Do not tell this vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.
Let us pray.
And so, the Lord, in manifesting his transfigured body, chooses three apostles, not arbitrarily, but according to the role that they would have in the mystical body of Christ.
And as is always the case, when Peter is present in a listing of the apostles, his name comes first because, as Peter, he was chosen to become the rock, the foundation on which Christ would build his church.
The leader and head of the apostolic college.
Next, we hear of St. James, the brother of St. John, because he was to be the proto-matter of the apostolic college and the patriarch of Jerusalem, in which his seat would be established, in which he would ultimately suffer that death from the parapet, and would show very clearly why the Lord named him a son of thunder.
For he was thrown from the parapet, and his legs would be crushed.
But there, not quite dead, he would continue to preach and admonish the chosen people, to repent of their sins, and turn to the Messiah.
Next is St. John, because he is this disciple whom Jesus loved, and whose care he bequeathed to his mother.
And so, ultimately, in choosing these three, the Lord wishes that every member of the mystical body learn a lesson.
For these three, in their prominence, signify the whole of the mystical body.
And so, in choosing these three, the Lord wishes that every member of the mystical body learn a lesson.
For these three, in their prominence, signify the whole of the mystical body.
And all of us are included in that bequeathal at the cross, in which the Lord tells St. John,
Son, behold your mother, and hence, every member of the mystical body to behold their mother.
And let us, as we reflect upon this mystery, always call to mind the humility exhibited by the apostles.
For often, we do not consider that when we read the scripture, St. Peter had the authority,
not to allow these manifestations of his weakness to be published.
He had the authority to tell St. Matthew not to publish his gospel.
He had the authority to tell St. Mark, who was his anoesis, that is, his secretary, not to publish his gospel.
He had the authority to tell St. John and all the evangelists not to publish the gospels.
And yet, he would allow them to be published, and he would not have his faults and failings.
Glossed over in the least, so that we would all learn that it is not by our human talents
that we are to remain faithful to God, but it is through our humble submission to God
and the reception of his grace.
And so, St. Peter allows this to be published, and again, it manifests his weakness.
It manifests his lack of dependence.
And what was the root of his lack of dependence?
For three years, St. Peter, the apostles, and all the disciples,
were prepared by the Lord, prepared especially for his final journey from Galilee to Jerusalem.
That is, that final journey in which the last Paschal meal of the old dispensation would be offered up,
and the figurative lamb would ultimately be replaced by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
And that Paschal meal will continue until the end of time,
because it is the Holy Spirit.
And so, all that the Lord came into the world would be fulfilled on this final journey.
And what was the apostles' response?
For three years did not the Lord show his disciples that they had every reason to be faithful to him.
His words, which had the power to convert hearts, the most hardened of sinners,
they saw before their very eyes convert the most hardened of sinners.
They were the recipients.
They were the recipients of his most tender love, the feeding of the multitude,
the raising from the dead, the tears that he would shed over Jerusalem and over Lazarus and over others,
the most tender love of the Lord.
And in the feeding of the multitude, it would point to a higher and more glorious spiritual reality,
that is, the feeding of the soul through the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
They were witnesses to it all.
They witnessed and realized.
They received his patient endurance of their most untoward behavior.
And indeed, Saint Peter often would be the one who would remonstrate with the Lord most clearly.
Indeed, he showed very clearly in one occasion that while he recognized this power and this authority that God manifested
that would convert the sinners, that same power and authority that even his enemies would recognize,
as Saint John tells us, in putting these words in our law,
relating these words of our Lord,
many good works I have done and showed you from my Father.
For which of these do you seek to stone me?
And what would be the response of the Pharisees and scribes?
It is not for your good works that we stone you, but you make yourself equal to God.
That is, they declared, we find nothing wrong in you except you make yourself equal to God.
Why did they object to this?
Not because they didn't recognize his divinity,
or at least they had good reason to suspect that he was truly God,
because they had no reason to doubt he was the Messiah.
