6 August 2017
Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
The prophet Daniel describes for us his visions of the Lord as King with myriads of angelic hosts ministering to Him, and the Son of Man receiving kingship from the Lord. How are we to understand this kingship? One aspect of the Lord’s reign are the marvels of Divine Providence: how it is that the Lord orders all things according to His infinite wisdom and disposes them according to His infinite love.
Christ allows a choice few of His disciples to see Him transfigured and shining with glorious light as a means of strengthening them to bear the events of the Passion. Immediately before the Transfiguration, we read of Jesus’ explanation of the demands of following Him: “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mt 16:24) The three apostles were meant to treasure the vision as a guarantee that Christ was the Son of God, and that despite all that they were to see Him suffer, death would not triumph over Him. Thus, they would have courage to face similar sufferings, knowing that they were not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, a glory of which they were given a foretaste in the Transfiguration.
Christian trust in Divine Providence takes this very grace as its foundation. The Lord has made great promises to us, and has given each of us cause to trust Him. Like Peter, James and John we will face trials in life which will challenge our trust that God is guiding all things to His good ends. What we are called to meditate on in today’s Gospel is the strength that comes from Christ’s reassurance that all things have been handed over to Him by the Father, (Mt 11:27) that He is the Son of Man whose kingship shall not be destroyed. (Dn 7:14)
This week let us savor the manifold ways in which God in His Providence takes care of us. Let us take the readings as incessant reminders that the Lord guides all things for our good out of His great love for us.