TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD

Friday August 6

TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD   

An Advance Glimpse of Glory

Greeting

Today God our Father tells us:
This is my beloved Son.
Listen to him.
May the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ
resound in your hearts and in your lives.
May the Lord be with you always. R/ And also with you.

Introduction by the Celebrant

According to St. Luke, when Jesus is about to depart for Jerusalem to make his “exodus” for his passion and death, the light of his resurrection is already projected on him at his transfiguration. It comes as an encouraging foretaste of his glory to strengthen him on the road to suffering. Shortly before the Passion, when the faith of the apostles will be sorely tested, Jesus shows them his true face transfigured by God’s light. Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets, also bear witness to him. This is God’s beloved Son: listen to him, look beyond appearances. This vision and message is also given to us in the eucharist of today.

Penitential Act

Do we too try to understand Jesus better
and see his presence in our life as real and strong?
Do we listen to him? Let us examine ourselves.
                        (pause)
Lord, you showed your glorious face
to strengthen the faith of the apostles.
Show yourself to us:

Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, you were strengthened
on your way to suffering and death.
Be with us when we suffer,
and inspire us to stand by the side of those who suffer:

Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, your Father told us to listen to you.
Open our ears and hearts to your message:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us all our sins.
Make us more aware of your nearness
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray to God
who has made us his sons and daughters
in Jesus, his beloved Son
                        (pause)
Lord our God,
at the transfiguration of Jesus
you gave eyes of faith to the apostles
to see beyond appearances,
and to recognize Jesus as your beloved Son.
Strengthen our faith, too,
in the person and message of your Son.
Help us to recognize something of his face
in our brothers and sisters
and to encounter him in one another,
that we may journey with him
and share in his glory for ever. R/ Amen.

First Reading:  The Son of Man

At a time of persecution, the prophet sees a vision of a transfigured world. The son of man – symbolizing God’s people, perhaps the Messiah – will no longer suffer but be honored and will share in God’s glory.

Reading 1: DN 7:9-10, 13-14

As I watched:
Thrones were set up
and the Ancient One took his throne.
His clothing was bright as snow,
and the hair on his head as white as wool;
his throne was flames of fire,
with wheels of burning fire.
A surging stream of fire
flowed out from where he sat;
Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him,
and myriads upon myriads attended him.
The court was convened and the books were opened.

As the visions during the night continued, I saw:

One like a Son of man coming,
on the clouds of heaven;
When he reached the Ancient One
and was presented before him,
The one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship;
all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not be taken away,
his kingship shall not be destroyed.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 97:1-2, 5-6, 9

(1a and 9a)The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many islands be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him,
justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.
R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the LORD of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory.
R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.
Because you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth,
exalted far above all gods. 
R. The Lord is king, the Most High over all the earth.

Second Reading:  Like A Lamp Lighting the Way

The apostles present at the transfiguration did not fully realize what was going on. Later they understood and testified that Jesus is not a myth but the foundation of faith and life.

Reading 2: 2 PT 1:16-19

Beloved:
We did not follow cleverly devised myths
when we made known to you
the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For he received honor and glory from God the Father
when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory,
"This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven
while we were with him on the holy mountain.
Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable.
You will do well to be attentive to it,
as to a lamp shining in a dark place,
until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 

Alleluia: MT 17:5C

Alleluia, alleluia.
This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;
listen to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: The True Face of Jesus

After Jesus had spoken to his apostles about his coming suffering, Jesus and the apostles – and we – are given a vision of the glory and resurrection that will come. 

Gospel: MK 9:2-10

Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John,
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them, 
and his clothes became dazzling white, 
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. 
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, 
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, 
"Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents: 
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; 
from the cloud came a voice, 
"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.

As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves, 
questioning what rising from the dead meant.

Intercessions

Let us pray to God in all confidence, for he has accepted us as his sons and daughters in his beloved Son Jesus Christ. Let us say to him:

R/ Lord, let us live in the light of Christ.

–   That the face of the Church may always reflect the light of the glorious Christ; that the Church's glory may not be wealth or power but the quiet glow of the living gospel, let us pray:

R/ Lord, let us live in the light of Christ.

–   That the spirituality of the Orthodox Churches, which is marked by the Transfiguration, may also inspire the Catholic Church more and bring us all closer to unity, let us pray:

R/ Lord, let us live in the light of Christ.

–   That artists may keep revealing to us the splendors of God’s creation; that scientists may discover the secrets of the universe and use them to develop people and their world, let us pray:

R/ Lord, let us live in the light of Christ.

