St Thomas begins his explanation of the Transfiguration by observing that to make progress, people need something to aim for. Many times we get stuck in a rut because, we have lost our sense of direction; we no longer have a goal – and then any type of change becomes irksome or irritating to us. One of the hardest things to do is to maintain the status quo. To stay in one place actually means putting effort in. If you don’t put effort in, you’re actually going backwards and things slowly get worse without you realizing it.

When I worked in a quaint waterside dining pub in the South West of England, I used to wonder how the owner maintained such a buzz. This pub was truly the place to be – but not by accident. If she realized a certain dish was selling well, she would suddenly withdraw it. I asked her about it one day, and her response surprised me:

“you need to take it off the menu while it’s still popular;

not once people have got bored of it.”

I have never forgotten this advice, because it means to keep things steady, you actually need to be constantly making small adjustments. If you change nothing, then almost imperceptibly things get worse and worse, until one day you wake up and you are in a real financial mess.

Today’s Feast shows us how God gives us something to aim for. The Transfiguration is a glimpse of glory: the chosen witnesses see for a moment what a glorified body looks like, and the truth of this encounter is something that will spur them on when things get difficult. We also need to have this kind of directionality in our spiritual lives.

If heaven is our goal then two things immediately follow (1.) we have a greater capacity to put up with things that don’t go our way, or that we don’t like; and (2.) we are more tolerant of change, because we are not afraid of the future.

Your goal and my goal is to have a transfigured body; you, too, have the potential to shine like the sun. The Lord gives us this vision, not to illustrate how exceptional He is (though He is) but rather how cherished we are. The glorification of the human body is a miracle in this instance, performed by God because He is God, but the miracle will become commonplace in the realm of the saints, which is the goal you and I must always aspire to.