Transfigured

Deirdre Noonan shared the following Mindwalk.

Each Sunday my family has a ritual. We go to mass, come home, my 19 year old son makes us breakfast and we talk, usually about whatever the homily was about. Recently, the gospel was the story of the transfiguration.

My son asked, “When the priest talked about Jesus looking different, was he saying that the prayer made Jesus different or was he saying that it was the love of God pouring down unto him that made him look different?”

Seeing Anew

The priest started his homily saying, “Did you ever have one of those experiences that you have seen something or someone you know in a new way?”

My son’s question really had us thinking (and talking). What was it that caused his disciples to see Jesus in a new way?

I think that both prayer and God’s love and acceptance of that love will transform us and our lives. Today we heard that Jesus went up onto the mountain with three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John. While Jesus was up in the mountains praying, “his face changed in appearance and his clothing became a dazzling white.” Did Jesus’s appearance actually change or did his disciples just see him in a new light? Jesus was at one with his Father the disciples saw this for the first time. In this union Jesus was transformed, in the eyes of the disciples. Jesus was the same person, he was just seen differently.

A Call to Listen

Later in the story, there is the revelation:

And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud,

“This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”

God calls Jesus his Beloved son. Jesus is loved by God, as God loves every person, “God so loved the world that He sent His only Son”

God declares his love for Jesus. Is this what transforms Jesus?

The apostles want to memorialize the event, and build three tents, but Jesus says no. Jesus asked his disciples to share his story with all that will listen.

More than that, Jesus calls each of us to tell all who will listen, of God’s love that will transform us, that we need to pray. We need to accept God’s love for us and the love will transform us.

Transform your life this way, accept God’s love, pray, and share that good news