If you could be present at one moment during the life of Jesus, which would it be?

Birth – step around the cow and gaze into the manger

Woman caught in adultery – see Jesus stand down an angry mob – replace violence with mercy

Last Supper – gather in that upper room – take your place at the table as He offers his disciples the Eucharist for the first time – His own body and blood

Or maybe, you are a braver soul than I – want to be at Calvary with Him – as they nail Him to the cross – as He takes weight of the sins of the world on His shoulders – and suffers and dies

Ask me – it’s this Gospel reading today – Transfiguration

When I say that, Usually folks look at me like I am wearing white shoes after Labor day

But think about it

Peter, James and John are doing their regular thing

Jesus says let’s go take a hike

Hike up mountain – regular, ordinary day

And it happens!

Jesus is transfigured before them

Face shines like the sun

Clothing is white like light of the brightest laser

They are witnessing His divinity – He reveals for a moment His supernatural glory

Spiritual world, for just a moment, has invaded their regular, ordinary, workaday life

Then Moses and Elijah show up – conversation – and you get to overhear that?!?!

Then boom, bright cloud appears over them – envelopes them

God’s Voice from heaven – This is my Son with whom I am well pleased – listen to Him

Wouldn’t you want to be there for that?      Really?

And I get Peter

Sometimes I like to make fun of him for his reaction but it makes sense

“Jesus, how about we build three booths/huts/tents/ RV’s so we can just hang out here

Can we just stay here?

I mean, Jesus, This is FANTASTIC!”

I get that – every so often that same feeling overwhelms me

I wish it were more often

But I am grateful for those moments when they appear

When the divine is so close – so real – so ….touchable

That evyerything else just fades away

When the eternal every so briefly and intensely invades my regular, ordinary, workaday life

At a wedding a few weeks ago

We were in St Peter Chanel church – Roswell GA – with its architectural beauty and its stunning crucifix lit like no other one I have ever seen

I remember it distinctly still at this moment

250 people or so

Two families there to celebrate a marriage – a wedding

Two families – deeply saturated in the faith

It was moving – stirring – inspiring – almost overwhelming to see so many people so in love with the Church and Catholicism

As the godmother read from 1 John – her eyes filled with tears and her voice quivered as she said - We love because God first loved us

As the priest, who had known the groom since his first communion all the way up to today, brilliantly wove the Gospels into the lives of the couple and all of us

As children whispered, and giggled and filled this wedding with a delightful joy that was not distracting but a holy reminder of the beauty of life

As the bride’s face radiated a pure joy and love for God and for her soon to be husband

As the greeter invited us all to spend a bit of time in silence and gather/recollect/focus ourselves for what God was about to do in this wedding

I mean, this felt like a wedding where 150 gallons of water were about to become 150 gallons of wine

All of it – it just settled in

Like a cloud enveloping me

And the voice from heaven above speaking into my ear

I was transfixed

His heavenly had broken into my earthly

His eternal into my Eastern standard time

His divine into my meager human existence

So much so that I really did not want to move

And I certainly did not want to leave

I just lingered

And then I thought of Peter and asked, Can we just build a booth or a hut here?

I really just want to stay in your divine presence, O Lord

I have glimpsed, tasted even, your glory

III.           That was a Holy Moment. It was a Transfiguration moment

Each Holy Moment is a mini-transfiguration. Holy Moments allow us to see what is possible, even if only for a fleeting moment.

Each Holy Moment reveals who you are capable of being, and who you are capable of being is amazing.

And, God, it is wonderful – because you are wonderful

When for a moment, just a moment, you can taste the Divine

Those Transfiguration moments are priceless – and rare

You cannot predict when they will come – perhaps at Mass, maybe in a Labor and Delivery room, maybe on a remote mountain hike as you take in the grandeur of God

I have just learned to be grateful when they do arrive

For a delightful gift that reminds us

Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself

Mountains declare the glory of God

Seas declare the glory of God

Sun and moon and stars declare the glory of God

Heavens exist to declare His glory

All that we have is God’s gift to us – to make His glory known

Why we breathe – for His glory

Everything I do today – may it be to reveal the glory of God

World exists to reveal His glory

To make His glory known

And that is why if you ask me, which moment in Jesus’ life would you most want to be at

I would simply say – The Transfiguration

Declare your glory, O Lord, declare your glory