"Eyewitnesses of His Majesty"

The Transfiguration (1594) by Lodovico Carracci

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Transfiguration, the memorial of when Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain to show them the reality of his divinity. This event is not only recorded in all three Synoptic Gospels, but is also explicitly mentioned by Peter in his Second Letter. The Church uses the following excerpt as its Second Reading for today's liturgy:

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. (2 Pt 1:16-19)

Note the change Peter has undergone: from the disciple who had been "overcome by sleep" (Lk 9:32) and who "did not know what he was saying" (Lk 9:33) to the Prince of the Apostles who unmistakably declares his faith in Christ's divinity and declares himself to be an "eyewitness" of the event which proved it. It's almost hard to believe it's the same man! And yet, that's what the gift of faith does. It changes and transforms us. It enables us to apprehend mysteries which are beyond human understanding and to glimpse glories which we will only truly grasp in heaven. Indeed, faith gives us a preview, a foretaste of heaven itself, an "assurance of things hoped for" (Heb 11:1) not from our own reason or experience but from the inner certainty given by the testimony of the Holy Spirit.

For Peter, the Transfiguration event was a first glimpse of that glory which imbued this Jesus whom he followed. The glorious events to come -- the passion, death, and resurrection -- would be all the more remarkable for their contrast. And yet, as Peter would come to understand, such was the depth of God's love to allow him (and us) a partaking in Jesus's divine glory, a share in his inheritance, a participation in his Son-ship.

Today's feast is yet another opportunity to ask ourselves: How have I been changed by my faith? Does it guide and illumine my path in such a way that I declare myself to be an "eyewitness of his majesty" for others? Do I trust in God's Providence even when times are troubled and my path is darkened? The gift of faith comes from above yet it is one to which we must "be attentive... as to a lamp shining in a dark place," until that last and final Day dawns and we see the Morning Star rising and returning to us.