Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration
Aug. 6, 2026
Collect
Dan 7: 9-10, 13-14
2 Peter 1: 16-19
Matt 17: 1-9
Christian Brothers, St.
Joseph’s Residence, N.R.
Church of the Transfiguration
(Mott Street, NYC)
The
Lord’s Transfiguration confirms a mystery of faith for Jesus’ 3 favored
apostles, confirms for them that he walks in the steps of Moses and Elijah,
confirms that he’s the Father’s “beloved Son” who much pleases his Father (Matt
17:5), and confirms the apostles’ faith in what lay in the future.[1]
Peter,
James, and John are “eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Pet 1:16) in a way that
exceeds what they’ve perceived in his miracles.
They can see that he shares the glory of God the Father (1:17), the
glory foretold by Daniel in his prophecy of the Son of Man’s presentation to
the Ancient One to receive “dominion, glory, and kingship” (Dan 7:13-14).
At
the same time, the Transfiguration “wonderfully prefigured our full adoption”
as God’s children, destined in God’s plan “to become co-heirs with” Christ
(Collect). Even a non-Christian like
Benjamin Franklin perceived God’s intention.
That Deist left this epitaph for his tombstone: “The Body of B. Franklin, Printer; Like the Cover
of an old Book, Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms. But the Work
shall not be wholly lost: For it will,
as he believ’d, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition,
Corrected and Amended by the Author.”
God means for us, too, to be perfected, to “shine like the sun” and be
clothed in “white like light” (Matt 17:2).
This
perception of the Lord Jesus is for us “a lamp shining in a dark place,” the
darkness of our human frailty and sins.
He is “the morning star that rises in [our] hearts” (2 Pet 1:19) giving
us hope of sharing a glorious future with him as God’s beloved children.
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