Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord:

06 August

“This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” Luke 9:35

According to the Scriptures (Luke 9:28-36), after Peter’s declaration that Jesus was the “Messiah”, Jesus began to prepare His disciples for the great sufferings that he was to undergo in Jerusalem. It was in this backdrop that He chose three of His disciples – Peter, James and John and went up a high mountain. While He was in prayer, His appearance changed and His face and clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared in glory and were talking to Him “of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem.” Just as they were leaving, a cloud came over them and a voice from heaven said: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found to be alone.

Through the Transfiguration, Jesus discloses his divine glory, confirming Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He also reveals that he will have to go by the way of the cross at Jerusalem in order to “enter into his glory”. His Passion is the will of the Father; the Son acts as God’s servant, voluntarily surrendering to the Father’s will.

The cloud that covered them indicates the presence of the Holy Spirit. As St. Augustine says, “The whole Trinity appeared: the Father in the voice; the Son in the man; the Spirit in the shining cloud.” The Transfiguration was a confirmation of all that was written about the Messiah. Moses and Elijah had seen God’s glory on the Mountain; the Law and the Prophets had announced the Messiah’s sufferings. And the voice from heaven confirmed this saying “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”

Through His Transfiguration, Jesus also hoped to strengthen the faith of the apostles to endure His Passion, Death and Resurrection and later proclaim the Gospel. In 2 Peter 1:16-19, Peter testifies to the Transfiguration of the Lord when the glory of Christ was made known by the Father in the voice from heaven saying "We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed."

When Jesus began His public life, at the time of his Baptism, there was a voice from Heaven that said “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Luke 3:22. On the threshold of His public life - the baptism; on the threshold of the Passover - the Transfiguration. Jesus' baptism proclaimed “the mystery of the first regeneration”, namely our Baptism; the Transfiguration “is the sacrament of the second regeneration”: our own Resurrection. From now on we share in the Lord’s Resurrection through the Spirit who acts in the sacraments of the Body of Christ, the Church. The Transfiguration gives us a foretaste of Christ’s glorious coming, when He “will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body.” But it also recalls that “it is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22

This is a great mystery and was added to the Luminuous Mysteries of the Holy Rosary by Pope John Paul II through his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae in 2002.