A phrase we often hear is “seeing is believing”. Human beings are a complex mix of senses, emotions and perceptions. Normally we are most comfortable to rely on our senses allied to our experience in making sense of the world. We know that an apple is an apple by what we see, what we taste, what we smell and the fact that someone at some point has told us what it is, as distinct from an orange being an orange. However one thing that makes us unique in creation is our ability to step outside the realm of the senses; we are able to look deeper than the things we see and sense around us. The examination of the nature of reality is part of the study of philosophy and its various branches, something that challenged my poor brain in the seminary for two years.

In Sunday's gospel, which features the Transfiguration of Jesus, Peter, John and James have their experience of reality challenged in a fundamental way. In an instant Jesus is transformed, transfigured, from the human Jesus they know into a cosmic force – the cosmic force, the Word though which all things came into being. 

This takes place after the episode in Matthew’s gospel where Peter says that Jesus is the messiah. It’s as though Jesus is confirming what Peter has declared by giving his closest associates a glimpse of his divine nature. But it’s not only Jesus and the disciples who are there. The disciples see Moses and Elijah there too – Moses representing the Law and Elijah the prophetic tradition of the Jewish religion both of which are now directly associated with Jesus. But it’s not only about Jesus and the prophets. The medieval philosopher and Saint Thomas Aquinas says that the Holy Trinity is there too – the Father is the voice, the son is obviously Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is the shining cloud.

It is not surprising that Jesus’ friends are overwhelmed by the experience and struggle to know what to say. One account says they were terrified, who wouldn’t be (we would be too), their experience of reality had been totally bent out of shape. They don’t know what to make of it and at the time they keep silence. But they could not forget it. It is no accident that the account of the transfiguration is found in three of the four gospels, it was that significant to Peter, James and John, a truly unforgettable experience.

At every Mass we experience a transfiguration for ourselves. At every Mass, the altar is the mountain, and the bread and wine is "transfigured" into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. At every Mass Heaven is truly joined to earth. At every Mass we have the opportunity to experience the awe of the disciples for ourselves and to offer our very selves as a tent, a dwelling for God in Jesus when we receive the Eucharist. We need to ask ourselves are we in a fit state to be this dwelling place for God, a God who always desires to come to us and to be with us, the voice that says to us in our hearts and souls, this is my child, my chosen one. How prepared are we to be transfigured by God’s grace in our lives not only during Lent but our entire lives?

I hope and pray that Lent is going well for you. God bless and keep you all.

Fr Chris