A Mountain Top Experience

Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration

Immediately before the verses that we read from the Second Letter of Peter on this Feast of the Transfiguration, St. Peter sets the context in which we should read them. He remarks: “I shall also make every effort to enable you always to remember these things after my departure.” Peter wants to be sure that we remember his experience of Jesus Christ, and in particular, his experience of Jesus atop Mount Horeb. He urges us to be attentive to his prophetic message and that we let that message be a lamp that enlightens our own experience of Jesus. He wants us to remember that he heard a voice from heaven telling him that Jesus was the Beloved Son of God to whom we must listen.

As a Jewish adult Peter would have immediately recognized that the appearance of Moses and Elijah was not a coincidence. It was atop Mount Horeb that Moses first encountered God in the burning bush. It was atop Mount Horeb that Elijah heard that whispering breeze that was the voice of God. Now Peter, James, and John were all atop Mount Horeb themselves, and they were hearing God’s voice as well.

What Peter heard atop that mountain he now understood. The rising of the dead that Jesus had prophesied and that they had questioned has happened. Jesus has risen in accordance with the Scriptures. These moments of clarity, whether our own, the stories shared with us in conversation, or the stories passed down to us in sacred Scripture, are like a lamp for the dark moments of our lives.

We need to root ourselves in the stories of God’s faithfulness, God’s love, and God’s power which are passed down to us in the Scriptures. These stories provide us with food for our hearts and minds, and make us even more receptive to further gifts that can open our eyes to deeper truths. Think of what happens when a candle is used to light another candle and what happens when those two candles then light two more. Light begets light. Consequently, we can see more clearly. When we share these stories with one another, the lamp burns more brightly to scatter the darkness. Then, not only can we see more clearly, more deeply, and more fully, but we can also help to scatter the darkness that others might be experiencing.

As we partake of this Eucharist today, let yourself be drawn into the light that shone so brightly atop Mount Horeb for Peter, James, and John. Allow the grace to see the realities miraculously at work in our world to penetrate your life. Thus, we will be strengthened to go and proclaim this truth to others with confidence and joy.