–   That we may brighten with words of encouragement and hope the faces of those who suffer; that we may learn from Christ to encounter one another without masks or screens and that we may seek together the light of truth and love, let us pray:

R/ Lord, let us live in the light of Christ.

–   That we may be men and women liberated in Christ, committed to transfigure this world with justice and freedom for all, and learning to love one another the way God loves us in Christ, let us pray:

R/ Lord, let us live in the light of Christ.

God, your glory brightened the face of Jesus, your Son. Let his light dawn on us like a new sunrise full of promise. Create us and the world anew in Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
all we see before us
is a piece of bread and a cup with wine.
Yet we believe that soon these will be
your Son living among us.
Let him come alive in us
and guide us by his Holy Spirit,
that with him we may hear your call,
and go through the hardships and joys of life
with faces brightened by hope
and by the certainty
that you have prepared for us
a glory and a happiness
that will last for ever. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

With Jesus our Lord, God’s own beloved Son, we now give thanks and praise to the Father, sure that the Father will accept our offering.

Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer

Let us pray to our Father in heaven
who told us to listen to his beloved Son.
We have listened, and with Jesus
we pray the prayer of the children of God: R/ Our Father...

Deliver Us

Deliver us, Lord, from every evil
and grant us peace in our day.
Keep us from indifference and anxiety
and help us see, beyond the events of life,
the deeper reality of things and persons.
Help us to see your guiding hand and your love,

and to hear your call,
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming in glory
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...

Invitation to Communion

This is the body of Jesus Christ,
the beloved Son of the Father in heaven.
His glory is hidden from us,
yet he is light in our darkness
and the transfiguration of our lives.
Happy are we who have not seen his glory,
yet believe that he is our Lord. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
by the power of Jesus, our transfigured Lord,
you call us to transform this world
into the image of Jesus, your Son.
Rip off our masks,
that we may meet and accept one another as we are
and that together we may try to be
what you have called us to be.
Commit us to justice and love,
that we may change this harsh and cold world
into a sign and token
that you are with us
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Blessing

In his transfiguration
Jesus revealed his deepest self.
May we believe in him
as the source of all transfiguration
of ourselves, of our mentality, of this earth.
And may Christ be our strength
to work toward this transfiguration,
with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Go in peace
and let your face be bright
with the radiance of Christ’s light. R/ Thanks be to God.

Commentary

This is my beloved Son

Today’s Gospel opens with the phrase: “After six days.” What happened before six days? Probably it is a reference to the Gospel we have listened to yesterday – a question on the identity of Jesus that occurred in the region of Caesarea Philippi (Mt 16:13-20). There, Peter professed his faith in Jesus: “You are the Messiah,” although his idea of the Messiah was a wrong one: “You are thinking not as God does, but as people do,” Jesus told Peter.

Now it becomes a necessity for Jesus to rectify this false idea about the Messiah: as one who rules over the people with power, a Messiah that dominates. The true Messiah is the one who serves, the one who is humble and disregards his divinity and takes the form of a helpless human being. Therefore he takes a group of his disciples who were probably the most prepared to accept the novelty of the Kingdom, and takes them up the mountain.

The gospel speaks of a high mountain. In biblical language, the mountain does not indicate a material place, but the inner experience of a manifestation of God, where the intimacy with the Lord culminates. That is, it reaches heaven, reaches God. The mountain indicates the world of God.

If you want to find the Lord, if you want to accept his thinking, his way of evaluating, of judging, it is necessary to disconnect with the plains of this world, where the crowds gather, where reasonings and gossips that have nothing to do with God's way of thinking circulate.

Jesus takes them apart. And this is what we are invited to do. If we
want to experience the Lord, it is necessary to make a space where we isolate ourselves from noise, confusion, even the worries of everyday life and to enter moments of silence.

The disciples loved idea of remaining in those moments of spiritual intimacy. Peter exclaims: "Lord, it is good that we are here.” He has been delighted with beauty of the face of God. And we are invited to see the beauty of this face by going up the mountain.

Six days ago Jesus had asked Peter and his company, “Who do you say that I am?” And today, they are given an answer on the mountain of intimacy with Jesus – they listened to the answer very clearly: “This is my beloved Son, Listen to him.”

The contemplation of this beauty is not enough; it is necessary to come down the mountain, return to everyday life, leave the church and start loving. Return to work, to one's own social responsibilities; develop the profession one has, but in a different way from how it is done in the plain.