Now that we are well into the season of lent, we have hopefully discovered that our Lenten penances are tougher than we at first thought they would be, if not then maybe we didn’t pick the right ones. Perhaps too, the tempter has already come to us and tried to convince us to give up to take the easy way telling us its too hard or your just going to fail anyway, what’s the use.
Perhaps, after making a good resolution to be more patient with our family, our spouse or our children, it seems we have become more impatience, not less. Maybe we have failed in our resolution to get to bed on time so we can get enough sleep in order not to lose our patience because of our tiredness. Maybe that resolution to guard our tongue lasted only a few days, only to slip up at the first frustrating event or person to come our way. Or maybe in our attempt to fast from complaining, we seemed to have given into complaining even more. In order to give us encouragement, today the Church gives us this Gospel, in order that the Transfiguration of Jesus would help us as it helped Peter, James and John.
In this Gospel, Jesus knows His disciples; He knows how discouraged they are after hearing that Calvary was coming, that His suffering and death was coming. Jesus can read their hearts; He knows how much they truly desired to follow him even though they are very, very weak. The Passion is just too difficult for them to accept; they couldn’t understand why this would have to happen to Jesus. They also were certainly quite afraid. Peter had the courage to say to Jesus- “God forbid this would ever happen to You!” Jesus however was very stern in his response, saying to Peter, “Get thee behind me Satan!” Poor Peter was living wonderfully, his faith strong one minute and the next he was failing miserably. The truth is, is that we all can be like Peter here, one minute we’re full of faith and fervor and the next we fall flat on our faces.
It is then that they climbed the mountain. The climbing I think symbolizing the disciples ascending to God in faith. The work of growing in faith is hard, being faithful to Jesus, His teachings, to His Holy Church and to His Holy Will is hard-it includes nothing less than the cross, nothing less than a dying to self in order to love Jesus and to love neighbor for love of Him; this is what our Lenten observance is all about.
At the top of the mountain and after the hard climb, the disciples arrive and suddenly Jesus is transformed before them. Jesus reveals to them just a hint of the incredible glory and power of His Divinity. How awesome it must have been--it was a glimpse into that of which eye has not seen, ear as not heard, nor has it even entered into the mind of man…
The Transfiguration was given as a precursor to the Resurrection. It let the Apostles know that Jesus would make it through His suffering, His passion and His death on the cross. The glorious white of His garments equal the glorious white garments of His Victorious Resurrection. The Transfiguration was for the disciples a glimpse into heaven; it was a sneak peak, if you will, at the goal of this life, the very reason and the meaning for it and for all of its struggles and even its crosses. This goal that disciples saw was heaven, not as a place, but as a life of intimacy with Jesus and His Father and the Holy Spirit.
And so, by seeing Jesus’ divinity shining through his humanity, the disciples were filled with hope, because they saw the Truth about Jesus who was their hope. And in this hope they began already to possess Jesus and be possessed by Him, a possession of love, heaven begun already on earth. Because of this hope that they possessed in their hearts, they would be able to pass through their own future passion and death. Peter and James would become martyrs-John would suffer exile.
The disciples suffered incredibly for their faithful witness to Jesus, to the truth of his resurrection, to the truth of His teachings and to their faithfulness to His Church, but they saw in the cross the hope of the resurrection, of ultimate victory. They knew through faith that Jesus was always with them, in order to strengthen them with His divine love given to them through His humanity, which they received in the Holy Eucharist. By the power of this love, Jesus’ love alive within them, they persevered to the end and reached that goal which they saw on that Mountain of Tabor-union with God.
The transfiguration however, wasn’t just for the apostles; it is for all of us as well. It reminds us that Jesus always treats in the same way, those who love Him and who are faithful to Him. Jesus too will come and strengthen and encourage us in our Lenten discipline. He knows of our desire to follow Him faithfully though we are very, very weak. He knows too, how hard it is for us to transform ourselves, how hard it is to acquire the virtues, even with the help of His grace. He also knows how hard we struggle to believe, to adore, to hope and to love Him. However, He desires to do this for us not only in Lent but also during all our lives.
