Transfiguration & Eucharist
Fr. Dwight Campbell
03/16/2025
Homily 2nd Sunday Lent Yr C: Christ’s Transfiguration & the Eucharist
Fr. Dwight P. Campbell, S.T.D.
At funeral Masses I like to remind people that we are not made for this world.
In fact, our earthly life passes very quickly in comparison with the eternal life that awaits all of us.
No, we are made for Heaven: to enjoy eternal happiness with God – in bodies glorified.
St. Paul, in Ephesians (our 2nd reading today), reminds us of this profound truth when he says: “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from there we also await a Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to conform to his glorified body.”
The Apostles were shown a glimpse of that risen, glorified body of Jesus on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration – as described in our Gospel today from Saint Luke.
I recall on both of my pilgrimages to the Holy Land, going to the top of Mount Tabor and gazing out to the Mediterranean Sea.
On this second Sunday of Lent, the Church desires that we contemplate the mystery of Jesus, transfigured in glory.
To understand this mystery, it helps to understand the historical context.
Jesus was about to travel through Galilee into Judea, on His way to Jerusalem, to celebrate the Passover.
It would be the final Passover, which was to begin on that first Holy Thursday night at the Last Supper, with the sacrifice of the Passover lamb – a figure of Jesus;
and it would end the next day with the sacrifice of the Jesus Himself on the Cross – the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
On Mount Tabor, Jesus knew that the faith of the Apostles would soon be put to the test, and He wanted to strengthen them against temptation.
The events that were about to take place would to be a scandal to them: after the Last Supper, Our Lord would be arrested, bound and led before the Sanhedrin.
Worse yet, the next day, Good Friday, the crowds – that greeted Him just a week before so enthusiastically with hosannas, throwing Palm branches before him – would join with the leaders of the Jews in calling for Christ’s death before Pontius Pilate.
Jesus knew that His Apostles would witness His humiliations and sufferings, and His death by crucifixion.
So He took with them to the top of Mount Tabor three of His Apostles: Peter, whom He had made the rock on which His Church would be built and promised the keys of the kingdom, along with the two sons of thunder, James and John – to give them a glimpse of that glory that would be His after He rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven.
Atop Mount Tabor His Apostles saw a great change in Jesus: His face changed in appearance – it shone as the sun, and His garments became dazzling white.
With Him appeared Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the first of the great prophets who was taken away in a fiery chariot without having undergone death – and founder of the Carmelite order!
Peter, James and John were awestruck at the sight, and they wanted to remain there forever with this glorious vision before them; so Peter proposed to build the three tents – for Jesus, Moses and Elijah.
But after a few moments, the vision was over. Why? Because Our Lord’s mission was not to appear in glory on Mount Tabor; rather, it was to suffer and then die on the cross; but then to rise from the dead on Easter Sunday.
The glorious spectacle of Christ’s Transfiguration would remain forever imprinted in the minds of these three Apostles, to strengthen their faith and prevent them from despairing – losing hope – in the dark hours Christ’s Passion and His death on Calvary.
Our faith teaches, and we believe, that Jesus conquered death by rising from the dead. And this gives us confident hope that, if we believe in Him and follow His teachings, we will enjoy a life of never-ending happiness after we die.
Not only that, we believe that on the Last Day, when Jesus comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead, that we will rise from the dead in a body that will be transfigured into a glorified state.
Our bodies will then be like that of Jesus – a body that will never hunger or thirst, never know illness or disease, a body that will never suffer, will never die again.
This is what we mean when we profess our belief in that last article of the Creed -which we will say in a few minutes: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”
How can it be that our bodies will rise, transfigured in glory? Jesus Himself told us: “You must eat my flesh and drink my blood; and whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, I will raise him up on the last day.”
At the Transfiguration God the Father speaks these words: “This is my beloved Son, listen to him” – i.e., obey Him!
All of us are at here today because we have heeded these words of God that Father, and at Mass we do what Jesus commanded us to do: we receive His Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist.
We believe that the Eucharist is the risen Body and Blood of Jesus, transfigured in glory – the same Jesus who rose from the dead on that first Easter Sunday, who ascended into heaven, and who is coming again on the Last Day as our universal King and judge.
The Gospel accounts of our Lord’s Transfiguration before the Apostles is a reminder that if we are faithful to our Lord’s teachings and receive the Eucharist, His Body and Blood, we will rise on the Last Day, with bodies like that of Jesus, transfigured in glory, and bask in the eternal Light of God’s glory.
The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, which we look forward to at the end of this Lenten season, is a testimony to this truth.
Let us keep this thought in mind as we make our way through the Lenten season, holding fast to our good Lenten resolutions of prayer, fasting, and works of charity.