The word “transfigured” is used in today’s
Gospel on this second Sunday of our Lenten journey, but that really is not a
word we used in everyday conversation, is it?The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
defines “transfiguration” as a change in form and appearance, or an exalting, a
glorifying, or a spiritual change. We definitely see a
transfiguration or a transformation in Jesus and in his surroundings in the
Gospel today on that mountaintop: his face shining like the sun, a dazzling
white garment, the appearance of the great Jewish prophets Moses and Elijah,
and a thundering voice coming down from the heavens. This transformation occurs in
front of Christ’s disciples partially to reveal his identity to them. Up until this point, the
disciples have seen him perform many healings and even have seen him walk on
water, but they are just starting to understand what it means to declare Jesus
the Son of God.
We can just imagine how
frightening it was for the disciples to witness this event on the
mountaintop. Jesus approaches the
disciples, touches them, and tells them not to be afraid. Jesus brought them down from
the mountaintop – they were not to remain there forever. And he explained to them that
he would die and would be raised from the dead – he intimated that his journey
would involve suffering and agony, not just the glory of the mountaintop.
Not only was Jesus
transfigured in that event, but the disciples were transformed by what they saw
as well. God can come to humanity not
only in a thunderous voice from heaven or in words etched on a stone tablet and
presented to a great prophet, but God also comes to each one of us in the words
and actions of Jesus, in words and actions that are present to us each day in
different ways. Jesus leads us down from the
mountaintop to the people below – to those mourning the death of a loved one, to
the lonely and the afraid, to those coping with an addiction, to those hurting
and in pain, to those who are shunned and oppressed, to those looking for
meaning in an empty life. The voice from heaven said:
“This is my beloved Son:…listen to him.” But we don’t just listen to
him with our ears and our intellect. We
also listen to him with our hearts. It is similar to the way we
are called to seek God in all things during this Lenten season. We seek God, and perhaps we do
indeed find him and recognize him, we do indeed hear the message he is
communicating to us, but that is not enough. If that message does not
transform us and mold us and convert our hearts, then are we really being open
to God? Are we really finding him in our
lives? We have these little
magnifying glasses as our symbol during Lent, but not only must we seek God,
but we need to be open to the way He can transform us once we indeed find him.
A recent article from the
Catholic News Service said that Pope Francis’ most common message to us the
faithful can be summarized in one word – the Italian word “Avanti” – which
means “Go forth!” The Pope says that the Church
has a mission to evangelize, to go out of herself. Sometimes going out into the
world will be frightening, but Pope Francis says that we can never forget that
we are the sheep of Christ’s flock, that we are to persevere and to go out into
the world in humility as we preach the Gospel, even in situations that can be
frightening. And when we are transformed by
Christ, we are go out as a witness with a smile; we are to become living
witnesses of Gospel joy, love, and charity; we are to accept the responsibility
of sharing God’s grace with the world, especially the poor, those in need of
healing, and those on the periphery of society.
We are transformed in a lot of
ways in our lives. When I thought about
a lay person who could share his story of transformation with us, I immediately
thought of Jai Eschete, who came into the Church on Easter Vigil last year as a
member of our RCIA program. Jai was
greatly transformed by God in that experience, and he is going to share a few
thoughts about transformation and transfiguration with us today.
No comments:
Post a Comment