100th Anniversary Mass for Church of the Transfiguration

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Church of the Transfiguration
Los Angeles, California
August 6, 2023

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

I was thinking that what St. Peter said to Jesus is what we are feeling: “Lord, it is good that we are here.” Isn’t it?

So what a beautiful day to celebrate this anniversary, and as I said before, I’m very happy to be with all of you for this special celebration.

Today, we want to give thanks to God for all his gifts and graces in these last one hundred years. We thank him for all your pastors and priests — all of them — religious brothers and sisters, all the ministers and volunteers, and all the many families down through the years who have made this parish a source of light and peace, life and love.

It is really a moment to give thanks to God for so many blessings.

So, today we ask God’s grace and strength to keep moving forward in our Christian mission, to continue our work of sharing God’s love and spreading the good news of his salvation in the world today.

I was also thinking how your founders named this church for the great feast that we celebrate today, the Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And this feast shows us the “destination” of our faith journey, the “goal” of our Christian life.

Our Gospel today leads us up the high mountain, the holy mountain of God.

So the Transfiguration is the moment that Jesus discovered to the apostles and to all of us his divinity.

As we just heard in the passage of the Gospel:

Jesus took Peter, James and his brother John
and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them;
his face shone like the sun
and his clothes became white as light.

So we see the face of Jesus “shining like the sun.” His clothes turned into a dazzling “white light.” The prophets Moses and Elijah appear out of nowhere. And we hear the voice of God, speaking from out of a cloud that covers the whole sky.

So at the Transfiguration, Jesus is showing the apostles and all of us a vision of the glory of heaven. He’s doing that to encourage us to stay true to our faith, even during challenging times.

St. Peter says in today’s second reading: “We had been witnesses of his majesty.”

So my brothers and sisters, as I was saying, the Transfiguration shows us the destination of our journey, gives us a foretaste of the Kingdom of heaven.

The Transfiguration reveals to us that we are made for glory, for the Kingdom of heaven and the resurrection of the body.

And when we think about it, this is the truth about who we are, about how we are made and about why we are made.

And obviously, there are a lot of opinions and ideas out there in our society about these questions.

But as we heard in our Gospel: “When the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone.”

No one else but Jesus alone  — he is the only one who can tell us the truth about our lives. No one else but Jesus alone can show us the way to happiness and the way to heaven.

It’s a beautiful mystery. It’s a beautiful revelation. It’s a beautiful scene.

But my dear brothers and sisters, our transfiguration begins here and now.

St. Paul used to say, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” That’s our goal, to be transformed in his image, to become more and more like Jesus.²

Of course, the question for all of us is: how do we do that? In the Gospel, we heard God’s voice saying: “This is my chosen Son, listen to him.”

That’s the answer! We become more like Jesus by listening to him, and following his way for our life.

And this is how we should live. Listening to Jesus, trusting in his word. So, what does that mean, how do we do that? Obviously, it means we need to listen to his voice in the Gospels.

So maybe one little resolution that we can renew today is to spend time every day reading the Gospels. All it takes is just a few minutes — a few minutes of quiet, prayerful reading. And even it’s easier to do it if we just read the Gospel passage for the Mass every day. We will find that we are continually reading the Gospels, day after day, year after year.

And nowadays it’s not that difficult because we have — that was the problem, that is why this homily was too long — now that I have the light, I know that I have to hurry up.

So now, as I was saying, it’s easy to do it — to read the Gospel for daily Mass because we have the internet and everything is there. So it is easy to do it.

And we also need to listen to Jesus in the Eucharist.

As we know, the Eucharist is a beautiful mystery and a treasure. The saints tell us that ordinary food becomes a part of us when we eat it — when we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we become a part of him.

And that’s true. It is a beautiful truth.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, we need to climb the mountain with Jesus — to talk to Jesus, to reflect on his example and teaching; to live from his Body and Blood.

But then, it was interesting to see in the passage of the Gospel that St. Peter wanted to stay there. He said let’s make three tents that we can stay here. But Jesus took them down the mountain.

So we also need to follow Jesus back down the mountain and go out into the world.

And as we hear in the Gospel, Jesus wanted them to go with him and told them don’t say anything until the resurrection happens.

Now is our time, my dear brothers and sisters, Jesus calls us back down the mountain. He calls us to “transfigure” the world with him, to bring God’s compassion and mercy to every corner of the world, beginning with our homes and families.

Jesus tells his disciples today: “Rise, and do not be afraid!” The same words that he is speaking to us today — do not be afraid.

So, as we celebrate this anniversary and we give thanks to God for all of the blessings that we have received during these 100 years, let us renew our faith and our dedication to Jesus’ mission.

And let us ask Our Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary to lead us on this journey of faith, to help us to listen to Jesus and follow him always with love and joy.

So congratulations on your anniversary and I hope that — I’m not sure that we will be here for the 125th, but it is a great moment to renew our commitment to be faithful disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ and to bring the good news of the Gospel to the people of our time.