Homily

The mountain of the transfiguration, which tradition later identifies as 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 scholars say that the passage narrates a spiritual experience that most directly involved Jesus, a celestial vision that transfigured him. It is a hypothesis that allows us 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.” No doubt he rejoiced for the fruits of his pastoral ministry as well as he but was troubled and in anguish as well in order to understand his Father’s will –Gethsemane and the cross are the most dramatic moments in this sense. Things were not all planned or foreseen for Jesus, and he experienced the toil and the joy of following a path. Jesus too climbed the mountain, as had Abraham, Moses, and Elijah, and as every believer must. That is to say that he felt the need to “climb” towards the Father to encounter him. 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 them.
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 choices it demands. But I believe that we can also see - or better, live - the experience of the transfiguration in the Sunday liturgy in which we are all called to participate. During the celebration we are united with Jesus and 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. Indeed it is not only the culmination of the week that passed but it is also a springboard for the days that follow. Truly it is not only the apex of the week but also the wellspring of the following days. The Mass, in a certain sense, is all. Everything else flows from it. When the Gospel says that the three “woke up” and found only Jesus, it means that Mass in a certain way is enough. It provides such an energy that after transforming us it gives us the ability to change also the world around us.