On the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, on August 19, in Stauropegion of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Ukraine, St. Andrew’s Church, the Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bishop Michael of Koman, celebrated the Divine Liturgy, co-served by Deacon Ivan Petrushchak.
In his sermon, the bishop noted that the Lord first of all transforms human nature. We need to follow the commandments of God so that our lives are transformed. It depends on us how we transform our souls, and the Lord will help us. Without our work, it will not be possible to transform.
Bishop Michael says that every time we stand for prayer and turn to God, this is the moment when our soul is transformed, reports the press service of Stauropegion.
“Dear friends. Today we all celebrate the Transfiguration of the Lord. All holidays, the memory of all saints in the Church are always established in order to give us some example to encourage us to do something. And today, on the feast of the Transfiguration, it is not just a mention of some event from the life of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, but a testimony that the Lord transforms human nature first of all.
Today, you and I are celebrating the transfiguration of human nature, as a phenomenon, as a concept. And of course, where God’s presence is particularly manifested, everything is transformed.
If the Lord is present in our life, it gets transformed. If we just start following Him, reading His Word, following His commandments, our life gets transformed. And we are all called to this. As for the glory which the Lord showed to be revealed in human nature when he was transfigured on Mount Tabor, that does not depend on us. However, it depends on us, how we transform our souls.
Of course, the Lord helps us in the most difficult situations, in the most complicated ones – to transform ourselves. All of us. We wouldn’t have done it without Him. But the Lord Himself will not do this without our participation. If we just sit there, if I can put it this way, drink coffee, and wait for the Lord to transform us, this won’t happen. The Lord is waiting for our response to His call, our active participation in His Transfiguration. And this requires a conscious will, a conscious effort to follow where the Lord has called us.
The Lord transforms everything with His presence. Reading the Gospel, we see how the lives of all people were transformed. Starting with His disciples – the apostles, simple fishermen and ending, even, with the Pharisees. And their lives were also transformed. They were transformed by the exposure of their lies, their mistakes, and their audacity because they got ashamed, as people who seem to know the Law of God, but fail to live by God’s rules.
And so, every time we open the pages of the Gospel, every time we stand with you to pray and turn to God, this is the moment when our soul is transfigured. After all, something prompts us to open this holy Book. Something prompts us, at this very moment, to turn to God – some inner impulse.
And therefore, the Lord in response will always provide help, offer His grace and His presence, and again, remembering that everything that happened with the Savior, all those events, which we will also inherit, we will also experience resurrection and transfiguration and Ascension to heaven… So, today the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples heard the words of God the Father: “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” These words are addressed not only to Him. After all, in Jesus Christ we are all children of God. So, these words are also addressed to you and me. And we have God’s favor with us. How much joy it should give us… We just need to make our own efforts, not be lazy, and try to realize our transfiguration with God’s help into the kind of person God intended us to be. May the Lord help us all. Have a happy holiday!”
