Feast of the Transfiguration

Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration

We celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration every August 6 even when the sixth falls on a Sunday as it did last year. At the same time, as I am sure you are aware, we read the Gospel story of the Transfiguration on the second Sunday of Lent every year using the text from the synoptic Gospel upon which we are concentrating that year. At first, this feast might seem a redundancy. Actually, this Christian feast is celebrated on this particular date to correspond more or less to a Jewish feast day which commemorates that something similar happened to Moses when he scaled the heights of Mt. Sinai to receive the Law. In the Book of Exodus we read: “As Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while he spoke with the LORD.” Thereafter, Moses wore a veil over his face when he was in the presence of other Israelites.

The Gospel account of St. Mark includes a detail that does not appear in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke. We are told that Peter “hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.” As they come down the mountain with Jesus, St. Mark tells us that they were “questioning what rising from the dead meant.” In the reading from the First Letter of St. Peter, it is clear that Peter is no longer asking that question. He is certain of the message that he is preaching and tells us in no uncertain terms that we would do well to be attentive to what he has to say.

We all have questions or have asked questions in the past about the mystery that awaits us at that unknown date in the future when the radiance of the Trinity will be revealed to us as we stand face to face with the Trinity. Personally, I can attest to the fact that the recent death of my stepfather has made me ask those questions again. Today, Sr. Janice will be burying her mother. I would not be surprised if these questions are part of her consciousness right now. So this feast day reminds us that we have been assured by God that Jesus is the beloved Son. We have been further reminded that we should be listening to him. This task of listening is part of our daily life. Pay attention. Listen to Him. For as all the evangelists tell us, faith comes by hearing, by listening to the life giving words which Jesus has spoken to us. Each day, God breaks open the Word and breaks the Bread as we come to the table of the Lord.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator