+ Saint Peter is well known throughout the Gospels for his impetuosity. He is a man of rough, reactive action—from cutting off the ear of the servant of the High Priest in the Garden of Gethsemane, (cf. Jn 18:10) to energetically denying his knowledge of Our Lord, and then weeping bitterly. (cf. Mt 26:69-75) Saint Peter’s natural enough aversion to the prospect of Our Lord’s Passion even earnt him the most severe of rebukes: ““Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men.” (Mt 16:23)
And yet, as one of the inner circle of the disciples taken by Our Lord up the high mountain and privileged to witness the Lord’s Transfiguration—to receive a privileged foretaste of His divine glory, as it were—Saint Peter is moved to utter some of the most profound words the Gospels record of him: Domine: Bonum est nos hic esse. “Lord, it is good that we are here.” For even Saint Peter, the practical fisherman who always wants to get on with getting things done, recognises the need to pause, to stop, and to drink deeply of the realities that are unfolding before him—so much so that he wishes to build three tents on the mountain itself so that this magnificent experience will perdure.
It is quite apposite that the Feast of the Transfiguration falls on a Sunday in August this year, when many people themselves pause the routine of daily work—not only to rest on Sundays as we are obliged to do, but also for an extended period during the week, so as to have time recreate with family and friends and to enjoy different environments and places of interest and beauty.
For this feast serves to remind us that, ultimately, activity, as necessary as it is and as good and salvific as may be its ends, is not our ultimate destiny. Rather, our ultimate end is to live in and to enjoy forever the light and glory of the Risen Lord, together with Moses and Elijah and with all of the prophets and saints—with all of those who have gone before us having persevered in the faith and in hope that is given through Baptism.
That is to say, for once, Saint Peter got it exactly right when he said: Domine: Bonum est nos hic esse. “Lord, it is good that we are here.” For, after all necessary work and inevitable suffering and generous effort is over, we are created by Almighty God to repose and to rejoice in His glory—in and through our lives on this earth, and unendingly in the life to come.
So too, it is good that we are here—this morning, to sing God’s praises and to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the salvation of ourselves, for the Church and for the world. For the Sacred Liturgy of the Church, of which the most precious jewel is the Mass, is itself nothing other than our weekly, daily and even hourly ascent to the mountain of the Transfiguration—nothing less! Indeed, Bonum est nos hic esse!
Let us ponder this a little. What do we have in our churches and upon our altars (or what should we have when their architecture, rites and chant are fundamentally ordered to facilitate the offering of Catholic worship to Almighty God, rather than being built in a manner that forces the horizontal and almost protestant celebration of man and his achievements with Almighty God looking-on from the side, as it were) other than the tent of the Transfiguration? Why do we (should we) build beautiful churches and do our best to ensure that everything that takes is place within them—furnishings, images, rites and music—bespeaks the glory of Almighty God?
We do this precisely so as to enjoy and to profit from that which Saint Peter experienced and which he wished to prolong through the building of tents on the mountain. We come to our churches to be refreshed and inspired—indeed to be transformed—by the power and the glory of the Transfigured Christ here in our midst, living and acting in our midst today in and through the Sacred Liturgy developed and enriched and handed on to us in the Tradition of His Church.
