If you could be present at one moment during the life of Jesus which one would you pick? Maybe his birth as you step around the cow and gaze into the manger; or maybe you would be in the crowd when the woman is caught in adultery and see Jesus stare down that angry mob and replace violence with mercy; or maybe take a seat at the table as Jesus offers his disciples the Eucharist for the first time; or maybe you are a brave soul and you want to be at Calvary with Jesus as they nail him to the cross. However, if you ask me, I would pick the Transfiguration.
Peter, James and John are tagging along when Jesus says let’s go take a hike up this mountain. It’s just an ordinary day and then boom it happens. Jesus is transfigured before them and his face shines like the sun, his clothing is white like the brightest laser you’ve ever seen. They are witnessing his divinity and just for a moment there He reveals his supernatural glory. The spiritual world for just a moment invades their regular ordinary work a day life. Then Moses and Elijah show up and they have a conversation and you get to overhear and then boom, a bright cloud appears over them and you hear God’s voice from heaven “this is my son with whom I am well pleased, listen to him,” Peter’s reaction, “Jesus how about we build three booths here, three huts, three tents maybe we bring three winnebagos in so we can just hang out here because Jesus this is fantastic! I get that same feeling every so often. It overwhelms me and I wish it were more often, but I grateful for those moments when they appear, when the Divine is so close so real, so touchable that everything else just fades away. When the eternal ever so briefly and intensely invades my ordinary work a day life.
Last weekend, I was in Las Vegas helping at Divine Mercy parish preparing the children for their First Communion. I felt the Divine presence when 70 children came to make their First Holy Communion. I loved it when the children greeted my puppet Spinach and they watched as he weaved his story about God’s love for them. We shared that the most important things in life are faith, family and friends. Most important Jesus loves them. But the Divine moment came when one by one they approached the altar with their godparents and they knelt down and they received Holy Communion and I could see their eyes light up. There’s the Transfiguration. No fear, but joy and peace and then they would make the sign of the cross, their godparents gave them their candle and they turned toward the paschal candle to get a light saying they would follow Jesus for the rest of their life.
Later after the Mass, the children were escorted to the meditation chapel where Deacon Erick and I presented each child with their First Communion certificate, but as one group was gathering to receive their certificates, I told their religion teacher that this group would make a great childrens’ choir. The teacher turned to the students and instructed them to sing the Our Father in Spanish and the kids sang at the top of their voices.. It was another God moment that I will never forget. This was like the cloud coming over these people and the voice from heaven speaking into our ears. I was transfixed for a moment for God’s Heavenly Glory had broken into this earthly Pacific Standard Time, That was a Holy Moment, that was a Transfiguration moment.
Transfiguration moments are priceless and rare and you can’t predict when they will come. Maybe they will come at a Mass, or a labor room, on a remote mountain taking photos of the Grand Canyon because you are in the grandeur of God. Which moment in the life of Jesus would you most want to be?
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends, the children, their parents, godparents and all the parishioners at Divine Mercy. I pray for a miracle that they will not be evicted from their church. Let us be grateful when the Divine enters our ordinary life and delighted with the promise that Jesus will change our earthly body to conform to his glorified body and the divine will shine bright inside each of us for an eternity.
