In this week’s Gospel passage, we hear of the wonderful experience that a few of the apostles had with Jesus…the Transfiguration. Can you imagine being there? It must have been overwhelming for the apostles to see Jesus transfigured…“his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.” One of my favorite things in our church is the stained glass window of the transfiguration which is over the gift table in the back of the church. I look at it everytime I get up from my chair in the sanctuary to read, sing, or deliver announcements. The feast of the transfiguration is August 6. This is a very special day for me personally; I received the habit of the Sisters of St. Joseph on 8/6 in Latham and professed my permanent vows as a Sister of St. Joseph on 8/6 in Syracuse at my home parish of Blessed Sacrament. I guess I underwent a sort of Transfiguration on those days as well! Back to the Gospel passage…in the transfiguration story in today’s Holy Gospel, Jesus is revealed as a glorious figure, superior to Moses and Elijah. Scripture scholars say that the primary purpose of Jesus’ transfiguration was to allow Him to consult His heavenly Father and ascertain His plan for His Son’s suffering, death and resurrection. A secondary purpose was to make Jesus’ chosen disciples aware of His divine glory, so that they might see the foolishness of their worldly ambitions and dreams of a conquering, political-type Messiah. On the mountain, Jesus is identified by the heavenly voice as the “Son of God.” This is a big-time announcement and is labeled therefore as a “Christophany,” …a Christophany is a manifestation of who Jesus REALLY is. This Gospel story gives us a glimpse of the heavenly glory awaiting those who do God’s will, those who are faithful. A message for us to take from this Gospel? In our everyday lives, we often fail to recognize Jesus when he appears to us “transfigured,” hidden in someone who is in some kind of need. Jesus will be happy (very happy) when we attend to the needs of that person. We must see Jesus in every one of our brothers and sisters, that’s our mission as Christians! You go into the movie theatre, find a seat that's suitable. You find a place for your coat, sit down, and get ready to watch the movie. The house lights dim; the speakers crackle as the dust and scratches on the soundtrack are translated into static, and an image appears on the screen. It is not the film you came to see. It is the preview of coming attractions, a brief glimpse of the highlights of a film opening soon. The moviemakers and theater owners hope the preview will pique your interest enough to make you want to come back and see the whole film. On the Mount of the Transfiguration, Peter, James and John, the inner circle of Jesus' disciples, were given a preview of coming attractions. Today’s Gospel gives us a splendid preview of Jesus radiant in divine glory, his mortal nature brilliantly, though only momentarily, transfigured; a dazzling preview of His Divinity, unalloyed and perfectly pure, shining in glory like the very sun. A sneak preview, in other words, of Easter, the triumphant climax of the epic love story between God and humankind. GOSPEL QUESTION FOR THE WEEK: Do you see Jesus in people…all of them?