For some of us, Saint Peter’s words are compelling. It is very good, indeed essential, for us to be here. Our place is to remain on the mountain. Ours is the prayer sung at the beginning of the second nocturn of Sunday Matins: Unam petii a domino hanc requiram ut inhabitem in domo domini omnibus diebus vitae meae. Ut videam voluptatem Domini, et visitem templum euis. “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” (Ps 26:4)
Whether we must follow the Lord down the mountain, or whether our vocation is indeed to remain and to drink more deeply of the glory of the Lord (and thereby to ourselves become a sacramental thereof so as to be all the more able to reflect it and communicate it to others), Saint Peter is right: Domine: Bonum est nos hic esse. “Lord, it is good that we are here.” Let us enjoy our presence this morning in the Lord’s house. Let our participation in the glory of His redemptive sacrifice on this altar refresh us and give us the strength and grace we each need to persevere in the different vocations that are ours, so that in the end we may come to live and rejoice together in His unending glory. +
And yet, as one of the inner circle of the disciples taken by Our Lord up the high mountain and privileged to witness the Lord’s Transfiguration—to receive a privileged foretaste of His divine glory, as it were—Saint Peter is moved to utter some of the most profound words the Gospels record of him: Domine: Bonum est nos hic esse. “Lord, it is good that we are here.” For even Saint Peter, the practical fisherman who always wants to get on with getting things done, recognises the need to pause, to stop, and to drink deeply of the realities that are unfolding before him—so much so that he wishes to build three tents on the mountain itself so that this magnificent experience will perdure.
It is quite apposite that the Feast of the Transfiguration falls on a Sunday in August this year, when many people themselves pause the routine of daily work—not only to rest on Sundays as we are obliged to do, but also for an extended period during the week, so as to have time recreate with family and friends and to enjoy different environments and places of interest and beauty.
For this feast serves to remind us that, ultimately, activity, as necessary as it is and as good and salvific as may be its ends, is not our ultimate destiny. Rather, our ultimate end is to live in and to enjoy forever the light and glory of the Risen Lord, together with Moses and Elijah and with all of the prophets and saints—with all of those who have gone before us having persevered in the faith and in hope that is given through Baptism.
That is to say, for once, Saint Peter got it exactly right when he said: Domine: Bonum est nos hic esse. “Lord, it is good that we are here.” For, after all necessary work and inevitable suffering and generous effort is over, we are created by Almighty God to repose and to rejoice in His glory—in and through our lives on this earth, and unendingly in the life to come.
So too, it is good that we are here—this morning, to sing God’s praises and to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the salvation of ourselves, for the Church and for the world. For the Sacred Liturgy of the Church, of which the most precious jewel is the Mass, is itself nothing other than our weekly, daily and even hourly ascent to the mountain of the Transfiguration—nothing less! Indeed, Bonum est nos hic esse!
Let us ponder this a little. What do we have in our churches and upon our altars (or what should we have when their architecture, rites and chant are fundamentally ordered to facilitate the offering of Catholic worship to Almighty God, rather than being built in a manner that forces the horizontal and almost protestant celebration of man and his achievements with Almighty God looking-on from the side, as it were) other than the tent of the Transfiguration? Why do we (should we) build beautiful churches and do our best to ensure that everything that takes is place within them—furnishings, images, rites and music—bespeaks the glory of Almighty God?
We do this precisely so as to enjoy and to profit from that which Saint Peter experienced and which he wished to prolong through the building of tents on the mountain. We come to our churches to be refreshed and inspired—indeed to be transformed—by the power and the glory of the Transfigured Christ here in our midst, living and acting in our midst today in and through the Sacred Liturgy developed and enriched and handed on to us in the Tradition of His Church.
For some of us, Saint Peter’s words are compelling. It is very good, indeed essential, for us to be here. Our place is to remain on the mountain. Ours is the prayer sung at the beginning of the second nocturn of Sunday Matins: Unam petii a domino hanc requiram ut inhabitem in domo domini omnibus diebus vitae meae. Ut videam voluptatem Domini, et visitem templum euis. “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” (Ps 26:4)
Whether we must follow the Lord down the mountain, or whether our vocation is indeed to remain and to drink more deeply of the glory of the Lord (and thereby to ourselves become a sacramental thereof so as to be all the more able to reflect it and communicate it to others), Saint Peter is right: Domine: Bonum est nos hic esse. “Lord, it is good that we are here.” Let us enjoy our presence this morning in the Lord’s house. Let our participation in the glory of His redemptive sacrifice on this altar refresh us and give us the strength and grace we each need to persevere in the different vocations that are ours, so that in the end we may come to live and rejoice together in His unending glory. +
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