HE WAS TRANSFIGURED BEFORE THEM

Dn 7,9-10.13-14 opp. 2 Pt 1,16-19; Ps 96; Mk 9,2-10
6 AUGUST
The Lord attests that Moses is from him, from his truth and from his voice, radiating his face with his light. The face of Moses was in all similar to a mirror that reflected the light of his God and poured it on the people. Now the sons of Israel know that Moses is with the Lord and the Lord is with Moses. The light that emanates from his face attests it.

As Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands, he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while he conversed with the Lord. When Aaron, then, and the other Israelites saw Moses and noticed how radiant the skin of his face had become, they were afraid to come near him. Only after Moses called to them did Aaron and all the rulers of the community come back to him. Moses then spoke to them. Later on, all the Israelites came up to him, and he enjoined on them all that the Lord had told him on Mount Sinai. When he finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever Moses entered the presence of the Lord to converse with him, he removed the veil until he came out again. On coming out, he would tell the Israelites all that had been commanded. Then the Israelites would see that the skin of Moses’ face was radiant; so he would again put the veil over his face until he went in to converse with the Lord (Ex 34,29-35).

Jesus is eternal light hidden in his humanity. On the mountain for a few moments the light wraps around his body and it becomes a source of very white light. It is the sign that Jesus is not only a man, he is also God. No one has ever shown a light and candour so pure. If Jesus is God, comes from God, every one of his Words is true. A person that belongs to God cannot have Words not of God. Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets, come to testify to him. What Jesus says is truth. There is no deception on his lips. He is the Messiah, but he is the Messiah from the Cross, He is the Suffering Servant, he is the persecuted Righteous of the Psalms. The cross is the essence and summit of his mission. Do the three disciples understand all this? They are currently simply stunned by that vision. They wished they could stop time and stay on the mountain for eternity. They do not know that in eternity we reach precisely passing through the Cross. This is the truth that is still lacking man: the cross. He does not want to believe that it is precisely through this path that one reaches eternal glory. We do not go down from the cross. We walk towards the cross, embracing it with all the love of obedience.

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them. As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.

The Father also makes his voice be heard: “This is my beloved Son; Listen to him.” This command which the Father gave to Peter, to James and to John, did not only give it to them, he gave it to them to make it known to the whole Church. The strength of the Church is in this listening. In it is also her truth. When the Church no longer listens to Christ, she loses her truth, mislays her mission and becomes a human structure like all the others in the world. Today the danger is this: to separate oneself from the truth of Christ in the name of an ecumenism or an inter-religious dialogue that prescinds from the purest essence of Jesus. Since the Church is for the truth of Christ and from it, if this truth is lost her truth is the one that is lost.

Most pure Mother, Angels and Saints ensure that we never lose the truth of Lord Jesus.