To listen to Jesus: our trans-figuration. To face dis-figuration

Listening to the Spirit

It is good, Lord, to be here!
Thy glory fills the night;
Thy face and garments, like the sun,
Shine with unborrowed light.

Fulfiller of the past!
Promiser of things to be!
We hail thy body glorified,
And our redemption see.

Before we taste of death,
We see thy kingdom come;
Before us keep thy vision bright,
And make this place our home.

(Hymn from the Lauds of the 2^nd Sunday of Lent)

Listening to the Word

Matthew 17:1-9

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. He was still speaking, when lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of man is raised from the dead.”

Reflection

Every year, for the second Sunday of Lent, the liturgy proclaims the Good News of the transfiguration of Jesus (to indicate the initiative-action of God, the original uses the passive form: “He was transfigured”; literally: radical change; to go beyond the form).

In our everyday process to follow Jesus, we also need moments in which we can say like Peter: “Lord, it is good that we are here”; it is good to be close to you, Jesus, our Lord; moments in which the light of the Emmanuel (“God with us”) becomes evident and palpable in which our faith/confidence is confirmed by the voice of God we listen in our heart: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him”.

They are rare moments, difficult to find or catch, but so much necessary and vital in our life to face - with Jesus - the Gethsemane experience, the scandal of the cross.

Like Peter and the disciples on the mountain with Jesus, we do not understand completely the true “glory” (= presence) of Jesus Christ in our daily lives, His true “power” and His true “fame”. It is no coincidence that the devil – we meditated it in the first Sunday of Lent, tempted Jesus exactly by saying: “If you are the Son of God… “then dominate your people; lord it over them; use your power to conquer people and the world!

Even Peter – who in the previous chapter (Matthew 16,16) confessed the true faith in Jesus “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" – could not accept and fully understand “this” glory: the Son of God who is Love; therefore he could not conclude His life by dominating, but only by giving His life to the end.

How consoling is the fact that the Lord comes to Peter and to each of us, to sustain us and help us believe in the Resurrection, that is the explosion of light, the explosion of love. With the Transfiguration, Jesus reveals that the Passion and death He embraces are His true “glory”. The Son of God - “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2:6-7) – now, for a moment, retakes the form of God.

Peter, James, and John made eyewitnesses of the transfiguration, must remember this event, even when they give testimony of the “dis-figuration” (deform, deface) of Jesus in the hour of passion, in the Olive Garden.

Only if we listen to what the Lord wants to tell us, we can experience Resurrection. Jesus is the definitive “narration” of the Father. His glory is reflected on each of us when we fix our eyes on Him. In this way we are also transfigured, because of the strength of the Lord, that is the Spirit of God.

Our life is marvelous and fragile. The life of our families and communities are also magnificent and weak and fragile, but we continue to say “Panginoon, kaawaan mo kami”. Let us allow the Holy Spirit within us to raise this prayer, asking God for mercy; let us allow the Holy Spirit to accomplish in our life the work He started in us, that is, to transfigure our lives.

As disciples of Jesus, we are called to look at the reality, the truth of the cross to recognize with the eyes of faith the only “glory” it narrates: “the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matt. 20:28).

We are disciples of Jesus because called to be people who listen to His voice and take seriously His words. We are disciples because we are called to let Jesus lead us to a high mountain, but also - with Him - to come down and bring with us the experience of being transfigured-transformed, sharing the treasure of the presence of the Lord with our brothers and sisters in difficult times. Christian vocation calls us to grow, by putting the gifts we have received at the service of others. The more a person offers him/herself with creativity and generosity the more he/she will grow. This is the Christian path to transfiguration. “To give alms”, “to pray” and “to fast” are authentic steps to experience transfiguration and become committed with hope and courage to dis-figuration.