The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ: This feast celebrates Jesus’ radical change of appearance while in the presence of Peter, James, and John, on a high mountain (Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36). 

Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a mountain, where they beheld his figure clothed in dazzling glory and his conference with Moses and Elijah. Moses was the servant of God who received the divine covenant and delivered it to Israel; while the prophet Elijah was expected to come again and inaugurate the end of the ages, when Israel would be restored and vindicated in the sight of all the nations. The vision of Jesus conversing with these two figures revealed that he was the third founder of Israel and, as God’s very Son, the fulfillment of all the promises made in the Law and the Prophets.

The Transfiguration also foreshadowed the still greater event of resurrection, and it gave a foresight of what salvation and the life of glory would be like. The evangelists all began their accounts of the Transfiguration by focusing on Jesus’ clothing. It was not stripped off him, as it would be at the crucifixion; instead, it was almost unbearably enhanced.

The Transfiguration revealed Christ’s glory prior to the crucifixion, and it anticipated his resurrection and ascension. It may have given strength and comfort to his disciples in the difficult times that followed. It also prefigures the glorification of human nature in Christ.

Prayer: Almighty God, on the holy mount you revealed to chosen witnesses your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured. Mercifully deliver us from the darkness of this world, and change us into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.