Posted by The WORD in other words (2009) by Fr Roderick Salazar SVD – University of San Carlos, Cebu City
Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, August 6
Ah, Peter, so you did remember. In your Second Letter, you write about this moment of Transfiguration, affirming that you were with Jesus on the mountain when he was transfigured.
Mark, however, in the Gospel says that when you offered to build three tents on that mountain, one each for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, you hardly knew what you were saying — so terrified were you at the sight of Jesus becoming a dazzling figure before your eyes.
I can hardly blame you for what you said. It must have been a soul-stirring moment. We; who came to earth and got to know Jesus centuries after you, believe that Jesus took you and James and John up that mountain to prepare you for another moment that would come later — to balance that second moment of grief with this moment of glory.
In the garden of Gethsemane, the night before Jesus died, Mark says Jesus asked the same three of you to be with him, this time in his moment of prayer even as he agonized over what he knew was going to happen to him: suffering and death. But you were so sleepy that you could not watch an hour with Jesus. So, I suppose, on second thought, you probably did not really remember in the garden the Transfiguration in the mountain. How could you. You were asleep.
Still, I would also not blame you. I see myself in you, Peter: following Jesus, loving him, yet not always consistent; big and brave in words, not so in action; proclaiming him to be Messiah, Son of God yet also denying him loudly, even with curses; defending him with a sword, yet deserting him, in his moment of need. But Jesus loved you. And you loved Jesus.
In spite of your failures, he made you the Rock on which he built his Church. He knew you weaknesses and your sins, and having lifted you upend given you strength, he said that with your experience you should in turn help and strengthen your weak brothers and sisters in their moment of need. And so did you indeed. Now you are pictured holding the keys of heaven.
On the mountain, Jesus was transfigured. On the plain, you too, were changed: from the inconsistent Peter to the brave apostle who, following Jesus, would also be crucified upside down.
Seeing you, Peter, transfigured, like Jesus in you own way, I hold on to the hope that for all my sins and inconsistencies I, too, may be transfigured to become the disciple Jesus wants me to be. And such is the path of us all.
Thank you, Peter.
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