For everything that was to be fulfilled they saw very clearly in the Lord to be fulfilled,
and so they had reason to simply remain silent and let the mystery of the incarnation unveil.
But it was because he came to change their operation,
that is, to put them out of business.
No longer were they to use their authority to ultimately gain the rewards of this world over the chosen people.
And so while they had every reason to believe he was the Messiah,
they also had reason to believe he was the Son of God.
And so even the enemies would recognize in all these works of the Lord,
something unique, something divine.
And it was that divinity that the Lord wished to instill in the hearts and minds of the disciples,
as he would ultimately travel to Jerusalem in order to suffer and die for us.
But the Lord knew the weakness of his disciples,
and so today he would go an extra step,
and he would arm those three prominent leaders of the apostolic college,
so that when the terrible trial to their faith would unfold,
they would have the means to overcome it.
In the transfiguration, the Lord in his mercy provides an extraordinary grace,
that is the vision of the glory to come,
to arm us against the terrible temptation to the ordinary lot of Christians,
to abandon Christ when faced with the cross.
That is the trial and the tribulation that every member of the mystical body,
and every member of the human family must ultimately come to grips with.
For each and every one of us will have manifested to us not our own crucifixion,
for there is only one who is truly crucified, and that is the Lord.
But in every attempt to destroy human dignity and human honor,
we must see an attempt to crucify the Lord of all goodness again.
And so we must ask the question,
what do we do,
when Christ is seized, handcuffed,
and sent from one court to another,
and does nothing to defend himself?
His divine power seems to be dormant,
when by worldly standards he should most readily use it.
And indeed, Saint Peter would tell the Lord the very same thing,
when he took him aside,
in order not to embarrass him in front of the other apostles,
and basically said,
Lord, I have seen your power.
The only problem is,
you don't seem to know how to use it.
To which the Lord would simply say,
Peter, get behind me, Satan.
And we are not to understand that,
in the common way it is understood,
as if our Lord was relating Saint Peter to be equal with Satan at that moment.
He uses the word Satan here in its literal meaning.
Right now, Peter, you're acting more like an adversary to me.
Remain silent, get behind me.
Follow my lead.
That is what he is telling him.
He is not saying,
Peter, thou art Satan incarnate.
And that is often misunderstood.
Peter was a weak man,
but of the apostles,
he was the one who loved the Lord most dearly.
Remember, it says of Saint John,
he was the beloved disciple of the Lord.
It doesn't say that Saint John had the greater love for the Lord.
That is clear from Scripture,
that it was always and everywhere,
Saint Peter,
who would come out at the bequest of the Lord
and then begin to think,
I'm walking on water,
and then fall into trouble.
But he was, of the apostles,
the one who loved the most.
And it is precisely for that reason
that he was entrusted with the keys.
And perhaps it is true
that of the apostles,
he was the weakness, that is,
in his struggle against fallen humanity.
But it was that love,
that which he would be rewarded.
And so, we too must ask the question,
because we know the result of the first Calvary,
that not even the beloved disciple of the Lord,
in the end,
who was at the foot of the cross,
would be there,
through that great trial and tribulation,
when the power of God
seemed to take a hiatus
from his very creation,
as the sacred humanity of Christ
lies dead in the tomb,
outside of the chosen city.
It was only at that point,
the faith of the Virgin Mary,
that sustained the world.
Her faith in the apostles,
whom she asked her son to call,
because all graces come to us
through the Immaculate Virgin Mary.
She, at that moment,
was sustaining them all,
so that we would all come to know
this witness of the Transfiguration,
and why the Lord manifested it
to these three,
so that they would hand it on to his mystical body
until the end of time.
But of all these things,
there is something even more disturbing
that the Lord is trying to point out
and arm the apostles against.
And this thing is,
what will we do
when the crowds,
who just a few days before the crucifixion and death,
greeted him with the most enthusiastic of hosannas,
hosanna to the Son of David,
hosanna on high?
What do we do when those crowds,
who knew him and loved him,
turn and demand his torture and his death?
What do we do when he is crucified
amidst the insults of his triumphant enemies?
