The Transfiguration

The Collect

O God, who on the holy mount revealed to chosen witnesses your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in his beauty; who with you, O Father, and you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

The Psalm
99

The Readings
Exodus 34:29-35     +     II Peter 1:13-21     +     Luke 9:28-36

You will do well to be attentive to this, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
~ II Peter 1:19b

The Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain is one of those mysterious episodes in the Gospels that opens itself to all sorts of interpretations and insights. Some of the most profound reflections of saints and mystics have been drawn from this well. One such insight is that in this moment a veil is lifted and we catch a glimpse of Jesus as he truly is, in glory.


On one hand, it is a vision that terrifies the three disciples who are on the mountain with him. Traditional icons of the Transfiguration show Peter, James, and John bowled over and falling backwards, veiling their own faces.

But a further mystery is that, as we believe Jesus to be fully human--the true fulfilment of humanity--so we believe that his transfiguration is a vision of the hope of our own. That somehow, by God's grace, this fragile and broken humanity of ours is called upward in Christ "from glory to glory" (II Cor. 3:18), until finally "we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (I John 3:2). 

A friend of mine, Jack Korbel, wrote a song that beautifully spirals around on this theme. As Pope St. Leo exhorts us in a homily on the Incarnation: "O Christian, remember your nobility, you who share in the nature of God."

"Earth and Stars Hymn" by the Jack Korbel Confluence

Closing Prayer
Holy God, help us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, confident of the glory that shall be revealed. And may our lives ever more fully reflect the brightness of the same. Amen.