+WHEN JESUS APPEARS, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM Transfiguration—2023
Our celebration today helps us as it did the first disciples to face the struggles and suffering of our own lives and that of the world today. One does not need to read or listen very lone to the news, to see the hurt, the pain going on in so many lives due to violence, divisions in family or the Church, or in the lives of all those looking for meaning in the wrong places.
Jesus was transfigured before the eyes of Peter, James and John so that they could face what was about to take place in his own life. He was soon to be rejected by his own people, scourged, crowned with thorns and crucified on a cross between two thieves. Seeing Jesus with his face shining like the sun, his clothes white as light and speaking to Moses and Elijah allowed them to accept a suffering Messiah.
It is not easy for any of us to see the role of God in human pain. With Jesus identifying with our human hurt and anguish, we begin to see how it is only when we freely embrace the suffering coming our way that we are ready to share in the glory of God. This life is quickly passing as any of us older women or men are well aware, but there is a whole new world opening up each day if we let ourselves be fully aware of it.
This past Friday we celebrated the memorial of St John Vianney and in one of his catechetical writings he speaks of prayer as “nothing else but union with God.” He goes on to say: “When one has a heart that is pure and united with God, he (or she) is given a kind of serenity and sweetness…, so that light surrounds him or her with marvelous brightness. In this intimate union, God and the soul are fused together like two bits of wax that no one can ever pull apart. This union with God with a tiny creature is a lovely thing. It is a happiness beyond understanding.”
This feast is not only about what took place in Christ’s life so that his disciples could face what was about to happen, but about what is happening in each of our lives as we face the inevitable struggles that come our way. This feast empowers each of us and all those around us to deal with the suffering of our world and to know that it is not an end but the beginning of something far surpassing our greatest hopes.
As our daily prayer unites us with God, we are given the serenity and sweetness that St John Vianney tells us of, that becomes a marvelous brightness for others to see and to be strengthen by. What Jesus did for his disciples, we can do for one another as we let the light of Christ shine through our lives, in all that we think, do or say. This is not our own doing but the work of God.
As we just heard from the prophet Daniel, the Son of man has “received dominion, glory and kingship; all peoples, nations and languages serve him,” and “his dominion is an everlasting dominion.” What Christ is accomplishing in our lives will never end if only we can keep this ever before our eyes as we go through each day. And as St Peter has reminded us, we have “a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in (y)our hearts.
As we celebrate the Eucharist, the dying and rising of our Lord, we enter into this wonderful work of God that is to shine in our lives, in the lives of our loved ones and of countless others for all eternity.