The transfiguration of Jesus in our Gospel was not just about Jesus. I would like to see it as a vision of the glorious future to which we are all called. In life, we encounter problems and negativities and very often we get hurt going through life. But we still have a choice: either to stay negative or to say negative things or choose to remember who we really are – brothers and sisters of Jesus, sons and daughters of God since baptism – and that the glory of the transfigured Jesus awaits each of us. We can think in negative ways or remember the encouragement we receive in Sacred Scripture. John writes in his first letter: “we are already children of God but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.” (1 John 3:2)
“We shall be like him.” So, the glory of the transfigured Jesus is awaiting each of us, thanks to our baptism. So then, for one who believes, there is no room for negative thinking. If we are tempted to think negatively because of events that occur to us or what others think of us or say to us, remember our dignity as sons and daughters of God.
The second reading today also gives us an insight into what God has destined for us: “This grace had already been granted to us, in Christ Jesus, before the beginning of time, but it has only been revealed by the Appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim 1:9-10)
God’s grace has been granted to us before the beginning of time. Imagine, since the beginning of time God had you in his plan and had his grace planned for you. Since the beginning of time God planned to transform you through his Son Jesus.
The disciples who experienced Jesus’ transfiguration had to come down the mountain and return to normality, but they remembered the transfiguration. Like them we live in normality, but we believe and know that God has destined great things for us. We say that the transfiguration prepared the disciples for the scandal of the cross. Celebrating Jesus’ Transfiguration early in Lent reminds us of what comes after the cross, because it reminds us of the glory of Jesus risen from the dead. In our worst moments of pain, I hope we do not think negatively, but remember the encouragement we receive in Sacred Scripture and that God has destined the glory of the transfiguration for each of us in the next life.
Have a blessed week. Fr. Tom