9781644135945

The Time After Pentecost
For He received from God the Father honor and glory; this voice coming down to Him
from the excellent glory: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him.
And this voice we heard brought from heaven when we were with Him in the holy mount”
(Epistle). The glory in which Peter saw the transfigured Lord on the mountain, gives Peter
and all of us the certainty that the Lord will later reappear in His glory, and that even as
man He is the King of Glory. “Glory and wealth are in His house, and His justice remaineth
forever and ever” (Offertory).
Although He was the Son of God, “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death,
even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted Him and hath given Him
a name which is above all names. That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, . . . in heaven,
on earth, and under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ
is in the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:8–11). The prophets of the Old Testament also give
testimony of Him (Acts 10:43). We who see Him in His glory on Tabor through Peter “have
the more firm prophetical word, where-unto you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in
a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (Epistle). We believe; we
adore the King of Glory. “I speak my words to the King” (Gradual). My thoughts, my wishes,
my time, my strength, my love, my sacrifices, all center on Him.
Christ’s divinity is the source of our hope. “We look for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ,
who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of His glory” (Phil 3:20–21). We
have confidence that our body will be made like the body of the Lord, which was transfigured on
Tabor. The liturgy reminds us, “Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we should be called and should be the sons of God. . . . We know that when He shall appear,
we shall be like to Him” (1 Jn 3:1 f.). In the transfiguration of the Lord on Tabor we possess
a visible image as well as a guarantee of our eventual transfiguration in body and soul. Through
the transfiguration on Tabor, O Father, “Thou didst wonderfully foreshow the perfect adoption
of sons by a voice coming down in a shining cloud” (Collect). These words of the Father, “This
is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Gospel), are spoken also to us who are joined
to Christ through baptism. Because we are children, we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs of
Christ, “the King of Glory, and sharers in that same glory” (Collect).
“Thou art beautiful above the sons of men; grace is poured abroad in Thy lips. My heart hath
uttered a good word. I speak my works to the King. Alleluia, alleluia. He is the brightness of
eternal light, the unspotted mirror, and the image of His goodness” (Gradual).
“In this transfiguration it was indeed intended principally to take away from the hearts of
the disciples the scandal of the cross, lest the degradation of His voluntary passion should shake
the faith of those men to whom had been revealed the excellence of His hidden majesty” (St.
Leo). In times when the kingdom of Satan displays its power and the kingdom of Christ is most
hard pressed, the Church lifts up her eyes to Tabor to see the splendor of the hidden glory of
God. “Thou alone art the Lord. Thou alone art most high,” the King of Glory.
Prayer
O God, who in the glorious transfiguration of Thy only-begotten Son didst confirm the
mysteries of faith by the testimony of the Fathers, and who didst wonderfully foreshow
the perfect adoption of sons by a voice coming down in a shining cloud, mercifully grant
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