For those who have visited the amphitheater at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota at dusk, you might remember looking up at shadowed busts of four past presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. All of a sudden, bright lights surrounding the sculpture are turned on, the shadows disappear and each face is detailed in a radiant aura. In the background is a taped voice telling you a story about the sculpture. You also can hear voices of other people expressing their awe about what is happening and as you listen, you don’t want the spectacular show to end.
Though this is not the
same as the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor with Peter, James and John
along with Moses and Elijah, it might bring into focus what that was like and
how it changed the Apostles lives forever.
They too did not want to leave the mountain and return to their nomadic
lives. They saw a purpose to what happened
and wanted to stay there forever.
For Jesus the
Transfiguration was the turning point in His life. It was God, His Father, affirming His love
for His Son and reminding Jesus of what He promised to do in regards to obeying
His will. In addition, it was a command
to the attending Apostles to listen to Jesus words and put them into
practice. It also is a call to us as
baptized disciples that we are to become active with the gifts God has given us
to reach out to all those in need.
For the Apostles and us
to come down from the mountain, we have to overcome our fear of losing what we
now see as well as making sure we can do what we are called to do. To do that, we need to trust that God is with
us in everything we pledge on behalf of our faith walk. Though we do not see Him face to face as the
Apostles, we do have Mass with Eucharist as a constant reminder that God is
always present and has not abandoned us.
No matter how we view
Jesus in our lives, we need to believe that He is real. We experience His presence within us. In doing so, we can share that presence with
others and make a difference for the better.
Never doubt! His light is with us
in our heart, mind, soul and strength so we can accomplish all we are called to
do.
Reading 1: Daniel 7: 9-10, 13-14
Reading 2: Second Peter 1: 16-19
Gospel: Matthew 17: 1-9
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