2013/02/24 - Homily - THE TRANSFIGURATION : for what ?
In today’s gospel, Saint Luke shows us something unusual. Of course, Jesus did
a lot of miracles, but he never ‘played’ with his own divinity. The Tranfiguration was a big manifestation of the divine presence in Jesus. So, what is The Transfiguration for?
I.
Firstly, to explain what faith is about: it is like a show room before buying anew house. Our true home is in Heaven and we are eager to discover something about it. But, usually, the show room is visible at any time for visitors. But this is a very special case, as only three people came and they were chosen by Jesus himself.
Only with a special invitation can you visit such an extraordinary house. Peter, John and James, and only the three of them, received the privilege of being allowed to come with Jesus. The same three were allowed to be in his presence during his prayer on the Mount of Olives.
They were “sleepy” witnesses of Christ’s sorrow, just at the beginning of his passion and holy cross.
But right now, what can we discover from their attitude at Mount Tabor? Perhaps Mount Tabor, will make them able to live in a much better way at this horrible time of suffering and weakness. Not sure. But they will have to undertake the difficult, but genuine, spiritual task of putting together and understanding these two moments.
Right now, at Mount Tabor, the disciples are astonished and shocked through the powerful light which is the revelation of the divine nature of Christ. But, as we know from their lives in the gospels, their memory is not so good.
After this strange event, they went back to their own ordinary life without knowing what to make from such a strong experience. During their time with Christ, they learned how to be a disciple in the real, genuine path of their own life.
II.
In our life it is the same. We can be impressed by something great coming from God. The light enlightens us and allows us to give some sense to the very important events in our life. But, for most of us, it is not enough yet. All tranfigurations of Christ into our life are not enough, and still far from our heart of hearts.
We can see but we don’t let it take root into our heart. We can understand, but are not ready yet to put into practice. As disciples, we are not yet steady or entirely firm.
We put our trust in God and yet, very soon, we forget to live as people who trust Him. We ask God throughout the Bible and the Church about “what is his will for our life?”
And often, when we think the Lord has sent us an answer in one way or another, we forget to follow it, sometimes we simply forget to ask Him, and when we come back to Him, we feel deeply ashamed for what we have done.
Jesus knows that we have to advance in life, immerged in this grey light, making things not so easy to see clearly. But our lives on earth must prepare us to enter Heaven where God’s Majesty is constantly revealed .
III.
Lent is the time to open our eyes, open our ears, renew our hope. To see clearly and plant our feet firmly in the ground, walking as if going to the home we have in heaven.
The Light coming from our faith is not constantly clear, but we know, that it is not only in the bread we ask for daily that we will find the strength we need for our life on earth. Saint Paul in his letter to the Philippians says exactly the same thing when he reminds them that Jesus Christ the Saviour, will change “our weak mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body”, as shown in Mount Tabor.
To conclude : When Peter woke up and witnessed this wonderful event, he wanted to build three tents; as if to CONTAIN, CONTROL and STOP the flow of life. Sometimes we can be like that, we have had a wonderful “MOUNTAIN TOP EXPERIENCE” or someone loves us, or we’ve had a great success and WE want to stop the flow of life and just stay with the moment. But maybe, we will miss out on greater blessings of life ahead of us, if we do this.
