Today we read the gospel of the transfiguration of Christ. Jesus took Peter, James and John, the closer companions, up the mountain to pray. It was probably not the first time. Jesus might have been grooming them into this habit of praying alone, quite different from the usual Jewish traditions. That day, unusually, he was “trans-figured”—his figure, his clothes, his face, all started shining. It was as if the veil of his humanity moved away from his face for a while, and his divinity was shining through in the sight of his close disciples.
We cannot avoid remembering how Moses went up the mountain and met God in a much similar way. On his return, he had to use a veil to cover the glare on his face. Moses somehow reflected the radiance of God. With Jesus, it was not just the face but the whole body was transfigured. These are changes that happen to people who encounter the Father.
The disciples, in the meanwhile, enjoyed the experience of Moses and Elijah with them. It was euphoric. They wanted to build booths there to freeze the moment, like taking a selfie or a screenshot of the moment to make it eternal and live there in that experience. “Templing the experience” is how my friend, Fr. Paulson CMF, wrote about this moment. They wanted to preserve the experience. He said it is futile as someone trying to capture the mist of the Niagara in a bottle, or like the old game of children to capture sunshine in a matchbox.
Their proposal came from a dreamy sleep. Sleep is the term the Scripture uses for lack of perception into the gravity of the situation. We read about the sleeping virgins, sleeping stewards, sleeping servants, sleeping disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, all referring to the failure to recognize the gravity of the moment. To live in the glorious moment forever is one of the temptations that Jesus faced from Peter to which Jesus does not respond. Jesus tells him later that he would have to undergo a violent death. After the transfiguration, Jesus brings them down to reality to the foot of the mountain.
Beyond the theological meditations on this text, it is also pertinent to think over: when do our faces begin to look like that of God? When can we radiate the light of God to others? When do people begin to think that in us, they see God? It requires a huge “trans-substantiation” in us. This is a term we use for the change that happens to the host during the consecration in the Mass. The essence of the host gets changed into the essence of Christ. When our substance gets changed into divine profile, that change happens to us too. Our substance changes when we think and feel like Christ. Our appearance changes when we do what Christ did.
Mother Teresa had developed this divine countenance. When someone asked her, “For a million-dollar, I would not do the kind of job that you do,” she replied, “Nor will I. But I do this because I see the suffering Christ in every one of them.” Some of these poor people called Mother Teresa God, goddess and other names equivalent to divinity. It is the mystery of transfiguration. When we are able to see the face of God in the poor, in the suffering, they too see the face of God in us. It is the experience of Christ meeting Christ, the experience of the suffering Christ meeting the compassionate Christ.
This is the mirror effect of a genuine spiritual transfiguration of life. It happens through a long process of polishing our own selves. It is much like the practice of making old-fashioned metallic mirrors. After making the shape of the mirror with molten metal in a mould, the craftsman begins to polish the surface with different objects for days until one sees one’s own face reflected without blemish on the surface.
We have all been made in the image and likeness of God. That face has been blemished by our human perspectives. Our lives need a lot of polishing until we can see the face of God mirrored in the poor, in the needy. The moment that we begin to see the face of God in the other that is the moment, they are able to see God’s face on our faces too.
The polishing most poignantly is perfect when we become like God in acts of mercy. Jesus tells us, “Be merciful like your heavenly Father is merciful.” Jesus taught this value when he narrated the last judgment story. “Have you been merciful when I was hungry, thirsty, lonely and naked?” Now, we know where we need the grinding and polishing.
August 9, 2026 Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel: Mt 14:22-33
Today is the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The passage taken from the Holy Gospel of Saint Matthew presents to us the narrative of Jesus walking on the water. I would like to take this opportunity to offer some reflections.
First of all, Matthew tells us: Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side of the sea. It was then that He dismissed the crowds. Afterward, He went up the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone. (Cf. Mt 14:22-23)
We see a Jesus who is completely different from usual. He did not choose to go with the disciples but went up the mountain to pray. When evening came, He was there alone. What was He doing there? He was with His Heavenly Father.
Subsequently, Saint Matthew shows us the boat battered by the waves and sailing against the wind. (Cf. Mt 14:24-27) We know that the boat is a symbol of the Church, and the sea is the dwelling place of the devil, because it constantly devours life. A boat battered by the waves and sailing against the wind is exactly what the pilgrim Church experiences. When the Church encounters adversity, any change will fill her with fear. Those brothers and sisters who have left Jesus, their souls are filled with all kinds of fears, which causes them to look at God, who suddenly appears in their lives, according to the logic of this world. This will cause them, just like the disciples in the Gospel passage, to regard God who suddenly appears as a ghost.
The dialogue between Peter and Jesus presented to us by Matthew in this Gospel passage (Cf. Mt 14:28-33) allows us to see our own reflection in Peter. We too want to verify whether God’s word is true according to our own ideas. At the beginning, we too, like Peter, are willing to try to go toward God; but when we encounter some setbacks or some uncertain factors, we shrink back. Yet Jesus is still there; He is always ready to support us. Only if we truly welcome Him and choose to walk with Him can we find peace and joy.
I think: some fellow believers might ask: If this is so, then why does God allow us to go through such setbacks and uncertainties? To these fellow believers, I would say: God wishes us to go through these in order to strengthen our faith, cultivate our longing for Him, and thereby give rise to charity. Just as Saint Paul the Apostle teaches: Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Cf. Rom 5:2-5) Only in this way can we feel His presence.
Almighty ever-living God, whom, taught by the Holy Spirit, we dare to call our Father, bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters, that we may merit to enter into the inheritance which you have promised. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever
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