Cycle A - Year I:  

6 August 2023: Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14

Second Reading:   2 Peter 1:16-19

Gospel:  Please Read  Matthew 17:1-9 

The eternal glory of the Son!

The Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord is celebrated on 6 August, and this year it falls on a Sunday. We interrupt our celebration of Ordinary Time to give way to this important Feast.

This is a major feast day and commemorates the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Tabor before the apostles Peter, James, and John. During this event, these apostles were given a glimpse of Jesus' divine nature and see Him talking with Elijah and Moses. The Feast celebrates the revelation of the eternal glory of the Second Person of the Trinity.  The Transfiguration foretells the glory of the Lord as God, and His Ascension into heaven.

The story of the Transfiguration is found in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-9; Luke 9:28-36) With remarkable agreement, all three Gospels place the event shortly after Peter's confession of faith that Jesus is the Messiah and after Jesus' first prediction of His passion and death. The purpose of the Transfiguration was to encourage and strengthen the apostles who were depressed by their Master's prediction of His own Passion and Death.

The Gospel narrative: As Jesus and His disciples were traveling to Jerusalem, their journey was briefly interrupted by an experience of Jesus' transfiguration upon a mountain. There, Jesus appeared in glory with Moses, the great lawgiver of Israel, and with Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, in the presence of three of His beloved apostles, Peter, John, and James. St. Matthew's account tells us that Jesus' "face shone like the sun and his clothes white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him." (Mt 17:2-3)

"In the Transfiguration Christ enjoyed for a short while that glorified state which was to be permanently His after His Resurrection on Easter Sunday. The splendor of His inward Divinity and of the Beatific Vision of His soul overflowed on His body, and permeated His garments so that Christ stood before Peter, James, and John in a snow-white brightness."     

The three apostles with Jesus in that sacred mountain never forgot what happened that day. They bore witness to it to other disciples and to countless millions down through the centuries. In the second reading today, Peter recounts this experience: "We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we have been eyewitnesses of his majesty." (2 Pt 1:16)   

For Matthew's readers, the account of the Transfiguration confirmed that Jesus indeed is the Son of God and pointed to the fulfillment of the prediction that He will come in His Father's glory at the end of age. The event was foretold in the first reading from the Book of Daniel.

The message of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ is that God wants to share His glory with us. With the eyes of faith we, too, experience the "transfiguration" of our Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist at Mass. When we actually receive Him in the Holy Eucharist, He gives us the grace to sustain us in our difficult and challenging journey through this life. Jesus in the Holy Eucharist makes light our way of the cross in this life. So that receiving Jesus frequently in the Holy Eucharist is a foretaste of His resurrection. It is our assurance of God's ultimate victory over sin and evil at the end of time.

Today is also Saint John Marie Vienney Sunday. St. John Marie Vienney was a priest and considered as patron saint of parish priests. Special collection in all Masses today is to be made for the ongoing formation of the clergy.

A blessed Feast of the Lord's Transfiguration to all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!