Cardinal Timothy Dolan delivered a homily this week on wakes and funerals and how they tie in to the Transfiguration of Jesus.

Wakes and funerals are sad events, but images and stories of the departed from happier times are generally presented during them, which Dolan suggests has a direct correlation to the meaning of the Transfiguration; a March 5 report from The Good Newsroom said.

“I want to reflect on wakes and funerals and how they relate to what Jesus was trying to teach His Apostles during the Transfiguration,” Dolan posted on Twitter, where he also included a link to his homily.

There are many interpretations of the Transfiguration, a Bible Study Tools report said. Some think the Transfiguration was a preview of the Son of God's impending grandeur upon his second arrival, while others believe it was a premonition of the splendor that awaits Jesus after his resurrection, and there are other interpretations as well.

During the Transfiguration, Jesus led Peter, James and John to a mountaintop for prayer approximately a week after explicitly telling His followers that He would go through suffering, be murdered, and be raised from the dead (Luke 9:22); a report from Got Questions said. He was then radiantly transformed in front of them into a glorified form, and His clothes become brilliant white as He prayed.

“You know, I have to go to a lot of wakes, a lot of funerals,” Dolan said during his March 5 homily. “Every priest, every deacon does. It’s an important part of our ministry. One of the things I love, wakes are sad, but one of the things I always relish at a wake is that you’ll have this display of pictures of the deceased in happy, glorious, joyful times.”

He then discussed the pictures people often showcase at wakes.

”Great pictures of happiness, joy, glory, and that’s good at a wake or a funeral because we’re at a sad event of loss and we’re reminded of the good, of the happy, of the joyful, of the glorious,” Dolan said in sum. “Now that’s kind of, I think, what Jesus had in mind at his Transfiguration.”