29 — THE TRANSFIGURATION

Second Sunday of Lent

Presence of God. — O Jesus, may Your grace triumph in me until it makes me worthy to share in Your glorious Transfiguration.

Meditation

1 — The Soul of Jesus, personally united to the Word, enjoyed the beatific vision, whose connatural effect is the glorification of the body. But this effect was held back by Jesus who, during the years of His earthly life, willed to assimilate Himself to us as much as possible, clothing Himself with “flesh like that of sin” (Rom. 8, 3). Yet, to confirm in faith the Apostles shaken by the announcement of His Passion, Jesus on Mount Tabor allowed for brief instants some rays of His blessed soul to overflow into His body, and then Peter, James, and John saw Him transfigured: “His face shone like the sun and His garments were white as snow.” They remained enraptured, and yet Jesus had shown them only one ray of His glory, since no human creature could have borne its full vision.

Glory is the fruit of grace; the grace Jesus possesses in infinite measure overflows into an infinite glory that transfigures Him entirely. Something similar happens also to us: grace transforms us, transfigures us “from glory to glory” (II Cor. 3, 18), until one day, in heaven, it will introduce us into God’s beatific vision. And while grace transfigures, sin, with its opacity, disfigures those who are its victims.

Today’s Gospel (Mt. 17, 1-9) shows the intimate relation between Jesus’ Transfiguration and Passion. Moses and Elijah, appearing on Tabor beside the Savior, spoke with Him and, as St. Luke specifies, they were speaking precisely of His coming Passion, “of the departure that He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Lk. 9, 31).

The divine Master thus wants to teach His disciples that it is impossible for Him and for them to reach the glory of the Transfiguration without passing through suffering; it is the lesson He will give later to the two disciples of Emmaus: “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer such things and so enter into His glory?” (Lk. 24, 26). What sin has disfigured cannot return to its original supernatural beauty except through purifying suffering.

2 — Peter, enraptured by the vision of Tabor, with his usual ardor exclaims: “It is good for us to be here,” and offers to prepare three tents: for Jesus, for Moses, and for Elijah. But his proposal is interrupted by a voice from above: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: listen to Him!” and the vision disappears.

Spiritual consolations are never an end in themselves, and we must neither desire them nor seek to hold them for our enjoyment. Joy, even spiritual joy, must never be sought for itself; as in heaven joy will be the necessary consequence of possession of God, so on earth it must be solely a means to give ourselves with greater generosity to God’s service. To Peter, who asks to remain on Tabor in the sweet vision of Jesus transfigured, God Himself responds by inviting him rather to listen and follow the teachings of His beloved Son. And very soon the ardent Apostle will know that to follow Jesus means to carry the cross and climb Calvary with Him.

God does not console us to amuse us, but to encourage us, to make us strong and generous in suffering for love of Him.

When the vision disappeared, the Apostles raised their eyes and saw no one any more “nisi solum Jesum,” except Jesus alone, and with “Jesus alone” they came down from the mountain. This is what we must always seek and what must suffice us: Jesus alone, God alone. All the rest - consolations, helps, friendships even spiritual, understanding, esteem, support even of superiors - can be good insofar as God permits us to enjoy them and very often He makes use of them precisely to sustain our weakness; but when, through circumstances, the divine Hand deprives us of all this, we must neither be dismayed nor lose ourselves. These are precisely the cases in which, more than ever, we can bear witness to God - by deeds and not by words - that He is our All and that He alone is enough for us. This is one of the most beautiful testimonies a loving soul can render to its God: to be faithful to Him, to trust in Him, to persevere in the purpose of total self-giving, even when He, withdrawing all His gifts, leaves it alone, in darkness, perhaps in incomprehension, bitterness, material and spiritual solitude coupled with interior desolation. Then is the moment to repeat: “Jesus alone” and to descend with Him from Tabor to follow Him with the Apostles to Calvary, where He Himself will agonize abandoned not only by men, but also by His Father.

Colloquy

“I love You alone, my God, I follow You alone, I seek You alone, I am ready to follow You alone... I want to be at Your disposal alone. Command, I pray You, command all that You will, but heal, open my eyes, that I may see Your signs; heal me wholly, that I may recognize You. Tell me where I must direct my attention so that I may see You; and I hope I shall know how to do all that You command me...” (St. Augustine).

Yes, O Jesus, may I follow You alone and follow You not only on Tabor, but above all on Calvary. Tabor is light, it is splendor that draws me; I would wish, even only for an instant, to glimpse Your Face, O my God! Calvary is night, solitude, dark pain that frightens me; but in the darkness a cross rises and on that cross I contemplate You, crucified for love. I glimpse Your Face not transfigured by glory, but disfigured by pain, fruit of our sins!

O Jesus, destroy in me sin, that sin that disfigured Your Face, that sin that disfigured my soul, created in Your image and likeness. But for this destruction to happen it is necessary that I participate in Your Calvary, in Your Cross; deign, then, O Lord, to associate with Your Passion all the small and great sufferings of my life, so that through them I may be purified and be disposed to ascend from clarity to clarity, up to total transfiguration in You.

The light, the glory of Tabor encourage me; thanks, O Lord, for having granted me, even if only for brief instants, to contemplate Your splendor, to enjoy Your divine consolations; thus refreshed and encouraged I descend from the mountain to follow You alone, to Calvary.