What's really going on?

As we continue our journey toward Easter, the image placed before us today is that of the Transfiguration.  Joseph Cassidy, an Irish bishop who died in 2013 used to speak of this event in the life of the apostles in this way:  Jesus knew that his disciples would find it difficult to understand and to accept the fact that he had to suffer and die.  In order to help them to understand the big picture - which included the necessity of suffering and dying but also the glorious reality of the resurrection, Jesus took ... Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain.  There, he was transfigured before them (Mt 17:1-2).  He changed in his outward form or appearance.  His face shone like the sun and his face became dazzling white.  Moses and Elijah also appeared, stood with Jesus and talked with him.  Bishop Cassidy explained that they did this in order to encourage Jesus too, so that when the time of his suffering appeared, he would also be strengthened by this experience and be able to endure all that was to come.

Can you imagine what it was like to stand there, on the top of the mountain, and to experience such a sight?  In the face of all that splendour, Peter's first reaction was a desire to set up three dwellings (cf Mt 17:4).  What a worldly reaction this was: he wanted to offer them some earthly comfort.  Poor Peter was incapable of understanding the full magnitude of what he was witnessing.  God's perspective on reality is always much wider than the scope of our possibilities.  In the first reading, we heard God calling to Abram: Go from your country ... to the land that I will show you (Gn 12:1).  God invited Abram to widen his horizons, to set out on an adventure, to look beyond the scope of his own comfort, God invited Peter, James and John to see beyond the scope of their own horizons too, and God invites us to dream beyond the limits of this world, so that we can dare to see the limitless expanse of heaven.

How often does it happen that God is right in front of us, showing us his divinity and his plan for our lives, and we choose instead to focus on logistics and on worldly preoccupations?  Can we dare to look beyond?

Today, as we celebrate the Mass, we will witness one of the greatest miracles of all time: bread and wine will be transformed into the body and blood of Jesus.  The Eucharist is the sacrament that allows us to have a glimpse of God's glory and power, right here before our eyes.  For just a moment, heaven and earth meet.  As we witness this miracle today, where will our hearts and minds be focused?  Will we be checking the time, or will we be revelling in God's glory?  Will we be thinking about things that we need to accomplish in the coming week or will we be aware of God speaking in the depths of our hearts?

God's words to the disciples were a wake up call for them: Get up and do not be afraid (Mt 17:7), and Saint Paul echoes these very words by inviting us to join with him in suffering for the Gospel, relying on the power of God who saved us and called us with a holy calling ... according to his own purpose and grace (2 Tim 1:8-9).  These words of encouragement prompt us to refocus on the things that are truly important: not worldly considerations but an attentive ear and an open heart, ready to welcome the ever-living Word of God that calls us to be living examples of heaven right here on earth.