Dn 7:9-10
Mt 17:1-9
Peter’s comment in this morning’s gospel reading, ‘Master, it is wonderful for us to be here’, can find an echo in our own lives. It can remind us of those moments in our lives when we too felt it is wonderful to be here. Each of us is likely to have at least one experience when we could have said with Peter, ‘Lord, it is wonderful for us to be here’. The experience that moved Peter to say this was the vision of Jesus transfigured on the mountain. The gospel reading says that Peter and the other two disciples saw Jesus’ glory. They sensed God’s presence in Jesus in a way they had never sensed it before. It could be said that this was an experience of heaven, of Jesus’ heavenly glory. Those who get a taste of heaven in this life do not want to let it go. Peter too wanted to preserve this experience, ‘Let us make three tents…’. This vision needed to be preserved, Peter felt. However, it could not be preserved. Jesus, along with his three disciples had to come down the mountain. He had to face into what the gospel reading calls ‘his passing which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem’, his passing over from this world, his death. His disciples had to face into it too. This was just a momentary grace given to sustain them. Such graces are given to us all if we are open to receive them. The Lord will give us too a sense of his presence in our lives, to sustain us on our life journey. Amen.
Fr. John Peter
Kigoowa Parish
