Gospel: Matthew 17: 1-9
Peter always gets it half right. He realizes that he and James and John have experienced something wonderful and he gives thanks - "it is good for us to be here!" But then he wants to create shrines, to stay on the mountaintop. Jesus ignores this part of Peter's response, and Jesus promptly leads them back down the mountain.
The true temple of God is not any building - no church, shrine, or basilica. The temple of the God is the human person wherein God dwells. It is here that the Transfiguration can be experienced by every person no matter where they are. It need not be on a mountaintop; it could be in one's home, a hospital, prison cell, or baseball field. Everyone of us has access to this and every other event of Jesus' life on earth in this indwelling temple of ours that we carry with us wherever we go.
If we are continually conscious of this reality - that we are a temple of God with access to God at all times - then we can say with Peter: "it is good for us to be here" no matter where we are. We need not build shrines. We have only to look at another person to see a temple of God, to be reminded that we are all temples of God carrying within us the divine image ready to transform our lives and our vision as on Mount Tabor.
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