.  Like Jesus, who learned obedience from what He suffered (Heb 5:8), so, too do we.  In our sufferings we learn to call upon the Lord in truth, to recognize our dependence upon the Lord, as Dismis did on the cross, to surrender to the Lord as Jesus surrendered to His Father for the redemption of the world. Our own redemption, won for us by Jesus on the cross, also needs our acceptance and our surrendering our wills to the will of our Father. It needs us to be thirsting for our holiness and wholeness, as Jesus’ thirsted on the cross. It needs us to take each other into our “homes,” to care for one another, as John cared for Mary and Mary cared for John, as Jesus requested from the cross. Caring for and about each other transfigures our beings into the being of Christ, glorifies us and God, and subjects us to the will of our Father.