The Fourth Luminous Mystery: The Transfiguration

This guest post is by Robert Klesko, Catholic Educational Resources Product Manager at Verbum.

“They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God” (Is. 35:2).

The Transfiguration of our Lord on Mount Tabor is more than an event which shows forth the glory of God and the divinity of Christ. To simplify it to a mere miraculous occasion is to miss the meaning. For it was not merely done by Christ to demonstrate his power and glory as proof of his Godhead, it was an unveiling, a theophany, of what humanity is destined for.

Pope St. Leo the Great provides an insightful commentary:

And in this Transfiguration the foremost object was to remove the offence of the cross from the disciple’s heart, and to prevent their faith being disturbed by the humiliation of His voluntary Passion … But with no less foresight, the foundation was laid of the Holy Church’s hope, that the whole body of Christ might realize the character of the change which it would have to receive, and that the members might promise themselves a share in that honour which had already shone forth in their Head (Sermon 51).

In seeing God’s glory, Peter, James, and John were fortified and buffered from the profound grief and confusion of the Cross. Yet, more importantly, Christ bathes them in the light of Mount Tabor in order for them to realize their role as prophets and heralds of the eschaton, or Judgment Day. Surely this was on St. Peter’s mind when he wrote, “… through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature” (II Pet. 1:3-5).The Transfiguration concerns our deification and the deification of the entire cosmos and the final victory of God and his New Creation.

This gives hope to every person engaged in every holy endeavor and when compared to the various motivations of the “the corruption that is in the world because of passion” (II Pet. 1:4), we see we are bound for a much more glorious future. In this world so full of the misery or war, violence, despair, and just plain apathy, isn’t the message of the Transfiguration needed all the more?

There is a beautiful icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe entitled “Mary: Star of the New Evangelization” and in the background are beams of light radiating from the Blessed Mother. She is depicted in the uncreated light of Tabor, arms outstretched heavenward as if saying to her Son, “thy Kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven.” When meditating on this mystery during this month of the Holy Rosary let’s remember our vocation to be prophets and evangelists of the Kingdom, calling our friends and neighbors, young and old, rich and poor, marginalized and broken; in fact, calling all to the hope of New Creation in Christ.

Let us ponder like the theologian John, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (I Jn. 3:2-3). We have so much to hope for, so much to be joyful for, and so much work to do in spreading that joy to others! We work with the Blessed Mother and the entire communion of the saints in ushering in God’s kingdom!