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Have you ever wondered what heaven is like?
Is it a place of golden roads, pearly gates, and luminous angels? Do we see Jesus? Do we see our loved ones again?
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Today’s Gospel helps to satisfy some of our curiosity.
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Jesus is transfigured before his disciples. He glows like an iPad, his way of revealing his divinity to Peter, James, and John.
While much can be said about that, allow me to point out another detail:
Peter sees Moses and Elijah standing with Jesus. These were men who lived hundreds of years before him, whose stories are told in the Old Testament.
Yet they’re alive again – so alive that Peter can distinguish between the two men. Moses and Elijah have their own bodies, their own names, and their own history.
Peter recognizes them by the good they did while on earth; they were prophets.
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We, too, will have our names, bodies, and histories in heaven.
And like Moses and Elijah, we shall be seen for the good we’ve done while here on earth.
Herein we find a significant purpose for our lives: to create memories that will last.
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This is the promise of the resurrection, foreshadowed in today’s Feast of the Transfiguration.
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So, what will heaven be like?
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Far beyond our wildest dreams, I’m sure.
But, amazingly, our names, our bodies, and our stories – edited by the good we’ve done – will be part of it.
I look forward to seeing you there.
Sounds really good to me.