After this Transfiguration event,
after the Passion, crucifixion, death, and glorious Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Peter, and James, and John, do testify to all these events.

Peter and the Apostles hand on not devised myth, but their own eyewitness accounts, unto their martyrdoms (2 Peter 1:16-19).

They give their testimony, in word and in writing for us, that they saw the Son of Man, the beloved Son of God, transfigured, glorified, in light.

The natural light of the sun is obscured by the shining cloud, the shekinah glory, of the Holy Spirit.

The voice of God the Father comes through this supernatural light, giving the testimony for His beloved Son, who fulfills the Law of Moses and all the prophecies of Elijah and all the prophets.

‘Listen to Him.’

Saint Peter writes, testifies, that we will do well to be attentive to this, as to a lamp shining in a dark place… as a morning star, rising in our hearts.

This is what the Transfiguration event can be for us now, a day star rising in our hearts.

Not long ago, we commemorated the great Solemnity of Pentecost, when Christ’s Church on earth began in earnest, in the power of the Holy Spirit, two millenia ago.

Since then, each Lord’s Day, we have prayed over the Gospel Word, from the calling of the Apostles. Peter, James, John, Andrew, all the apostles, handed on this Word of the Lord by their testimony. They handed on their testimony in unbroken lines of succession through the generations of bishops. As Saint Peter writes, the Gospel Word, and testimony, is not cleverly devised myth but simple Truth, explained to disciples, and openly sown in parables for all to hear, in these open, inviting, engaging stories, so that all may find in their fields the beautiful pearl of Truth of the Word of God.

Since Pentecost, our Christian mission handed down to us by Christ, through all apostles and disciples, is to go, make disciples of all, and teaching all of the Gospel Word, following on the Way of the Lord, until we enter into the Lord’s heavenly wedding banquet, when we will see Christ in all His power and glory over heaven and earth (see the Great Commission in Matthew 28).

The Way of the Lord for us in this life is to follow in virtue, in the beatitudes, pursuing what is true, honourable, just, pure, lovely, and gracious, as Saint Paul encourages (Philippians 4:8).

Our Lord reminds us, that with His Holy Spirit, He is with us always, to that end. Just as Jesus’ raiment became dazzling white, our Baptismal white robes of the saved in the Book of Revelation ( 7:9,13 19:14) will be our wedding garment for entry into the heavenly banquet (Matthew 22).

Sometimes, though, in this journey in faith, we may feel alone, struggling, this journey may become a slog. Our Lord is gentle, humble in heart, he offers to help us take up our yoke, to make our burden one of light, as in the light of the Transfiguration (Matthew 11).

Sometimes, though, we may feel in the dark, in darkness, so in need of our Lord’s promise of light.

So our Lord offers us this great example of a mountaintop experience, this peak experience. Mount Tabor is a 1,600 foot hike up an isolated rocky outcrop. As our late pope Benedict XVI observed, this place of ascent is ‘a liberation from the burden of everyday life, a breathing in of the pure air of creation and its beauty; it gives one an inner peak to stand on and an intuitive sense of the Creator’ (Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth).

Our Lord gives this day star to rise in the hearts of His chosen apostles, to help them through what comes next in their journey. To get them through Gethsemene, the dark of the valley at the foot of the mount of olives. To again quote Benedict XVI: ‘It was here that Jesus experienced that final loneliness, the whole anguish of the human condition… Here He was to quake with the foreboding of His imminent death. Here He was kissed by the betrayer. Here He was abandoned by all the disciples…
because He is the Son, He sees with total clarity the whole foul flood of evil, all the power of lies and pride, all the wiles and cruelty of the evil that masks itself as life yet constantly serves to destroy, debase, and crush life. All this He must take into Himself, so that it can be disarmed and defeated in Him ’ (Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth – Holy Week).

Christ does this for us. He glorifies the bodily form He shares with all humanity, to remove the scandal of the Cross from the hearts of His disciples, showing the shining destiny to be fulfilled in the Resurrection (Preface of the Transfiguration).

Christ turns Gethsemene back into the Garden of eternal life.