August 6: The Transfiguration of the Lord / La Transfiguración del Señor

It is safe to assume that, during the years of His public ministry, there was “the everyday Jesus” who was well known to His friends. And then there was the moment when they scarcely recognized Him, so transformed—Transfigured—was He (Mark 9, 2-10). At that moment, Divinity shone through Him, revealing a depth that the disciples had never imagined.

Can this sort of transformation (or Transfiguration) happen only to Jesus? Before answering, consider this: when a little girl was asked what a saint was, she replied (while thinking of the stained glass windows in the church), “A saint is a person who lets the light through.” Can we “let the light through?” Are we called to anything less?

 

For further reflection: Transformation is a joyful theme, but the truth is that little real change in us happens without self-denial of some kind. The world tells us that the richer we are the happier we will be; but look at someone who is ten times richer than we are and ask if that person is ten times happier, ten times more alive. Wealth may provide someone with a more expensive suit of clothes, but it does not transfigure the person.

Real transformation or transfiguration is from within. And it usually happens when we are in a crisis, at our limit, or at the end of our resources. According to the Gospels, Jesus was at a critical moment when His Transfiguration took place. Immediately after His mountaintop experience, He began to speak of His imminent suffering and death. The glory of God shone on Him and through Him when He directed His attention to the events which would soon unfold in Jerusalem, including on Mt. Calvary. We often try to insulate ourselves from both suffering and death, but aren’t we called to pass through them – to the life which does not end, in the glory of the Kingdom?

***

El misterio que hoy celebramos, la Fiesta de la Transfiguración del Señor, lo manifestó Jesús a sus discípulos en el monte Tabor (Marcos 9, 2-10). Deseando infundir en sus corazones una firmísima e íntima convicción, de modo que por lo presente creyeran en lo futuro, realizó ante sus ojos aquella admirable manifestación como una imagen prefigurativa del Reino de los Cielos.

Cristo hoy se nos manifiesta en el esplendor de su gloria, de su divinidad: mientras está orando, se transfigura y reviste su cuerpo de un esplendor extraordinario. En la Transfiguración, sus discípulos experimentan una gran felicidad y fortalecen su fe.

La Transfiguración nos confirma en la esperanza de la futura Resurrección, ya que también nuestros cuerpos serán semejantes al cuerpo glorioso de Jesús, que hoy nos pide que escuchemos sus enseñanzas y lo sigamos, para poder ser con Él, coherederos de la gloria celestial.

 

footer-logo
Translate »