There is so much packed into the account of the Transfiguration I could probably have spoken 30 or 40 minutes this morning. (Don’t worry, I did not.) What is true is that the Transfiguration tells us all we need to know about Jesus. It helps us to cope with suffering and pain. It teaches us about the importance of prayer. Listen carefully to Jesus, and you will see more clearly the importance of this meeting of heaven and earth.
What it reminds me of is the reality of God. The greatness and glory of God is beyond anything we can imagine. And the Transfiguration of Jesus is a reminder to us of the awesome glory.
On this second Sunday of Lent, we hear and reflect upon the Gospel of Matthew 17:1-9. Within this particular passage, the transfiguration occurs in which Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on top of a high mountain and transfigures before them, with Moses and Elijah appearing and speaking with Jesus. Through this reading, God is telling us that Jesus has just created the place in which the temporal world and the eternal world would meet. Jesus himself had just become the connection and the bridge between heaven and earth through his submission to God in all aspects of his life. Through reading about this event, we as followers of Christ must remember to continue to have perseverance through this time of Lent in our fasting and dedication of prayer so that we can show our discipleship through the giving of ourselves.
Every Second Sunday of Lent we hear an account of the Transfiguration. Why is this?
There are times when it is important for us to remember the goal. What is the purpose of our life? Aristotle suggested that determining what something is for was and important way to explain something. Saint Thomas Aquinas applied this idea to humans, suggesting that we were made for living in beatitude with God ultimately in the Beatific Vision.
