By Deacon Richard Hay
“Working Towards Our Own Transfiguration”
To quote Deacon Greg who just recently finished up our Parish Lenten Mission this past week – “How is your Lent going?”
Hopefully, everyone who attended has a few more tools to use as this journey through Lent continues marching forward. By the way, Deacon Greg’s talks were recorded and will be posted in the coming week for everyone else to see.
Today, we now enter week two of Lent. In our readings we heard about the covenant between Abram and God; we hear about the ever present light and salvation we receive from the Lord; St. Paul reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven and how the Lord will change “our lowly bodies to conform with his glorified body”; and then in the gospel we hear from Luke about what Peter, James, and John witnessed on the mountain-top when Jesus was transformed into his glorified body.
As you might gather from what we have heard – we are talking about transformation this weekend including our own potential for transformation both now in Lent but also throughout the other parts of our lives and when we receive our heavenly reward and our own glorified bodies to live with Jesus forever.
First though – a little story…
There was an old farmer from the countryside who was visiting a big city for the first time with his wife and son. He stood speechless in front of the elevator in the lobby of this big hotel. As he watched in wonder, an old woman got into the elevator and the doors closed. Within just a few minutes, after the flashing of lights and chimes, the doors once again opened up and a beautiful young woman stepped out of the elevator into the lobby. Completely amazed, the old man excitedly called out to his son who was registering for the room the family would use during their stay. He said, “Son, come on over here and put your mother into this machine…”
I am sure we all wished transformation was that easy, but reality proves to us that it is not that simple. Of course, there is also an entire industry that exists just to help men and women look better or change something about themselves they don’t like.
However, the type of transformation we are talking about here in the context of the church is an internal transformation that will eventually lead us to our own transfigured and glorified bodies when we join Jesus in heaven.
For this reason, our bodies are not our own – they are temples to God and they should be His in every way so that our actions always reflect that we are Christ for others and even if we do not see an appearance of dazzling brightness like the apostles did during Jesus’s Transfiguration – we need to always be aware of Christ’s presence in others we encounter.
The Holy Spirit can transform our lives during Lent so that we can be that Transfigured Christ to others by living a spirit filled life by making more room for him through the Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
In our first reading, Abram, who will eventually become Abraham, our father in faith, is a pagan when he has this encounter with God and is told that his descendants will number as the stars. God enters this covenant with him because of Abram’s faith and obedience.
Our responsorial psalm contains a beautiful declaration of our faith, the faith Abram agreed to in his covenant with God, when it says, “I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living.”
In the second reading, St. Paul clarifies that it is not the observance of the Mosaic Law that makes people Christians – in those days there was much consternation about following the law and being followers of Christ. However, he tells us that ultimately to be Christian is to share in a life of being a disciple of Jesus so that we can then share this glory in the life to come.
In the gospel, we hear Luke’s account of the revelation of Jesus’s glory. He always had this glorified body, but the eyes of the apostles were prevented from seeing it until the Transfiguration.
The main purpose of this event was to help the apostles fully understand the Father’s plan for Jesus’s passion, death, and resurrection. It also helps Peter, James, and John see and understand Christ’s divine nature so they could see who Christ truly is plus it would encourage them as they led the early church after Jesus’s ascension.
Then the voice of God affirms everything they are witnessing in this moment when out of the clouds, which had descended on the mountain-top, they hear God’s voice say: “This is my chosen Son; listen to Him.” A revelation of Jesus’s true identity and a glimpse into the glory that awaits all of us who do God’s will in this life by trusting and listening to Him.
In our own lives, we experience a transfiguration – a transformation – at every Holy Mass when we receive the bread and wine which have become the true presence of Christ – fully his body, blood, soul, and divinity – and then we become part of Him who feeds us from the altar.
The apostles were strengthened by Christ’s transfiguration on that mountain-top, and we similarly receive heavenly graces and strength as we come to the source and summit of our faith – the Holy Mass – and receive the Most Holy Eucharist. Regular reception of the Eucharist will help us with our own transformation both during this continued season of Lent, but also throughout the rest of this year and throughout our lives.
Other sacraments create transformation in our lives as well:
- In Baptism we share in being a priest, prophet, and king with Christ.
- In Confirmation, which more than 50 of our youth will receive in May, affirms our baptism and creates us as temples of the Holy Spirit.
- In Reconciliation which brings us back into the graces of God after we have chosen to step away from Him by sinning. He is always there waiting with open arms to bring us back into a relationship with Him through this sacrament.
We should view the transfiguration of Jesus as encouragement – especially in moments that we might feel distant from God. Be reminded that a transfiguration awaits all of us who remain in communion with Him.
Finally, we should seek out our own mountain-top experiences by:
- Spending extra time in prayer.
- Fasting not just from food but, like Deacon Greg said during our mission, from things that do not bring us closer to God.
- Doing almsgiving by helping others in need or simply be present for someone who needs your presence – give not only of your treasure but also of your time.
As we continue this journey to another mountain-top, that of Golgotha on Good Friday, know that there is still plenty of time to find these and other opportunities to grow closer to God – we just need to be willing to make the effort and climb up to the mountain-top to meet Him.
