Transfiguration of Jesus: Custody of Holy Land celebrates Mass in the Tabor

From the top of Mount Tabor, where the Lord Jesus was transfigured before the apostles Peter, James and John, the Custody of the Holy Land (CTS) celebrated a solemn mass, officiated by Fray Francesco Iielpo.

The homily revolved around the Gospel of the day, which narrates the episode of the transfiguration: “Jesus took Pedro, Santiago and John, and took them to a high mountain, and was transfigured before them, so that his face became resplendent as the sun and his white dresses like the light. In this Moses appeared and Elijah. (Mt 17, 1-3).

Fray Ielpo, New Custodian of Holy LandHe said that in that glorious event, Jesus showed his disciples his final destiny and also his own.

“It’s as if the Lord, knowing the difficulties of the trip, offered them a moment of light, an advance of paradise,” said custodian. “Because the path of the disciple always goes through the cross, but does not end on the cross. He goes further. He goes to glory,” he added.

The Franciscan said that all Catholics can be reflected in the apostles who witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus, recognizing that “we need moments of light, beauty and consolation to continue the trip.”

Six days before what happened on Mount Tabor, the Lord had announced his passion and death to his disciples, a shocking news that left them “deeply worried,” said Fray Iielo. After that painful revelation, in a “almost familiar” gesture, Jesus takes “three beloved disciples” to the top of the mountain.

“Dear brothers and sisters, I would like to think that we, the Christians of the Holy Land, are today those privileged disciples,” he said.

“The precedence, because we have been granted by grace to be physically in this mountain to walk through these sacred places where the verb became flesh, it is a gift and a responsibility of being witnesses of light in the midst of the many crosses of this earth,” added the custodian.

On the path of faith, Fray ielpo continued, there are “strenuous, dark and sometimes incomprehensible days, but God does not abandon us.” As it happened with Pedro, James and John, the Lord gives us “Flash of Light”, of his divine presence and internal consolations that make us exclaim as the prince of the apostles: “Lord, how good it is here!”

“This is my beloved son, in whom I have my pleases; listen to him”

These words of God the Father are “the heart of the Christian experience”, which is nothing more than knowing how to listen to Jesus, he said. For custodian, the Gospel is the light, strength and voice that guides us in difficult times.

“Who listens to the Gospel and puts it into practice already experiences the transfiguration. Now, an interior transfiguration that allows us to live even the pain in a new way, illuminated by hope,” he said.

“Thus, brothers and sisters, here in this mountain let ourselves transfigure through the light of the Gospel. And when we go down, like the disciples, remember that glory does not take us away from the cross, but that it gives us the strength to bring it,” he concluded.