Priest Fernando Luján offers this article on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, celebrated today, August 6.

Saint Josemaría Escrivá once said, “The happiness of heaven is for those who know how to be happy on earth.” The feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord is, above all, a feast of heaven.

The Gospel that recounts this event shows how Jesus, accompanied by three of his beloved disciples—Peter, James, and John—ascended Mount Tabor to reveal himself to them in transfigured form, or, in other words, to give them a foretaste of the glory of heaven, before suffering his Passion.

The key to understanding this vision lies in the fact that Christ wanted to anticipate what would come after his death, to make them understand that the Cross is not the ultimate goal, but rather the means to achieve that transfiguration, the path to that glorification, the channel through which heaven is reached and enjoyed.

This is precisely what those disciples saw. That is why St. Peter will say: “…we did not rely on mythical tales, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice from the Most High Glory came to him: ‘This is my beloved Son, whom I am well pleased with.’ We heard this voice from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain” (2 Pet 1:16-19).

In this way, Jesus also tells us that setbacks, adversities, and crosses are the most direct path to heaven.

As Saint Teresa of Jesus would say: “In the Cross is life and consolation, and it alone is the path to heaven.”

The Lord gives us, on the other hand, the hope that one day we will be transfigured, glorified, and share in his glory. It is necessary, therefore, to be filled with him in this world, to seek our mountain, to contemplate him, to seek him with all our heart, and we will be able to discover what awaits us, what is promised to us. As Pope Benedict XVI would say : “The Gospel is not only a communication of things that can be known, but a communication that brings facts and changes lives. The dark door of time, of the future, has been opened wide. Whoever has hope lives differently; a new life has been given to him” (Spe Salvi , 2).

The disciples went up the mountain, encountered Him, but then came back down. We, too, are called not only to discover Him in the more or less powerful events of our personal experience, but also in the ordinary, everyday life. As we said at the beginning, we are called to attain the happiness of heaven, knowing that it is not far from the happiness of this world. True happiness in this world has only one name: Jesus Christ.