This year the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time gets bumped by the Feast of the Transfiguration — the time when Peter, James and John had a vision type experience of Jesus, transformed before their eyes. I’m a deeply invested cradle Catholic. I can’t imagine how wrenching it would be for me to switch to another faith tradition. How very difficult it must have been then for the Jewish disciples, deeply religious cradle Jews, to begin opening themselves to the possibility of a new Way. Matthew’s transfiguration passage shows the three disciples and the rest of the Jewish converts in his community how Jesus is the continuation of the revelation of God in the Hebrew Scriptures. The mountain and the radiance and the two biblical companions present Jesus as the great “I Am” of Moses’ burning bush experience, as the One whom Moses met in the clouds on the mountain, and as the eschatological son of man fulfilling the words of the prophets. And “This is my beloved son” opens them to a new revelation about a God of triune relationships. This Feast of Transfiguration calls us to worship — which is to acknowledge that God is God and we are not. And it calls us to hope because, as the Mass prayers today say, we are supposed to become transformed co-heirs with Him! This is our destiny. Believe this Good news for today and this week!
– Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia
Inspiring observation, Mary.