TRANSFIGURATION: THEN AND NOW

“Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother,
and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them;
his face shone like the sun
and his clothes became white as light.

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them,
conversing with him.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
‘Lord, it is good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make three tents here,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’

While he was still speaking, behold,
a bright cloud cast a shadow over them,
then from the cloud came a voice that said,
‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;
listen to him.’
When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate
and were very much afraid.
But Jesus came and touched them, saying,
‘Rise, and do not be afraid.’
And when the disciples raised their eyes,
they saw no one else but Jesus alone.” Matthew 17:1-8

In a passage reflecting upon this incident, the Transfiguration of Jesus witnessed by three of Jesus’ closest companions, Bishop Robert Barron offers some insights from the great theologian St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 7 March 1274). The bishop writes,

“After considering Jesus himself, Thomas Aquinas turns to the witnesses of the event. Two are figures from Israelite history (Moses and Elijah), and three are contemporaries of Jesus (Peter James and John). This juxtaposition of past and present is important, Aquinas maintains, because the salvation won by Christ properly transcends time, drawing into its power those who came before and those who would come after.

“Moses and Elijah symbolize the past; the apostles, who would carry the Gospel to the world, signify the future. All dimensions of time are drawn toward the magnetic point of the cross and Resurrection.”

Poetic, mystical, but real:  It’s a continuum of time, but strangely, with something unusual, an anomaly, a being drawn into this God-man encompassing all time: past, present and future. “All dimensions of time are drawn toward the magnetic point of the cross and Resurrection.”

Bishop Barron continues,

“The same collapsing of the distinctions between the modalities of time occurs at the Mass, when the past is brought to the present, and the present is carried to the eschatological fulfillment at the end of time. Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John are therefore a kind of prototype of the Eucharistic community.”  The Strange Light, Matthew 17:1-8, The Gospels, Word on Fire Bible, page 107.

When we enter our church each weekend (or more frequently for some of us), do we realize that we are about to enter into the “collapsing of the distinctions between the modalities of time,” (i.e., past, present an future) – into the timelessness of God – where, led by the celebrant we, the God-man Jesus and the ever-with-us Holy Spirit are in the presence of and addressing the Father, open to and, like Peter, James and John, able to be caught up in the ever-flowing grace of God’s presence?

And so, let us pray, along with the celebrant, in Eucharistic Prayer II, “You are indeed Holy, O Lord, the fount of all holiness. Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body + and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ. . . .”

Sister Loretta

“Father Godfrey Diekmann OSB (1908-2002) was fond of summarizing Christian life in terms from early Christianity: “Christian, remember your dignity.” . . . God became human that we might become divine; that is another variation on this “Christian, remember your dignity.” that Father Godfrey was also fond of quoting. Even without a constant emotional experience of this truth, can’t we help ourselves to a more generous and joyous living by remembering it?”  Fr. Don Talafous, OSB, St. John Abbey