The Transfiguration and Our Lenten Journey
Summary of Headings
- Introduction
- Theological Significance of the Transfiguration
- The Beatific Vision
- Faith and the Hidden Glory
- Conclusion
Introduction
During Lent, we get the opportunity of saying the same Gospel back to back. We have the vision of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ, both yesterday, during Ember Saturday, and also today. It's a beautiful grace because the Transfiguration is one of the more beautiful things in the Gospels. But it's also an excellent encouragement. This comes about right at the quarter mark, shall we say, of Lent. We've gone about 25 % through Lent. And it's a reminder to us that this is not everything. Lent is not the entire liturgical year. Our entire life is not suffering in penance. The purpose of this is not just the toil and suffering which Lent is supposed to represent. But on the contrary, we are supposed to see beyond that, and recognize the fact that God's glory waits for us. That God put us here for a reason, that we suffer for a reason, that we have to sacrifice for a reason. And that is God's glory. He himself put us here for our sanctification, as St. Paul repeated twice during the Epistle today. It is important that we remember that because it's easy for us to forget in our own woes. This is also one of the reasons why we shouldn't get too lost in the external practices of Lent, but focus rather on the internal elevation of our soul through prayer and penance. That we should belong more completely to him each and every day. One of the many purposes of Lent. But let's consider for a minute what the Transfiguration was on a more theological level. The Transfiguration is very simply the revelation of Christ in his glorified body. So to explain that, we need to explain why he has a glorified body before his death. The reason is very simple. Because he is God. Because he is our Lord Jesus Christ. Because he possesses in his human nature the beatific vision. Now he possesses the beatific vision for a couple of different reasons. One, it is his birthright as God. Two, he is a perfect human, which means he needs to be confirmed in grace. Which means he can't just be in grace, but he has to be confirmed in it in a way that he could never possibly lose it. Therefore, through the beatific vision. On top of that, it means that it is because, essentially, he is, as the Redeemer, he is supposed to be absolutely perfect in all possible ways. And therefore, in the beatific vision, from the very moment of his conception, from the second he took on himself, took upon himself a human nature, he had achieved the perfection of that nature through the beatific vision. So what is the beatific vision? The beatific vision is heaven. Essentially. It is the ability to actually see God without the veil of faith, without the veil of eyes, without any necessary intermediary except the light of glory. We will be able to look upon the glory of God himself and we will be able to possess it. And there is nothing from that which, if we possess, once we possess it, there is absolutely nothing that can take it away from us or remove the joy that is on us. The beatific vision is obviously consequent from it. It cannot be removed from us in any possible way. We would be eternally happy even in hell itself if we were to just catch a glimpse of the beatific vision. As it is, we can only possess it after we have died. We can. Because this is the time and place where we need to try to obtain that beatific vision. This is the place that we attempt to find that visit to the eternal life of the living God. obtain it through our works, through unifying ourselves voluntarily to the will of God and by choosing Him above all things, loving Him above all things. That is the goal for why we are here. And so this is the reward at the end of the road, but it's also the reason for why we do everything or why we should do everything. Remember, we come from God to return to God. We come from God because He creates us in His own generosity, because He wants to share His very own happiness with us. And that happiness is the beatific vision, that eternal and constant procession of the three persons, acts of contemplation and love. And as such, that is what we are supposed to partake in ourselves for all eternity. That is the eternal, absolute, perfect happiness and joy that awaits us if we live according to the way God has asked us to live. If we bind ourselves to the way of God, we are supposed to live according to the way of God. And if we unite ourselves, our souls, our wills to Him. But that is the price we must pay to achieve that. For Christ, He never had to achieve it. It was His, by right, by definition, by the mere fact of who He is. So therefore, the instant of His conception, He had the beatific vision, by right. But, very much like the Eucharist, our Lord performed a second miracle, not just the miracle of the hypostatic Eucharist, but the miracle of the Eucharist of the Eucharist of the Eucharist of the communion. But He performed a second miracle, which was to shield the effects of the glorious body from us. Because, obviously, after we have achieved the beatific vision, even when we are reunited with our bodies, our souls will have perfect domination over our bodies, and