For the majority of the mystical body
in our day and age,
it is to compromise.
To compromise in language,
to compromise in all things.
Classic example.
Because we refuse to offend someone,
we will try to use the language
and we will not call things what they are.
We will call the killing of a child in the mother's womb
rather than the murder of a child in his mother's womb.
That is a compromise.
And it is precisely this
that the Lord is warning us against.
For the most part,
men can deal with tyrants
when the crowds are opposed to them.
But when the crowds go along,
most of us fail
and join in
and hunker down
and run away
as the apostles did on the first crucifixion.
And as Pope Leo XIII said,
it is not the Christian mentality
to become a pacifist.
For he says,
Christians were born for combat
and it is the combat of Christ
that they are born for.
It is the conquering
of the tyrant of this world.
And so,
it is this
that really undid the apostles.
And we see that very clearly
for St. Peter would allow
that report to be published
that would manifest his true weakness.
But before reflecting upon it,
we must reflect upon the words
of Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman,
who has so well summed up
the state of our fallen nature.
He says,
Satan is a tyrant over us
and it seems to us useless to rebel.
If we attempt it,
we are but overpowered
by his huge might
and his oppressive rule
and are made twice the children of hell
that we were before.
We may groan
and look about,
but we cannot fly from this country.
Such is our state by nature.
What is he referring to?
That if we try
to gain victory
by the standards of this world,
we will only be brought down
by the leaders of this world.
It is the same thing
that the apostles did
and that we often find ourselves doing.
When our minds,
our hearts,
and everything about us
should be on the vision of Tabor,
we look at the might of the enemy
and we cower and we fear
and we crumble
because we do not keep our eyes
on the true meaning
of being children of the resurrection,
so often misunderstood
and used as a justification
to simply go about doing
whatever we will in this life
by way of the carnal pleasures
it presents to us.
We are children of the resurrection
as if sin can't touch us,
but we know full well
that it is precisely when this attitude
becomes institutionalized in society
than sins that are abhorrent
to God,
as the Catechism points out,
sins that cry to God for vengeance,
like the sin of Sodom,
the sin of usury,
that is, the unjust depriving
of a man of his labor.
We don't often reflect,
even in our own society,
that a man's wages
was never considered taxable.
It was considered private property.
Usury is one of the common sins
of our world that is accepted
and justified by even members
of the mystical body,
and it is none other than to try
to gain the wealth in this world
because with it we can purchase
the pleasures or the power of this world.
It is not to look
on the vision of Tabor.
The Lord gives this to these three
so that they would give it
to the mystical body until the end of time
so that during these most dark of times
we may behold the brightness
that is to come,
that brightness manifested
in the glorified body
of our dear Lord and Savior.
And so the apostles themselves
would not look upon Tabor
and the most courageous of them,
Saint Peter, would succumb to the trial
brought by a servant girl
and deny the Lord
because he looked to the warmth
of the fire
and not the warmth of the vision
that just a few days prior
he was privileged to behold.
And Saint Peter has allowed
this truth
to be promulgated through the gospels
until the end of time
so that all of us may take
that warning that he himself
gives us in the scripture.
Be aware of your opponent the devil
for he roams about the world
like a roaring lion
seeking someone to devour.
As Cardinal Newman has eloquently put out,
to try to struggle on the terms of Satan
is to gain twice the hell
that we deserve in our fallen nature.
And so it is to Tabor that we must turn
and then we learn the mystery
of why the two
who were there with the Lord were chosen.
Moses summarizing the law
and Elias the prophet.
And the Lord according to every doctor
and father of the church
contrary to the modest interpretation
took the middle spot.
And Moses and Elijah
were below him,
worshiping him,
adoring him,
glorifying him.
So that he was clearly pointed
to the apostles
as the fulfillment of the law
and the prophets
and then the Father himself
would put the punctuation point
on the mystery
and point out beyond a shadow of a doubt
that he is true God
and true man.
For it is the Father
who witnesses to the divinity.
