First Reading - Daniel 7:9-10,13-14
Second Reading - 2 Peter 1:16-19
Gospel - Matthew 17:1-9
The first reading describes Daniel's vision of the "Son of man". The prophet shows the image of the Son of man as the one who is glorified and has the authority to judge the world. The Son of man, in Daniel's vision, represents a divine figure.
The same divine figure relives in the scene of the transfiguration in which Jesus manifests his glorious divine nature to his disciples. Furthermore, the appearance of Moses and Elijah with Jesus indicates the divinity of Jesus as the one who came to fulfill the Law and the prophets. A voice from the cloud: "This is my Son, the Beloved..." also affirms the divinity of Jesus. The scene of the transfiguration was in fact intended to reassure the disciples' faith in the divinity of Jesus.
The second reading expresses the result of the transfiguration experience: a firm conviction. Peter boldly claims that he witnessed the divine manifestation of Jesus on the mountain. Therefore, belief in Jesus is not a myth, but rather a reality.
Dear friends, the transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor was truly a great event. However, this self-manifestation of Jesus continues to take place even in our time. How and when does this happen? The self-manifestation of Jesus takes place through the Word of God that we hear during mass and in our readings. It happens through the events of our life. It happens above all in the celebration of the Sacraments and in a very tangible way in the celebration of the Eucharist, where the bread is transformed into the Flesh of Jesus and the wine is transformed into the Blood of Jesus. Saint Francis of Assisi says that 'in order to truly perceive this mystery of 'self-manifestation of Jesus especially in the Eucharist we need the eyes of faith'. We seek God's grace so that we can grow each day so that we can see God's self-manifestation in our lives. We pray that God will open the eyes of our faith.
Another thing that we can learn from the event of transfiguration is that we should be ready to accept good and bad situations of our lives. The transfiguration of Jesus was a glimpse of heaven for the disciples. Peter, representing all the others, accepted that it was really wonderful to be there to view the glorious Jesus. It was an expression of great amazement and joy. Furthermore, he proposed to have built three tents there which also manifests the desire of the disciples to remain in that glorious moment. However, Jesus led them down the mountain to embrace passion and death that was awaiting him. We too want to dwell on our achievements and happy moments whereas try to avoid suffering and pain. Jesus teaches us today that as we accept our happy moments so also we should accept and face the difficult moments of our lives. The disciples were mesmerized by the glimpse of divine Jesus, at the same time Jesus led them down the mountain to let them accept his suffering and death.
Let's pray that we may have courage to face happy moments and sad moments of our lives with courage.
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