Every so often in life’s journey we get glimpses of God … and those glimpses make all the difference in whether we continue the journey or falter. The disciples were ready to falter on their journey with Jesus when He told them that He was to suffer and die. This wasn’t part of their plan, they said … Jesus was supposed to be the one who would demolish the enemies of Israel, not vice versa.
So Jesus took Peter, James and John to the mountaintop where they got a glimpse of God. In addition, they also heard a voice: “This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.”
As it was with the disciples, life’s journey isn’t easy for us. Sometimes it’s almost too much. Precisely at those times, we get our own glimpses of God and our spirits are transfigured.
We get glimpses of God in the love we receive from other people, or when badly needed help suddenly comes to us from out of nowhere. We get glimpses of God when we look back over our lives and what we couldn’t understand in the past makes sense now. We see glimpses of God when we see someone making a sacrifice to help somebody else. We see glimpses of God in the beauty of a fine day, a nice beach or a beautiful sunrise or sunset. We see glimpses of God when a passage from the Bible or a homily strikes a cord in our hearts. We get a glimpse of God when we spend time in prayer and experience the loving presence of God in our lives. An attack of the giggles, an unexpected belly laugh, playtime with the little ones or the pup/kitten, even a five-hankie movie … all these and so many more are transfiguration experiences.
So much of our lives are lived in uncertainty, if not in varying shades of darkness. We can’t always see the grace and presence of God in our daily lives. Hence Jesus in His love gives us those transfiguration experiences. They don’t last long, and we have to go back down the hill to real life, but they make all the difference to us.
Be a transfiguring experience for someone this week!
Fr. Herb, C.S.C.
