While he was praying

Gospel - Luke 9:28b-36 Jesus is transfigured before his three disciples while they are on the mountain.

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The mountain is the place of God's closeness, as when God revealed himself to Moses and the Israelites on Mount Sinai. For Jesus, the mountain becomes a place of revelation and of prayer.

Luke notes a particular detail in his narrative: Jesus is praying when his face changes in appearance and his clothing becomes dazzling white (v 29). Pope Benedict XVI comments: “The Transfiguration is a prayer event; it displays visibly what happens when Jesus talks with his Father: the profound interpenetration of his being with God, which then becomes pure light. In his oneness with the Father, Jesus is himself ‘light from light” (Jesus of Nazareth).