Hearth & Altar

Jesus took three of his disciples up a high mountain and was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun. His clothes became white as light. Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking with him.

Peter started talking - he wanted to build three tents, one for each of them. While he was still talking, a bright cloud covered them and a voice came from inside it: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.

The disciples fell on their faces, terrified. Jesus came over and touched them. He said: Rise. Do not be afraid.

When they looked up, they saw no one else but Jesus alone.

That last detail is the gift the feast gives you. All the brightness, all the visitors, all the extraordinary things - and when the cloud passes, what remains is Jesus, standing there, saying do not be afraid.

Peter, in his second letter, says: we were eyewitnesses. We were there. We heard the voice. And we have the prophetic word, which is reliable - a lamp shining in a dark place.

Your family has its own dark places. The feast says: there is a lamp shining in them.

• For our family, that when the extraordinary things pass, we would see what Peter saw when he looked up: only Jesus, saying do not be afraid, we pray to the Lord.
• For the children in our family, that they would grow up knowing Jesus as the one whose face shone like the sun and who also came and touched the frightened disciples and said rise, we pray to the Lord.
• In gratitude for the eyewitnesses - for everyone who went before us on the mountain and came back and told us what they saw - we pray to the Lord.
• Under the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the lamp shining in whatever dark place our family is in right now, we pray to the Lord.

Tonight at dinner: read the Transfiguration story aloud together (Matthew 17:1-9). Stop at each part and ask - what do you think that looked like? What do you think it felt like to be Peter?

Then focus on the end: when they looked up, they saw only Jesus. Ask: what are the things in our family's life that make it hard to see only him? What would it look like to look up?

The disciples fell on their faces in fear, and Jesus came and touched them and said rise, do not be afraid. That physical touch before the instruction matters. You are often the person in your children's lives who touches their shoulder first, before you say the words. Keep doing that.