And so Christ becomes
the second Moses
but much more important than the first
because he is the fulfillment
of the first Moses
who did what?
Delivered the chosen people
from the tyranny of Pharaoh.
Moses figurative of Christ,
Pharaoh figurative of Satan.
And in that we learn
everything that Satan tries to do
to lead us astray.
What was the characteristic note
of Egypt?
It is the same characteristic note
of pagan Rome
and pagan Greece
and pagan Babylon
and every pagan culture.
Affluence.
Affluence.
The worst chastisement
that God can send upon any society
because affluence
keeps our minds and our hearts
on this earth
and we refuse
to raise them to Tabor
because we do not want to let go
of what we see possible
in this world by way
of the carnal pleasures.
And so during this Lent
we must particularly reflect
that the Lord permits
the vision of God
on Tabor
not to joyfully
and mindlessly
go about declaring
we are children of the resurrection
which is true.
But it has to be understood
in light of the cross.
There is nowhere
for the true Christian
to escape persecution
in this life.
Nowhere.
Because the Lord said himself
what they have done to me
they will do to you.
When is opposition to the Lord
first manifested in his incarnation
from the very beginning?
As soon as the leaders
of this world discern
that there might be a rival about
they seek to go out
and annihilate him.
And that is what our modern world is doing.
They do it to all means.
The only thing we have to look forward to
in Lent
during this season
is the blasphemous presentations
of whether the Lord knew who he was
put forward by all the so-called
scientific stations
and all the other blasphemies
that are reiterated
over and over and over and over again
to rip the love of Christ
out of the heart of man
and to banish him
in accord
with what Saint John Chrysostom would say
were the most frightful words
in scripture for him.
When the chosen people
rose up under the instigation
of the Pharisees and the scribes
and in unison declared
we have no king but Caesar
we will not let that man
lord it over us.
And there is no example
even his enemies admitted it.
It is not for your good works
that we condemn you.
They admitted
that the Lord never lorded anything
over anybody.
They admitted it.
They simply refused
the offering of his gift
their eternal salvation
the very reason he brought
everyone into existence.
And so let us always remember
that it is easy to be a saint
when we live in our ivory castles
but the minute the walls
come crumbling down
and the world really shows itself
in its opposition to Christ
most of the disciples left
indeed all save one
and that is precisely why
she is our life
our sweetness
and our hope.
For Saint Bernadine of Siena
and others
don't hesitate to declare
during those three days in the tomb
the Blessed Virgin Mary preserves
the very creation of God
because he says emphatically
if he had not foresawn
the faithfulness of the Virgin Mary
he would have foregone
the act of creation.
And so literally
for that brief period of time
she is sustaining
the faith of the apostles
the faith of the mystical body
the faith of the world
because she is the only one
who has the love of Christ
in her heart at that moment
with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
And so in these darkest of times
let us always turn to her
who as the old Christians
didn't hesitate to say
was terrible to demons
and the hammer of heretics.
That is in one of the ancient liturgies
because back then
men were men
and women were women
and the Christians knew
what they were about
and they were about gaining victory
for Christ.
And scripture itself
for all those who would paint Our Lady
in a way that is disrespectful
describes her very clearly
as terrible in battle array
terrible to who?
Demons and the leader
the tyrannical reign of Satan
and yes if we do not repent
and continue to cooperate with him
then also ultimately
terrible to his enemies
for God cannot permit
a society continue into depravity
especially when the primary focus
of that depravity
is the perversion of children.
The doctors and fathers
and every saint who spoke on the matter
were very clear
that when society is noted
by its perversion of children
and that perversion can take on many forms
we often think
it just is a matter of the sixth and ninth commandment.
It is not.
The reason the devil works so hard at that
is because if he can instill that
into a young child
then he can lead them as scripture describes
like a pig with a nose snout
wherever he wants to lead them.
But that perversion is also very subtle.
How much history
is a justification of the industrial revolution
which is a justification of greed?
How much math
no longer tells us two plus two is four
but Johnny has two mothers
and Sally has two fathers.
How many parents
do the children have?
