The Transfiguration

03-13-2022Weekly ReflectionFr. Arul Doss

Dear Friends,

Good morning to you all. In last week’s Gospel, we followed Jesus into the desert where He fasted and prayed. This week, He leads us up a mountain to witness His Transfiguration. Why? He is preparing us to go with Him in a few short weeks to a hilltop, Golgotha, where He will lay down His life for our sake — and finally to take us to an empty cave where He triumphed over sin and death once and for all.

Today, our first reading and gospel have a lot in common. Both of them narrate the revelation of the glory and splendor of the future. First, due to his faith, God revealed to Abraham the glory that would be his in future. Not only did God reveal this to Abraham, He sealed it with a covenant. This is as an assurance that He will fulfill his promise to Abraham.

In the gospel, Jesus revealed his future glory to Peter, James and John. They saw the glory and splendor of God revealed in Christ who represents the New Covenant; in Moses, who represents the Law; and in Elijah who represents the Prophets. The transfiguration of Christ before His disciples is of great significance. Christ could have gone to the mountain alone, but he decided to take them with him. This was in order to assure His disciples that they were not wasting their time by following him. He did it in order to increase and strengthen their faith in Him. He did it in order to resolve the argument about his personality. Most importantly, He did it
in order to assure us of the future glory that we would enjoy if we remain faithful to the end.

Of course, after a stressful day of mountain climbing, the disciples were tired. However, because they were curious and wanted to know why Christ brought them there, they struggled to be awake. Physically, they were asleep, but spiritually, they were awake in order to accomplish the task that brought them there. Like these apostles, we too must remain spiritually awake this season in order to experience God’s glory. If we must behold the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ, we must be ready to make much sacrifice.

The Lenten season offers us the opportunity to make sacrifices. It prepares us for the future glory through prayers, good works, reflections, and self-denials. It is a time when we grow in grace in order to advance faithfully to the mountain of God’s glory. This season, we must be spiritually attentive in order to know what Christ wishes to communicate to us through his Paschal Mystery.

Have a happy and great Sunday!

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