“And after six days Jesus taketh unto him Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart: and he was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow. And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him. And Peter answering, said to Jesus: ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.’’
The desire to see the glory of the kingdom was sparked in the twelve, but Jesus, after a period of waiting, took Saints Peter, James, and John up the mountain to see His glory, thus representing that there are many wonderful actions and attributes one can cultivate, but it is faith, hope, and love that come to the sight of God: “And now there remain faith, hope, and love, these three: but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Six days after the word was spoken to them, they go with Jesus, because six days after the Father by the Word spoke creation into being, the world was made: “And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good. And the evening and morning were the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31), and so the one that hears the word of love from God and sees the beauty in what He has made and then looks to the source of this beauty comes to see true Beauty, which is His love: “A cluster of cypress my love is to me, in the vineyards of Engaddi” (Canticle 1:13) and His truth: “For [wisdom] is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of the stars: being compared with the light, she is found before it. For after this cometh night, but no evil can overcome wisdom” (Wisdom 7:29-30). St. Matthew without any bitterness relates that these three were taken up, knowing that he is loved, and loves his brethren, and thus each is content with their place in the divine love story: “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: it is thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me. The lines are fallen unto me in goodly places: for my inheritance is goodly to me” (Psalm 15:5-6). Comparisons are odious and mire one’s love, for a woman that looks at the beauty of other women, worrying if they are more enticing to her husband than she, is insecure in her relationship with her husband, but the one that trusts her spouse with her heart totally knows that he will never turn from her: “And I will espouse thee to me for ever” (Osee 2:19). He relates that they were taken up a high mountain, showing that to contemplate God, you must climb up the mountain of love, not remaining at the base of the mountain in pleasures: “Take heed you go not up into the mount, and that ye touch not the borders thereof: every one that toucheth the mount dying he shall die” (Exodus 19:12) or midway in spiritual goods such as learning or glory: “And he said to Moses: ‘Come up to the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel, and you shall adore afar off. Moses alone shall come up to the Lord, but they shall not come nigh: neither shall the people come up with him’” (Exodus 24:1-2), but doing all things with love for the sake of the Beloved: “And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire upon the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses, entering into the midst of the cloud, went up into the mountain” (Exodus 24:17-18); “Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as to the Lord, and not to men: knowing that you shall receive of the Lord the reward of inheritance. Serve ye the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24). It is by this path that one climbs into the deepest reaches of the Gospel, letting it shine by way of beautiful thoughts, words, and actions: “How beautiful art thou, my love, how beautiful art thou! Thy eyes” of the understanding “are doves’ eyes, besides what is hid within. Thy hair” of thoughts “is as flocks of goats, which come up from mount Galaad. Thy teeth” which represent words in the mouth “as flocks of sheep, that are shorn, which come up from the washing, all with twins, and there is none barren among them” (Canticle 4:1-2); “Thy two breasts,” acts of love of God and others, “like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies” (Canticle 4:5). It is by this path that the words of the Gospel shine brightly as the sun as a source of love and illuminate all else with their truth: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth” (John 16:13), guiding your heart in how to love and your hands in how to display this love: “Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm” (Canticle 8:6). Another meaning can be that Christ shines through you, you being the precious, shining robe of glory that is near to His heart: “And being turned, I saw… one like to the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the feet, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle” (Apocalypse 1:12-13), and so when you have climbed the mountain of love to its peak, the purity of your love is white and radiant, not hampered by vice but cleansed through virtuous love: “I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, and as a bride thou shalt put them about thee” (Isaias 49:18). There are many reasons why Elijah and Moses were with Jesus, such as showing that while the people thought He was Elijah or a prophet, Elijah, the chief of the prophets, comes to give way to Him, that one zealous for the uprightness of love may kneel before Love Himself. Or, because He was charged with breaking the Law and blaspheming, the giver of the Law and the one most zealous for the glory of God: “With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts” (3 Kings 19:10), they may show that He fulfilled all that they strove for, which is love: “’Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.’ This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). While there are other meanings, it is also representative that the wisdom of Christ, the wisdom of the art of love, can be found in the Law and the Prophets, to the one with an eye that can see, letting all Scripture teach one how to love: “He afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for thy food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew: to shew that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3). St. Peter, immersed in the glory of love, deeply consoled, mentions setting up tents on the mountaintop, for there, wrapped in the comforts of true love, Jesus would be far from the afflictions of Jerusalem. Forgetting all other things and safe from what could hurt the Lord, the prince of the Apostles never wanted to leave, just as the sweetness of contemplation and being in the Lord’s presence makes one desire to stay hidden with Christ, whereas He exhorts: “Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house” (Matthew 5:15); “Wisdom that is hid, and treasure that is not seen: what profit is there in them both? Better is he that hideth his folly, than the man that hideth his wisdom” (Ecclesiasticus 20:32-33). To drink from the stream of love and truth is necessary: “You shall draw waters with joy out of the saviour’s fountains” (Isaias 12:3), but then it is sharing the bread of love with those that hunger: “Deal thy bread to the hungry” (Isaias 58:7); that is the Christian call: “My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth” (1 John 3:18).