Every August 6, the Church celebrates the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, which occurred in the presence of the apostles John, Peter and James.
Two things define the moment: the conversation between Jesus with Moses and Elijah, and the voice of God that bursts from a cloud saying: “This is my Son, the beloved, my favorite. Listen to him” (Lk. 9, Mc. 9, Mt. 17).
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According to the evangelical account, the Transfiguration occurred on a high and secluded mountain called Tabor, which in Hebrew means “the embrace of God.”
In the Catechism
In reference to this extraordinary episode, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (555) notes: “For an instant, Jesus shows his divine glory, thus confirming Peter’s confession. It also shows that in order to ‘enter into his glory’ (Lk 24, 26), it is necessary to pass through the Cross in Jerusalem.”
“Moses and Elijah had seen the glory of God on the Mountain; The Law and the prophets had announced the sufferings of the Messiah (cf. Lk 24, 27). The Passion of Jesus is the will par excellence of the Father,” adds the Catechism.
“Lord, how good it is here!”
Saint Jerome comments on the passage with expressions that underline God the Father’s predilection for Jesus: “This is my Son, not Moses or Elijah. These are my servants; that one, my Son. This is my Son: of my same nature, of my same substance, who remains in Me and is all that I am. Those others are also certainly loved by me, but This is my most beloved. Therefore listen to him (…) He is the Lord, these others, the fellow servants. Moses and Elijah talk about Christ. They are your fellow servants. Do not honor the servants in the same way as the Lord: pay attention only to the Son of God”, concludes the meditation of the holy translator of the Bible.
For his part, Saint Thomas Aquinas highlights the Trinitarian aspect of this theophany (divine manifestation): “The entire Trinity appeared: the Father in the voice, the Son in the man, the Spirit in the luminous cloud.”
Finally, it is important to consider the reaction of the direct witnesses of the miracle. When the Transfiguration was over, Peter, who had said “Lord, how good it is here!” (Mt 17, 4), he descends from the mountain without understanding what has happened. Saint Augustine, in a sermon, alludes to the apostle with some beautiful words that remind us, just as Jesus reminded Peter, that life cannot stop, that we are just passing through and that the definitive contemplation of God is only possible in the darling:
“Go down (you, Peter) to suffer on earth, to serve on earth, to be despised and crucified on earth. Life descends to get killed; Bread comes down to be hungry; the Way descends to tire oneself walking; the Source descends to feel the thirst; And you, are you going to refuse to suffer?”
The day without end will come, in which we will say “how good it is here!” and we will remain in the presence of the Transfigured One forever, in all the glory and splendor of him.
The Transfiguration as an “antidote”“
It is possible to say that today, many people experience a feeling of decline in social life or culture. Some have even fallen into hopelessness or spiritual exhaustion. Faced with these phenomena, Christ appears today, ‘whiter’ than ever, radiant, full of Light.
In Him our confidence is reborn that the best is always yet to come, and that what is bad can always be transformed.
Let us not fall into the temptation of discouragement, the old strategy to forget the wonders of God’s love, even in the most difficult circumstances.
Pope Benedict XVI noted, on August 6, 2013, regarding this feast:
“How much need do we have, also in our time, to emerge from the darkness of evil to experience the joy of the children of light! May Mary obtain for us this gift, whom yesterday, with particular devotion, we remembered in the annual memory of the dedication of the basilica of Santa María Maggiore”.
Happy Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord!
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Central Editorial
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