Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.
And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But he did not know what he was saying.
While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”
After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen.
Yesterday's Gospel reading featured Luke's account of the Transfiguration. This feast day kicked off my work this past academic year with a network of leaders across the Diocese of Cleveland, gathering on August 6, the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, for an opening of the year retreat.
This event - the Transfiguration - also marks the fourth Luminous Mystery of the Rosary. As such, I reflect on it in prayer every Thursday.
My focus typical centers on the fact that Jesus transfigured so that Peter, James, and John saw His glory and magnificence. I often pray that I might be able to transform the world to reveal God's greatness to others. In fact, we workshopped this same idea during the latter half of our retreat: transforming our schools to transform the world.
We discussed ways in which we could transform our schools by emphasizing our school's significance, highlighting our mission, philosophy, beliefs, values, charism, and history.
We conversed about how we could transform our schools by creating and implementing systems, structures, and strategies across all aspects of our schools.
We dialogued about the power of stats to transform our schools. Remember, that which gets measured gets done and that which gets analyzed gets better.
We acknowledged our ability to transform our schools by ensuring their sustainability through a collective vision for the school's future along with faithful stewardship of its resources.
Finally, we talked about how great strength comes from simplicity: we can transform our schools and in turn the world around us by focusing on the most important parts of our schools - our students - and forming them in the Catholic faith and intellectual traditions.
In short, my past reflections on the Transfiguration have centered on transforming in ways similar to Christ's glorious transformation in front of the disciples.
Yesterday at Mass, though, the deacon's homily offered a nuanced perspective: the disciples were the ones who transfigured so that they could see Jesus's glory.
The disciples, who had been asleep, awoke and saw Jesus for who He is. Jesus didn't change. He was and always has been the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The disciples, though, had been blind to who Jesus was and is, only seeing Him with their own preconceived notions about how the Messiah should act and the type of leader the Savior would be.
During their transfiguration, the disciples awoke to the presence of the Almighty God in their midst. They awoke to the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets through the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus transfigured the disciples - and continued to do so throughout the remainder of His ministry and even after His death - so that they could transfigure the world in turn.
So, this Lenten season, before embarking on the work of transforming the world let's invite the Lord to transfigure us first.
So that we can embark on the "improvement of social structures, making these structures more conformed to the principles of the Gospel'...forming "human beings who will make human society more peaceful, fraternal, and communitarian" may we awaken to the ways in which God is transfiguring us for His greater glory (Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, 1982, para. 19).
