There are times when you can hear a reading over and over again and then one day, wham!

On the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, I was in morning mass, and like a cold hard slap in the face, the Holy Spirit said, listen up Billy. It happened on the first line of the second reading.

2 Peter 1:16-19.“ We did not follow cleverly devised myths.” Thwap!

I was awake and attentive. It seemed every word was resonating my whole being. Peter was relating the moment that he, James and John came face to face with Jesus’ Majesty.

Mark 9: 2-5
Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John,
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them, 
and his clothes became dazzling white, 
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. 
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, 
and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter 
said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we 
are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, 
one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He hardly 
knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then 
a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from 
the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. 
Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, 
they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.

For weeks on end the 2 Peter 1: 16-19 reading reverberated within me. At any given moment words or phrases would pop into my mind and bring a clarity to what before was just a dull vague understanding of that reading.

2 Peter 1:16
We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Peter’s saying, we ain’t makin’ this stuff up! This is real.  We were there. We saw and heard it all, unfolding before our very eyes.

Mark 9:9-10 

As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves, 
questioning what rising from the dead meant.

I can just picture that scene.

That must have been a long, slow walk down the mountain. All are silent. Just the sound of sandals slapping  the ground. James and John, dumfounded as they quietly relive over and over in their minds what they just witnessed. Peter berating himself, “what a moron I am! Jesus, Moses and Elijah conversing right in front of us and God Himself!!! saying, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.” and the best I can come up with is, let us make three tents?” And Jesus, with a knowing smirk on his face, walking a few steps ahead of them,  breaks the tension filled silence and tells them not to tell anyone. Peter, James and John, with a sigh of relief, probably thought, good, nobody would to believe us anyway.

The three apostles, after witnessing the transfiguration had to realize at that moment, their lives would be forever changed.  They didn’t know at the time just how much, because they were so terrified.

So, what did it take for Peter to go from coward to martyr? Why would Peter dare write the truth, when he ran from the Truth at the crucifixion? Resurrection.

Resurrection was the apostles cold hard slap in the face. Peter and the other apostles had absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose by telling a lie about Jesus, if He, just died, was buried and that was the end of it.

But, Peter recounts this Transfiguration because of the resurrection. And the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, cemented their courage and conviction to proclaim the Truth to  the world. And to their death.

2 Peter 1:18-19
We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven
while we were with him on the holy mountain.
Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that 
is altogether reliable. You will do well to 
be attentive to it.

So, what’s your cold hard slap in the face?