Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord

08-06-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Joseph Zwosta

Today’s feast marks a pivotal moment in Christ’s earthly ministry: the manifestation of His radiant glory to Saints Peter, James, and John in the presence of the Old Testament figures of Moses and Elijah. As the Catechism explains, “Christ’s Transfiguration aims at strengthening the apostles’ faith in anticipation of his Passion: the ascent onto the ‘high mountain’ prepares for the ascent to Calvary.” (CCC 568) In light of this traditional interpretation of the reason for this wondrous event, one may ask: why were only these three Apostles chosen to be present? Why not all of the Twelve? Why not even a larger group of disciples? Every follower of Christ could surely have benefited from a strengthening of faith before witnessing the great trial of the Lord’s Passion and Death.

The Fathers of the Church reflected upon this very question. St. John Damascene reasoned that St. Peter was chosen “to show him that the testimony which he had borne was confirmed by the testimony of the Father; and because he was about to become the president of the whole Church.” (Homily on the Transfiguration) In St. Matthew’s Gospel, the account of the Transfiguration occurs very soon after Simon Peter’s profession that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” (Mt 16:16) Christ responded famously by saying: “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.” (Mt 16:18) Immediately after this dialogue, Christ began to foretell his coming Passion. When St. Peter denied that such a thing would ever happen, the Lord strongly rebuked him. Soon after, he would see Christ’s glory and hear the Father confirm: “This is my beloved Son.” (Mt 17:5)

St. John Damascene accounts for the presence of James by the fact that he would be the first of the apostles to die as a martyr. We hear in Acts 12:2 that King Herod “had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword.” All of the apostles except St. John would ultimately shed their blood for Christ. Thus, St. James in a sense represented the apostles who were not present for the Transfiguration.

Finally, Damascene teaches that St. John was present because “he was, as it were, the most pure instrument of theology, that beholding the glory of the Son of God, which is not subject to time, he might declare, In the beginning was the Word.” (Homily on the Transfiguration) These last words, of course, begin the prologue of St. John’s Gospel. This prologue culminates: “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.” (Jn 1:14) Some exegetes interpret this mention of Christ’s glory as a reference to the Transfiguration that the Beloved Disciple beheld.

These three witnesses, Peter, James, and John would go on to be heroic, courageous apostles and preachers upon receiving the fullness of the Holy Spirit. In the midst of the Lord’s Passion, however, their response was in many respects imperfect. When Christ invited these same three to join him in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane on Holy Thursday, they could not keep their eyes open. St. Peter would deny knowing the Lord three times soon thereafter. Only the Beloved Disciple stood beneath the cross with our Blessed Mother. While their faith in the Lord had been fortified by seeing Him transfigured, an even greater strengthening was needed, one that would come later at Pentecost.

Christ gave to those three privileged apostles the grace of witnessing the Transfiguration not only to strengthen their own faith, but also to prepare them to preach that faith to the world. Thus, we can understand why He said to them as they descended the mountain: “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” (Mt 17:9) After the Resurrection, their previous experience of seeing the radiance of the Lord’s body on Mount Tabor would help the apostles to make sense of the radiance of His risen body. The presence of Moses and Elijah would help Peter, James, and John to contemplate and to communicate that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets of the Old Testament. The manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the cloud and of the Father in the voice would help them to begin to recognize the reality that we call the Holy Trinity. Toward the end of his apostolic ministry, St. Peter would reflect upon how much the Transfiguration helped him to understand his own role. In today’s Second Reading, he says: “We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable.” (2 Pt 1:18–19a)

How can we understand the “glory” that the apostles saw on the mountain? The soul of Christ by virtue of its union with the Son of God possessed this glory in its fullness from the very moment of the Incarnation onward. For most of his earthly life, the bodily glory due the Son of Man was, as it were, hidden or veiled. For a brief glimpse it was seen by Peter, James, and John. After the Resurrection, that bodily glory would be seen by all the apostles and many other witnesses. Theologians describe this quality as the gift of “clarity,” a bodily refulgence or brightness.

Ultimately, the Transfiguration was meant to prepare the apostles and all faithful Christians for the life of glory. Christ promises to glorify both the souls and the bodies of all those who live and believe in Him. While we are on this earth, we begin to share in the life of God through His grace. Yet our souls remain weakened due to the effects of sin. Our bodies are subject to sickness, injury, and death. How comforting is the thought of a glorified soul and a glorified body. Even now, the souls of the blessed experience this glory as they see God face to face and contemplate His goodness. At the general resurrection, the bodies of the just will also be glorified. While we can scarcely begin to anticipate what this life will be like, Peter, James, and John were given a brief glimpse of it on the holy mountain.

This Feast of the Transfiguration is a perfect opportunity to contemplate the “things that are above.” (Col 3:1) This life, with all its joys and sorrows, its beauty and ugliness, its triumphs and its defeats, lasts for a blink of an eye in comparison with eternity. The Lord offers all of us the opportunity to be transfigured one day, as He was on the holy mountain, if only we truly follow Him. If we do so, on the glorious day of our resurrection, we shall all say: “Lord, it is good that we are here!”