That perversion is universal.
How much geography
destroys the Christian virtue of patriotism?
And we blindly go along
don't even ask the question
despite the fact
that there isn't an approved catechism in the church
that doesn't state
the primary obligation of parents
is the education
in the Christian life of their children.
That means they are to safeguard
every aspect of their child's life.
How often do we hear
as a justification
well they're not going to learn
how to deal with sin
unless we put them in a sinful environment.
What nonsense.
Did the Lord ever allow that to happen?
And when the children were in a sinful environment
it is then that the Lord
was most angry.
To the point where he would tell
the Pharisees and scribes
because of their insistence
on the perversion of children.
Without hesitation
he turned and said
that's why you'll die in your sins.
Because you won't listen to me.
You won't stop.
And all the doctors and fathers say
for those Pharisees and scribes
present at that moment
and it began
in his passion
because it was the children who first
threw down the palms
and declared Hosanna to the son of David.
And then the leaders
do you hear them?
Notice
when the Lord is present
they don't go to the children prior to that
they would shuttle them out of the way
get out brat
leave, leave, leave.
But they knew one thing about the Lord
when he was present
they better not challenge children
directly.
So they tried to turn to him
do you hear what they're saying?
And the Lord simply says yes.
Out of the mouth of babe
I have perfected praise.
And then they told the Lord
shut them up.
And that's when he responded
that's why you'll die in your sins.
Because you don't even accept
I'll even forgive you
for not accepting my own witness to myself.
But to not accept the witness
of those who you know
can't deceive you
the little ones.
That I can't overcome.
I'll do everything
but I can't overcome that.
And if that isn't
an image of our modern society
then never there was.
And so it is Tabor
that we must always keep our eyes on
because in this life
the Christian will get dirty
and bloodied
because he has a mission
to accomplish
and that mission was accomplished
by the blood sweat and tears
of the Lord
who literally
had the soil encrusted
into his precious blood
as he fell on his way to Calvary.
And he tells us all
if you do not
have the blood sweat and tears
and the dirt that was on me
then I will have nothing to do with you.
And that is our lot
because we are to imitate the Lord
and that is to defend
the human family
from the tyranny of Satan
knowing full well
that if the Lord and his mother
want to use us
for fodder in their cannons
what does it matter?
For to perish in this life
doing God's will
is to gain eternal life.
It is to be freed.
From the tyranny of Satan
and to be freed
to join the Mother of God
and all the angels and saints
who have already made it
in their battle
as Saint Maximilian pointed out
in this life
we are not really full members
of God's army
because with one hand
we must fight off the devil
and with the other
we must hold on
to the hand of the Immaculate.
In heaven
both are free
to do the work of the Immaculate
and so
let us particularly pray
during this season of Lent
that all members
of the mystical body
and particularly
our hierarchy
may keep their eyes on Tabor
so that they may come
to understand
to defend the human family
is to defend the Holy Family
and without the defense
of the Holy Family
as Pope John Paul II
would point out
to the whole mystical body
of Christ
whole Catholic diocese
would disappear.
What does that mean?
What does that mean
from a vicar of Christ?
The influence of Christ
will even disappear
in those places
where it should never disappear
where the Apostle's successes
are willing to die
as Saint Peter would
as Saint James would
and as Saint John would.
That is why
Saint John can be celebrated
both with white and red garments
because it was only
the miraculous intervention
of the Lord
that prevented him
from actually undergoing
a martyr's death
but he gained all the merit
for according to some doctors
and fathers
there were several attempts
to martyr him
and only miraculously
did they never come
to completion
and so
the Lord will defend us
if we defend him.
Let us resolve
to always defend him
in the manner
the Apostles did.
It wasn't they
who went looking
for the Mother of God
it was she
who came looking for them
and so
let us have her find us
and then
with the Apostles
we can sit with her
learn of these mysteries
and then go forth
and do what the Mother of God
prepares every member
of the mystical body
of Christ to do
be crucified in this life
in order to participate
in the glory of Christ
in the life to come.
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