Homily

The mountain of the transfiguration, which the tradition will later identify with Mount Tabor, can be seen as the image of every spiritual journey. We can imagine Jesus calling us and taking us with him up the mountain, as he did with the three disciples who where his closest friends. He wanted them to share in his experience of intimate communion with the Father, an experience so profound that it transfigured his face, his body, and even his clothes. Some people say that the historical basis for this passage is based on an experience that most directly involved Jesus, a celestial vision that transfigured him. It is a hypothesis that allows to understand Jesus’ spiritual life more deeply. We sometimes forget that he too had a spiritual journey, as the Gospel itself indicates, “Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour.” Jesus doubtlessly felt joy at the fruit of his pastoral ministry, just as he also felt anguish and anxiety about the will of the Father (Gethsemane and the cross are the two most dramatic moments). Things were not so planned and foreseen for Jesus that he did not have to travel through the toil and the joy of a path.
Jesus too climbed the mountain, as had Abraham, Moses, and Elijah, and as every believer must. Jesus felt the need to climb the mountain as he needed to encounter the Father. It is true that communion with the Father was his whole life, the bread of his days, the substance of his mission, and the heart of everything he was and did, but Jesus also needed moments in which this intimate relationship could emerge in all of its fullness. Certainly the disciples needed it. Mount Tabor was the setting for one of these extraordinary moments of communion, and the Gospel extends it to cover the entire history of the people of Israel, as the presence of Moses and Elijah “who were talking with him” indicates. Jesus did not live this experience alone, however; he wanted to involve his three most intimate friends. It was one of the most meaningful moments of Jesus’ personal life, and it is made equally meaningful for the three disciples and all those who let themselves take part in this ascent. The tradition of the Church has offered many interpretations of this Gospel passage. Among the most durable of these is the one that sees monastic life as a reflection of the Transfiguration because of the radical choice it demands. But I believe we can also see the mountain of the Transfiguration in the Sunday Liturgy, where we are all called to participate so that, united with Jesus, we can live the highest moment of communion with God. It is during the Holy Liturgy that we can repeat Peter’s words: “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings…” The Sunday Liturgy is the highest spiritual moment to which we are all called. Truly it is not only the apex of the week but also the spring for the following days. Mass, in a certain sense, is everything; the rest is its consequence. When the Gospel says that the three “woke up” and found only Jesus, it means that Mass in a certain way is enough. It is such an energy that after transforming us it makes us able to change also the world around us.