we will have the gifts of a glorified body. Christ had those gifts, absolutely, but He suspended them and did not use them. And He contained them and controlled them, and He hid everything about His body from us. Why did he do that? Well, we'll get into that in just a minute. But the fact that he did is very much like the Eucharist. The fact that despite the fact that there is a transubstantiation, that bread and wine have been made into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, they still maintain the image, the appearances of bread and wine, the physical attributes, nothing else. The accidents, as they're called. But everything else, the essence is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. So while Christ looked like every other person on earth, he was a glorified body walking around. But he just covered all of that to show only his humanity to everybody. Except for this one moment. Except for the moment of the transfiguration. So why did Christ hide himself from us? Why did he hide his body from us, his glorified body from us? Because of faith. If he came down in all of his glory, there would be no act of faith to follow him or believe him. Like at the moment of when he was, during Palm Sunday, on his procession, people were trying to quiet the children from singing Hosanna, Filio David. Hosanna, Son of David. And he said, let them sing. Because if you quiet them down, the stones themselves will sing. There was so much power and grace present at that moment, in that procession, into Jerusalem, that nature itself was ready to cry out and proclaim him as God. And if he arrived in all of his glory with a glorified body, it would be the exact same reaction. And yes, there would be no act of faith. There would be no effort. There would be no possibility of us having the ability to choose to follow him or not. It would be coercion in a certain spiritual sense, if you want to call it that way. But God wants us to choose to believe in him and to follow him. And so he hides his nature in the Eucharist, so that we have to believe and trust that this is the Son of God that we receive. And he hides. He hides his nature in his humanity, so that we have to believe that this is God, despite the appearances. His apostles and his followers had to believe that. So why did he reveal himself at this moment? Well, I'm sure many of you know that there are moments, there are such things as Eucharistic miracles. It's moments where God lowers one of the miracles that is performed. At the moment of transubstantiation, he performs two miracles. The transubstantiation itself, the forming from bread and wine into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the other one is to shield those appearances of that nature under the appearances of bread and wine. In the Eucharistic miracles, he removes the second miracle. And so we actually see something of the reality. The material nature of what it is. It could be the host begins to bleed. It could be that the host actually becomes a piece of flesh. It could be any number of things. And it reveals itself in so many different ways. But very much like that, Christ for one instant lowered the second miracle from his hypostatic union and was able to reveal his glorified body to the apostles. Just these three apostles. Because just like not everybody can have a... ...a... ...can see a Eucharistic miracle. Not everyone is going to have one in their lifetime. Which is just fine. Only for certain people at certain times and certain situations are able to receive such a tremendous gift. But it also comes about specifically in times of doubt. When the priest doubts the efficacy of the words of consecration. When a priest abuses the Blessed Sacrament. When somebody tries to steal the Blessed Sacrament and use it for some nefarious end. Those are the moments where the Eucharistic miracles come about. And so it is now when Christ decides to reveal his glorified nature to these three apostles. And specifically because of who they are. Saint Peter of course is the leader of the apostles. Saint John is the beloved apostle. And Saint James has a level of prestige among the apostles as well. They are the three who in the coming weeks are going to have to accept... ...the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are the ones who are supposed to stand firm and keep their faith firm. And to try to maintain the faith of everyone else around them. To try to encourage the other apostles as everything seems to be going in a terrible direction. They are the ones who have to have the strongest faith. Saint John is the only one who continued by the side of Christ the entire time. Saint Peter for a short time until his denial. And then he fled. Saint James, we have no word of him. At least in the scriptures. We don't know what he did except that he fled. We don't know anything else. So it is with our Lord. He gives us brief moments and flashes of light. But in preparation for the darkness or to get us through the darkness. Saint Peter's reaction is very natural. Because of course he saw this. He saw this glory of Christ. But he had already made up his mind what Christ needed to do to establish his kingdom here on earth. Which was essentially to overthrow the Roman Empire and to conquer. So his response was, well