In today’s Gospel, we hear of Christ’s Transfiguration on the mountaintop.
We get this same passage each year on the second Sunday of Lent, just like we always hear of the temptations of Jesus in the desert on the First Sunday of Lent. The offertory song and the first Communion song this weekend obviously directly refer to the Gospel – “Tis’ Good Lord to be Here” and “Transfigure Us, O Lord”. We hear as the underlying message in the Gospel passages of recent weeks to follow him – whether it was when Jesus was calling his apostles at the seashore, or when John the Baptist told the disciples to follow Him when He passed by, or when we were
told to be the light for all to see. We are to give up our lives and follow in His way to eternal life. He has now shown us who He is and God has claimed Him as His Son. Remember, this is now the second time we’ve had God the Father claiming Christ – the first was at Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan by John the Baptist when the heav-ens opened and God’s voice was heard. We now have a second time – should we start to believe it? How many times do we need to be told??? Maybe the third time is just going to be in an action, like a crucifixion, when we’ll know that He is God’s be-loved Son.
Our second Communion song is “Our God is Here”. What would we have cried out if we were on the mountaintop when Christ was transfigured and His true Nature was shown? Just as Christ was present on that mountaintop, so is Christ present with us today—in the Eucharist, when He becomes a physical part of our own human bodies, in the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle or in Adoration, in the people of God when we gather together to praise Him, and when we go out from this church to preach the Good News to all. Do we cry out to one another when we see the pres-ence of Christ in one another? As the song says (text by Chris Muglia):
Holy! Holy! Holy are you!
Holy! Holy! Holy and true!
Amen, we do believe our God is here.
Our God is here.
Yes, our God is here, with us, everyday. Do we recognize Him? Does He have to be transfigured on a mountaintop for us to recognize Him? Can we see Him in each oth-er and treat one another as the true Body of Christ – of which we ourselves have just partaken?