Lesson for the Day of the Transfiguration of the Lord

Pronounced in 1871 in the academic church. “Lord, it is good for us to be here!” - exclaimed St. Peter is delighted with the blessed contemplation of his Lord in glory. He would never want to leave this mountain, where he saw the Son of God shining with the divine light: “Let us create three canopies here.” He forgets about the peace needed for himself and his brothers, the apostles: “Let us make a canopy—one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Matthew 17:4). Of course, there are quite a few among us who would like to be partakers of the blessedness of the supreme apostle. We will not say that this desire is unattainable: because those who believe in the Son of God are promised to once see Him face to face, and themselves to enjoy His glory and bliss. “But our hearts are impatient.” It would like to be rewarded with a share of this joy here on earth. – And the All-Good Lord did not deny us this. The joy of approaching God, contemplating His divine deeds and perfections, feeling His closeness to us, His presence in us, is given to all who have loved the appearance of Christ, as reinforcement in the vale of earthly wandering, as a foretaste of the power of the coming age, as a guarantee of complete reward in the kingdom of glory. How can we achieve this initial bliss? “The same way, listeners, in which the apostles reached Tabor. In the Gospel we read: “Jesus gave water to Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up to a high mountain alone” (Matthew 17:1). “So, it was not the apostles themselves who found the way to this mountain, but Jesus who gave them water.” The Lord chose them all, but did not call them all to Tabor. Nine remained under the mountain, and only three went up the mountain with Him. Who did he call? - Peter, who forestalled all others with his confession of faith, - John, who was flaming with love for the Lord, - and James, who together with John did not deny even the cup of suffering and death, in the hope of the glory of the kingdom with Christ. So, the Lord took with him disciples, especially before others who testified to their faith, hope and love for Christ. – If we desire a blessed visitation from above, it is necessary for us to draw closer to the Lord with apostolic faith and love and hope. Spiritual contemplation and delight in divine objects is impossible without a living sense of faith, without sincere love for them, without a firm hope of possessing them. Faith gives us the concept of them, love encourages us to strive for them, hope makes the distant inherent, the future - present. “Jesus gave water and brought one to a high mountain.” Don’t you see how by this separation of the three from the other apostles and from everything around them, everything extraneous, everything that interferes with spiritual contemplation is eliminated? And the constant subjects of the apostles' occupations were divine; and their treatment of those around them concerned the matter of salvation. Nevertheless, for a more sublime contemplation it was necessary that all this diversity of objects, all the multitude of people, be set aside, so that the attention of the mind and heart is focused on the one. – Rise above everything earthly and created, and you, God-loving soul, striving for contemplation of the divine, renounce temporary phenomena, gather your attention and love for the One. With wings to ascend to the One, let there be prayer: because the Lord, “I sing Peter and John and James to go up to the mountain to pray” (Luke 9:28), of course, did not take them so that they would be only witnesses of His prayer, but also accomplices. – So, we need prayer in the name of the Son of God, who came to enlighten our darkness, and through prayer brought down to earth the radiance of heavenly glory; prayer with a deep consciousness of our weakness, impurity and unworthiness, prayer with complete trust in His mercy. He is good and generous: but He wants us, with childlike trust, to express our needs and desires to Him. Prayer is the mouth of faith, love and hope. The more often these lips are opened, the more boldly the soul will approach the throne of grace. The prayer of faith will give firmness to confession, the prayer of love will fill the spirit of filial freedom, the prayer of hope will give anticipation of what is hoped for. To the believer, the lover, the one who trusts, nothing is denied to the all-good God. The disciples saw the Lord in glory, speaking with Moses and Elijah about the outcome that awaited Him in Jerusalem, i.e. about suffering and death. There is no bliss on earth without suffering. But even in suffering for Christ and for Christ’s sake there is hidden bliss. Through suffering, our old man, accustomed to enjoying sins, is killed and freed from bonds; the new man, who finds delight only in Christ, grows and strengthens. In vain would you, like Peter, wish to remain forever on the mountain of blissful contemplation. No, Christ will lead him and you from the mountain to work, to care, to the fight against sin, to suffering, without which the life of a true follower of Christ cannot do. Friends and brothers! We need to break out in spirit from this environment of earthly affairs and relationships in which our lives are immersed - in order to at least breathe some of the heavenly air on the mountain of spiritual transfiguration with Christ, admire His Divine light and glory, listen to the conversations of the celestials - in order to take with us these sweet, blissful impressions into our multi-careful, multi-rebellious, gloomy life, in order to feed the soul with them in times of sorrow and despondency, in times of spiritual fatigue, with them to distract ourselves from addictions to earthly pleasures, with them to remind ourselves that we have joys incomparable with anything earthly, promised to us, awaiting us. The Lord raised us from the earth and brought us closer to heaven. We shouldn’t all grovel in earthly things, or take up a place on a mountain just to doze or sleep on it. God! May Your ever-present light shine upon us and in us. - Amen.