Transfigured: Unveiling God's Glory

Last Sunday at the beginning of our Lenten season, Jesus conquered Satan in the desert during his temptation. The lesson of this event has volumes to teach us. The reality of evil and the devil is obvious. Temptation is real and nobody is exempted. Life is a struggle and to survive, we need to follow Jesus closely and learn from him.

Today the second week of Lent, in our spiritual Lenten journey Jesus is taking us to the high mountain to experience his glory with God the Father, to see what heaven looks like, to be consoled, and to believe in him as our Savior, to hear from the first class witnesses of what the value of suffering and Penance is, and to hear directly what God says about his going to the cross.

St. Thomas Aquinas noted: "The transfiguration was a foretaste of the glory of the resurrection." The transfiguration event on Mountain Tabor will encourage us to willingly accept our Lenten observances and at the end enter glory with Jesus.

The transfiguration experience is one of the clearest manifestations of Jesus tenderness and love for his disciples.

St Pope John Paul II said: "The Transfiguration is a revelation of the glory of Christ, which shines forth in the midst of human weakness.” His love for them enables the disciples to contemplate his glorification.

He took three of them to the high mountain to show them the glory that lay behind his suffering and also to make them hear what he has been saying about his suffering and death from Moses, Elijah and the mouth of God himself.

St Leo The Great, commenting on this has this to say, “The principal aim of the Transfiguration was to banish from the disciples’ soul the scandal of the cross.“

In the high mountain alone with Jesus in prayer, without thinking about themselves, the doors of their souls were opened.

Shading more light on transfiguration St. Ephraim writes: "The Transfiguration is a manifestation of the glory of the Only-Begotten, which shines in the hearts of those who believe."

They discovered who Jesus was- The God made Man.

The disciples will never forget this drop of honey that Jesus gave them in the midst of their grief. Many years later, St Peter would recall and write this moment with all its clarity:

“And the voice was borne to him by the majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, ‘ we heard this voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the Holy mountain (2Pt.1:17-18).

This event invites us to reflect on our own experiences of God's presence. Like the disciples, we are called to listen to Jesus, the Beloved Son, and to be transformed by his light. As we journey through Lent, may we open our hearts to the transformative power of God's love, and be transfigured by his glory.