SUNDAY OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD – A – 2023

v  The church presents to us in this Sunday the solemnity of the TRANSFIGURATION of the Lord Jesus, instead of the 18^th Sunday in ordinary time.   

v  She invites us to contemplate Jesus in his splendor, in his glory, in his true divine identity 

v  He calls his 3 apostles-closest friends to reveal to them his identity.  They are overwhelmed by the vision, the revelation.   

v  These apostles are not the holiest ones, neither the wisest, each one will have to work hard to overcome their weakness: two are called sons of thunder, the other denies the Lord in his passion, but all have in common their strong love for their Lord and Master.  

v Let us reflect together on who is Jesus for each one of us. I have listened to a song whose last sentence says: The Lord of history is the servant Jesus. 

FIRST READING - Dn 7: 9-10, 13-14.

v  The book of Daniel belongs to the prophetic-apocalyptic tradition. It uses images which we will find later in the New Testament in the book of Revelation.   

v  The apocalyptic literature uses fantastic and spectacular images, some taken from nature, some from the human imagination.   

v  Whenever God makes him present, there are grandiose signs that cause fear and respect in those who are present, and at the same time we feel attracted to him.   

v  The sacred author wants to tell us how great God is, how different from us.   

v  The white color is always associated with God, maybe because we say that God is light and the color closest to the light is the white color.   

v  Fire is also an element present in the theophanies or manifestations of God. The fire is powerful, strong; through these signs we are reminded that God is Almighty.     

v  Daniel keeps contemplating the vision, and he sees someone like a son of man, that means human but at the same time   participating of the divine being.   

v  This son of man comes in the clouds. In the book of Genesis, after the flood God makes peace with humanity and the sign of this peace is the rainbow, God’s bow which he hangs on the clouds.  In those days when people were fighting against each other in war, when they wanted to end the war and make peace, they would hang their bow at the entrance of their tents. 

v  What a wonderful and beautiful image of peace and beauty is the rainbow.   

v  This son of man receives all authority and sovereignty.   

v  It is the image of Jesus risen and glorified.   

v  Yes, Jesus receives our praise and our love.    

v  The church celebrates every year in her liturgy two times the transfiguration of the Lord: 

o   One the second Sunday of Lent, to strengthen our faith in the divinity of Jesus.   the true Son of God, so that our faith will not waiver when we see him disfigured, offended, shattered in his passion.  

o    The second one on August 6, to remind to us again who Jesus is, nobody nor anything can destroy his love which is greater than evil. He is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, God like the Father and the Holy Spirit, true image of the Father, in whom the Father finds his joy.  

 Responsorial Psalm. Ps. 96:1-2.5-6.9

R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many islands be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him,
justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.
R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the LORD of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory.
R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.
Because you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth,
exalted far above all gods.
R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth. 

Ø  This psalm is the response to the first reading and gives the same message about the majesty of God.   

Ø  But it mentions also the “gods.” Who or what are our gods?

GOSPEL- Mt 17: 1-9

      The narration of the transfiguration is found in the three synoptic gospels.  

      Jesus takes three of his disciples to a mountain; the mountain is the symbol of the closeness of God. If God lives in heaven beyond the blue sky which we see, naturally that the high mountains will take us closer to the abode of God.  

      And there in the mountain, Jesus shows to them the true abode of God, God himself; Jesus who is the only begotten son of the Father.   

      The author of the Gospel describes Jesus, with all the signs we use to describe God in the theophany of the Old Testament.     

       In this so beautiful vision two characters of the Old Testament the prophet Elijah and the legislator Moses appear besides Jesus speaking with him.  

      Jesus had told his disciples and the people that he had not come to abolish either the law or the prophets.    

      For the Jews what we call the Old Testament is called the Law=Torah=the first five books of the Bible which we call the Pentateuch; and all the other books are the Prophets. 

      The Law which they believed was written by Moses.   

      Here the Law and the Prophets are dialoguing with Jesus about what he is going to suffer.   

      Jesus enters into a dialogue with the law, not only in this occasion but through his entire ministry. He has tried by all possible means to help us understand the law, that is, to make us understand the real being of God, not the god we have made according to our convenience.   

      And Jesus dialogues with the prophets, that is, with the characters of the Old Testament who spoke to the people about God and about the need to be faithful. They spoke also of the Messiah who was to come. As an author says the Old Testament is all about Jesus.  

      The disciples are happy; overwhelmed with joy, as we are when we have an experience of God. 

      And Peter speaks in the name of all “Lord, it is good to be here! If you want, we will build three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.   

      At that moment the voice of the Father was heard. He repeats the same words He said at the Jordan when his son Jesus was baptized “Here is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, listen to him” 

      Jesus is the beloved son of the Father, all his joy, and God calls us as a community to become the image of the Son “listen to Him”.   

      All of us when we have an experience of God, of the supernatural, we wish it last long, forever or that it might be repeated, but the Lord says to us “Rise and do not fear.”

SECOND READING  : 2 P  1: 16-19

Ø  Peter remembers in this letter the unforgettable experience of the transfiguration.   

Ø  And thus he explains it to the  community of faith.  

Ø  And Peter tells us that besides his words which he has shared with us we have the experience and testimony of the prophets to encourage us and help us to grow in our faith.    

Ø  Peter, the prophets and many others have shared with us their experience of God, the experience of the change they have undergone in their life and they encourage us to do the same. What has been our experience? Are we ready to share it with others? 

CLARETIAN CORNER

 

…and it seemed that it had its resting place and dwelling in the center of the Sacred Heart of my God and Lord.  I say  «in the center of my God’s Heart»,  because it did not seem to me that God was in my heart, but I saw as if myself, body and soul, was within the Sacred Heart of my God and Lord. (Venerable María Antonia París, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Report to Caixal 9).

O my God, I give you my word that I shall do this: I shall preach, write, and circulate good books and pamphlets in abundance, so as to drown evil in a flood of good. (St. Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters.  Autobiographya 453). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CLARET, Saint Anthony Mary. Autobiography.

PARIS, Venerable María Antonia.  Autobiography.