let's make this a permanent fixture. Let's make three tents up here. And you and Elias and Moses can stay up here. And this will become kind of the center point of all of our operations. That was the mentality that Saint Peter had. Let's stay in this moment forever. Let's make this a permanent thing. You can stay glorified always. In a certain sense it is the same way that we speak to God. We just want a clear message. We just want him to speak to us clearly and definitively. Why can't he reach down with his hand like he did in Babylon. And write on the walls with his finger and tell us what to do. Why can't he come to us like he did to Moses to present us with his will. We just want him to speak clearly to us. God almost always speaks through indirect means. Through instruments. Through people. Through events. Through situations. But he always speaks. He always says what needs to be said. And he always speaks what we need to hear. And he never puts anything on us that we cannot bear. And he never gives us too much. We are the ones who not realizing that he is speaking. Or not listening to his voice. Or not accepting what he is saying. Or trying to push against what he wants for us. We are the ones who overburden ourselves and collapse under it. We are the ones who flee from the light into the darkness. Because we preferred a different light. Or a more direct light. Instead of the candle we wanted the sun. And that is not how God is going to work for us all the time. But there are moments. And those moments are there to illuminate. And to guide. And to strengthen us. In the most difficult times. And they are the things that we need to cling to the tightest. Whenever we have difficulties believing in the Holy Eucharist. We should remind ourselves of the Eucharistic miracles. So that we have stronger faith in the Eucharist itself. Whenever we have doubts about anything in the faith. We should remind ourselves of the moments where Christ has revealed himself most strongly to us. Whether it be directly or through something else. And we should hold tight to that. In times of consolation. We should be using that consolation to prepare ourselves for the desolation. And to strengthen ourselves. So that when the desolation comes it does not sweep us away. And in times of desolation we should remind ourselves of the consolation. So that we will be able to maintain our course. And not deviate. And not flounder. That is the rule for these events. This is why Christ transfigured himself for his apostles. And this is why the transfiguration occurs at the end of the world. At this moment in Lent. Because what the church is telling us essentially is. Buckle up. We are getting close to passion tide. She is telling us that the darkness is coming. Our faith will be tested. Our strength will be tested. And there is exactly one thing that will get us through whatever that is and however it looks like. And that is God. By stop trying to control events and let God take care of them. By stop trying to control events and let God take care of them. By stop trying to understand the word of God or look for a direct message from God. And rather to accept the messages that are all around us all the time. To accept his guidance even when there seems like there is silence. To accept the light even when we are surrounded by darkness. To follow him regardless of everything else. To choose him first and foremost and always. To love God above all things. To believe in God. To love God above all things. But it comes because we understand and we believe. Our faith is weak. He gives us these things to strengthen it. We need to use that to strengthen our faith. And we need to have hope. Because if we can see the moment of the transfiguration. If we can see that in some instance Christ revealed himself for who he truly is and what he truly is. And gave us a glimpse into what is waiting for us in heaven. Then all of this is worth it. Everything we have to suffer. Everything we have to go through. All of the pains and difficulties and trials and tribulations and sorrows. Everything is worth it. Because we are going to be able to follow the will of God. And to be able to be eternally happy with him in the beatific vision. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Summary
During Lent, we get the opportunity of saying the same Gospel back to back. We have the vision of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ, both yesterday, during Ember Saturday, and also today. It's a beautiful grace because the Transfiguration is one of the more beautiful things in the Gospels. But it's also an excellent encouragement. This comes about right at the quarter mark, shall we say, of Lent. We've gone about 25% through Lent. And it's a reminder to us that this is not everything. Lent is not the entire liturgical year. Our entire life is not suffering in penance. The purpose of this is not just the toil and suffering which Lent is supposed to represent. But on the contrary, we are supposed to see beyond that, and recognize the fact that God's glory waits for us. That God put us here for a reason, that we suffer for a reason, that we have to sacrifice for a reason. And that is God's glory. He himself put us here for our sanctification, as St. Paul repeated twice during the Epistle today.