In the very midst of our greatest discouragement, struggles and during our greatest sufferings, Jesus gives us the consolations we need to keep going forward, if we but keep our eyes on Him. If we keep our eyes on Him and are faithful to Him and His Holy Church, it doesn’t matter if we are on the mountain, or in the deepest valley, or even in the valley of death, Jesus will always be with us. No matter where we are, or the circumstances we are in, with His help, we will be able to see Jesus behind it all. If we are with Him, by being with His Church, then it is all the same whether we find ourselves surrounded by the greatest consolations in the world or in a hospital bed suffering indescribable pain or in the midst of the worst persecution of faith the world has ever seen. The only thing that matters is that we always see Jesus and live in His Divine presence. This is the only really good and important thing in this life and in the next.
The transfiguration reminds us that if we are to follow Jesus faithfully, as did Peter, James and John throughout their lives after the Resurrection of Jesus, we too will have to like them take up our cross and follow after Jesus; we too may even have to suffer and die for our faith in Him and His Holy Church. Yes the cross will definitely come to us, but we will know as did the disciples that after the cross comes the resurrection. If we keep our gaze focused on Him, we will with Him be able to pass through our own suffering and passion and make it to the goal of resurrection. With the goal in sight, we will never say, “God forbid that this happens to me, or to your Church, we can offer up our suffering, we can keep heaven in our sight and preserve to ultimate victory.
At this Holy Mass and at every Holy Mass we can literally through faith, climb Mt Tabor. Here, in the little White Host, Jesus becomes truly present to us the fullness of His Humanity. But shining through that humanity is the glory and power of His divinity. Although we can’t see his divinity shining through His humanity, as did the disciples, to see this glory through the eyes of our faith strengthens us nonetheless.
The Eucharist is the transfigured Jesus with us to give us hope in our trials, to strengthen us with his love in order that we would become like him. Like the apostles, the Eucharist, which is Jesus, gives us the strength we need to face our own trials and sufferings that await us, even if they include martyrdom. The Eucharist gives us the intimacy we need to face our trials and unite ourselves to Jesus. This intimacy is most important, as it will last for eternity.
Eucharistic intimacy is heaven begun on earth, a sharing in the joy of the resurrection even while we are in the midst the suffering of our passion. This glory, the glory of the Jesus in the Eucharist renews us. It is good for us to be here at this Holy Mass and we can come to Mt Tabor as well, when we come before the Tabor-nacle, and sit before the glory of Jesus hidden in the little white host. The more we behold Jesus in the Eucharist and adore Him there, the more we receive Him in Holy Communion, the more our faith is strengthened, our hope renewed and our love increased.
Jesus also wishes to transforms us as well in the confessional. In fact, it is there that he gives us the grace to purify our hearts in order that the eyes of our souls may ever more see clearly Jesus transfigured and truly present in the Eucharist. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God, they shall see God veil in the Eucharist now, but they shall also see God when the Eucharist is unveiled before us and we see Him as He is in heaven in all of His divine glory. But not only we will see the Eucharist unveiled in heaven, we will share in the Glory of the Eucharist in heaven for we will become part of God, we will become like Him, transfigured in Glory but only provided we remains faithful to Him and His Holy Church and all, all of her teachings.
The Eucharist unveiled is the end, the goal, the victory and the prize. To share in this glory is our goal, so let us continue our Lenten season with an increased fervor and with a renewed sense of how much Jesus in the Holy Eucharist really loves us and encourages us. And let us ask our Blessed Mother for the grace of perseverance not only in our Lenten disciplines, but also for the grace of final perseverance so that we too may share, along with Peter, James and John, in the fullness of the Glory of Jesus in heaven, sharing in this glory and united with Him in the eternal love and unity of the Most Blessed Trinity. Amen.
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