"Do not tell anyone of the vision until the Son of Man rises from the dead"
The mystery of the Jesus' Transfiguration gives Christians a glimpse of what they will be after death - a new life in Christ's glory. This mystery teaches that death is not the end of mortal life but an eternal state of life with God.
Our daily lives are often engrossed in the difficulties and the sufferings connected with our states of life and our relationship with others. But this is really a distraction from the eternal destiny Jesus is presenting to us through His Transfiguration. A life with Jesus in His glory awaits us. Jesus shares this truth with His apostles Peter, James and John. He also shares it with us. But before this reality that awaits us, there is the reality of the Cross - a gift and mystery Jesus calls us to share also with Him. The Cross is a great suffering, but that is not the end. As we shall see in the discipline of Lent, Christ's suffering leads to our salvation and redemption (and to His glory in the Resurrection).
Going back to the Transfiguration event, we see Peter, James and John so caught up in the glory presented before them that they wanted to build three tents and stay permanently on the mountain together with Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Jesus said that they were not to remain there but to go down the mountain. Though this Transfiguration event gives us a glimpse of Jesus' resurrection and our own eternal destiny, like Peter, James and John, we need to go down the mountain of our comfort zones, and continue in the little "calvaries" and "crucifixions" of daily life and ordinary work. If we review our Christian journey to God, we will realize that it is indeed strewn with little "calvaries" and "crucifixions". The consolations and comforts we sometimes receive from God in our Christian journey, helps ease the sufferings we have to go through in the realities of our states of life. But if we deny our self for love of God, share in the Cross of His Son Jesus, and follow all His commands and counsels, we will obtain meaning in the life He has gifted us with.
Lent is a time for us to consider in more depth the life our Lord has lived for us. It is a path that all of us are called to follow. He was born in a simple stable in Bethlehem and buried in a grave of one of His followers. His parents were simple but lived a very holy and virtuous life. Jesus grew up in an obscure town of the Roman Empire. He never was schooled as most of us are schooled in big colleges an universities. He lived His life by teaching, preaching, and healing people from their malaise and illnesses. This life that Jesus lived was not without misunderstanding or rejection and suffering - even from among His own apostles and disciples. Towards the end of His life He faced a really terrible trial which He had to endure to obey His father's will.
As we continue the discipline of Lent, we can let the mystery of the Transfiguration vision challenge us to go down from the "mountain" from which God consoled us with His presence, and return to the reality of suffering which we have to go through and which we have to help others go through also. The vision of the Transfiguration should not let us be stuck with the consolations God gifts us with, but to return to reality and be sensitive to the desolations others may be experiencing at this time. Let this vision of the Transfiguration give us a lesson: teaching us to keep silence and to learn how to reflect on the suffering which Jesus had to go through so that we may also share in the life He wants to gift us with - a life that gives light to our darkness, and renews our spirit so that we too will follow His path of obeying God's will in the very ordinary things we do everyday.
