On the occasion of the Feast of Transfiguration, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi presided over the celebratory Mass in the courtyard of the Church of Transfiguration amidst the cedar forest, assisted by the patriarchal vicar for Jbeil and Zgharta, Bishop Joseph Naffa, and Monsignors Victor Kiroz and Youssef Fakhri, with the participation of the patriarchal keeper, Father Tony Al-Agha, secretary Father Hadi Dou, and priests from the Bsharri parish.
During the Mass, the Patriarch posed the question: "Why did the Transfiguration happen? When Jesus first told His disciples that He would suffer, be tortured, die, and then rise on the third day, they could not bear this news. Simon Peter spoke on their behalf, saying to Jesus, 'That shall not be for you.' Jesus rebuked him. But the Lord wanted to reveal the glory of His humanity and His divinity to three of His disciples—Peter, James, and John—so that they would not doubt His nature, for the Transfiguration preceded the Resurrection; this is the direct reason. The goal is that each one of us, when weak or in pain, remembers that the risen Lord is alive and confirms in His Transfiguration that human nature, despite its weakness, rejoiced in His glory and in the beauty of the divine image. God created man in His image and likeness, but sadly, man has distorted this image through sin."
He continued: "The Feast of Transfiguration today invites each of us to preserve the image of God and the glory of God's image in our human nature and being, and we cannot maintain this except through the power of divine grace, the strength of the divine word, participation in the divine sacrifice, and receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus. Do you not wonder what the cause is of the miserable state we live in today, the state of destruction, ruin, hatred, and animosity? It is man who has lost his image and being. Christ, through the Transfiguration, reminds us that we bear the glory of the divine image, and this is how He intended through His Transfiguration. How do we understand the words of the angel to Mary, 'O full of grace,' for she was like the sun within and had light within her?"
