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The Fourth Luminous Mystery
The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Background notes for discussion at Our Lady of the Rosary: Thursday, March 20
Matthew 17:1-13 —
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up to a high mountain, by themselves. And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to Him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying. “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus alone.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” And the disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” He replied, “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He was speaking to them about John the Baptist.
Grace to Keep Us Going
Through the Transfiguration, Christ transports us — with his disciples — to a state of immense joy and consolation, as we stand in the midst of God’s glory. Shortly before the Transfiguration, Christ tells His disciples that He will suffer, die, then be raised on the third day. He also precedes the Transfiguration with His words, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25) With these challenging and heavy words on their minds, Peter, James and John are invited to witness Christ's tremendous glory. Also, while descending the mountain, Christ predicts His passion a second time.
For a moment Jesus discloses His divine glory to his disciples, surrounding them with intense love. He provides them the reassurance that, like Him, their future sufferings will result in their glorification. As St. Thomas Aquinas puts it, “For a person to go straight along the road, he must have some knowledge of the end — just as an archer will not shoot an arrow straight unless he sees the target... This is particularly necessary if the road is hard and rough, the going heavy, and the end delightful.”
The Transfiguration reminds us that we must endure sufferings and persecutions to enter God’s Kingdom. Peter tried to prolong the great glory he experienced on the mountain by telling Jesus he will erect three tents, one for Him, one for Moses and one for Elijah. But Christ responds with a challenging condition for discipleship — St. Augustine puts it beautifully, “Go down to toil on the earth, to serve on earth, to be scorned and crucified on earth. Life goes down to be killed; Bread goes down to suffer hunger; the Way goes down to be exhausted on his journey; the Spring goes down to suffer thirst; and you refuse to suffer?”
Our Holy Father tells us, “The glory of the Godhead shines forth from the face of Christ as the Father commands the astonished Apostles to ‘listen to him’ and to prepare to experience with him the agony of the passion, so as to come with him to the joy of the resurrection and a life transfigured by the Holy Spirit.”
We too are called to carry our cross in life, allow ourselves to be transformed by God’s grace and, at our death, become one with Christ in His glory. Like Peter, James and John, who accompanied Jesus on the mountain, we only stay “elevated on Christ’s mountain of glory” for very short periods of time in this life, before returning to our everyday tasks. With Mary, we should thank Jesus for all of the moments of great grace that he gives us to keep us going.
Our Glory Foretold
The Transfiguration gives us a foretaste of Christ’s glorious coming, when He will change our lowly bodies to be like His glorious Body. Importantly, like Jesus’ Baptism, the whole Trinity is present at the Transfiguration — the Father in the voice, the Son in the man and the Holy Spirit in the cloud. “On the threshold of the public life: the baptism; on the threshold of the Passover: the Transfiguration. Jesus’ baptism proclaimed the mystery of the first regeneration, namely our Baptism; the Transfiguration is the sacrament of the second regeneration: our own Resurrection... we share in the Lord’s Resurrection through the Spirit who acts in the sacraments of the Body of Christ.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church
Also, through the Transfiguration, Christ shows us one of the qualities of glorified bodies — brightness. This brightness is a radiance shining through the body from extreme happiness of the soul — the kind of happiness that only comes from union with God.
Listen to Him
At the Transfiguration, God the Father tells us to listen to His Son. Everything God wants to tell mankind He reveals to His children through Christ. St. John of the Cross says:
if any now should question God or desire a vision or revelation, not only would he be acting foolishly but he would be committing an offense against God, by not fixing his gaze on Christ with no desire for any new thing. For God could reply to him in this way: “If I have spoken all things to you in my Word, which is my Son, and I have no other word, what answer can I give you now, or what can I reveal to you that is greater than this? Fix your eyes on Him alone, for in Him I have spoken and revealed to you all things, and in Him you will find even more than what you ask for and desire... Hear Him, for I have no more faith to reveal, nor have I any more things to declare.”
Guided by the firm but gentle voice of our Blessed Mother, this Mystery calls us to climb the holy mountain of love, humility, purity, silence and prayer — with the expectation that at the summit Jesus manifest Himself to us in the splendor of His divine glory. As we begin our daily ascent towards the summit of Holiness — God’s Kingdom, we should always depend on Christ’s Word and His supernatural strength to pull us through our daily struggles.