By Sister Doreen, SSJD
It was Jesus’ custom to go to a quiet place to pray, and on this occasion, he took three close followers Peter, James, and John. There they saw Jesus transfigured before their eyes, in the company of Elijah and Moses. The disciples also hear a voice saying: ‘This is my beloved Son, listen to him.’ Mark 9:2-8)
In a book called “Seeing God in Art” by Richard Harries there is a very moving story that begins his reflection on the Feast of the Transfiguration. “A man was sitting by a hospital bed talking to the patient. What did he see? A frail body emaciated by crippling illness? Yes. A face hollowed by long years of suffering? Yes. Then the patient smiled and began talking quietly. In a moment of transfiguration, the visitor saw not so much a body or a face but a person: a person radiating serenity and love. This serenity and love welled up from some deep radiance within, from a heart rooted in God.”
In the icon illustration, in this momentary vision, we see Peter, James, and John terrified with joy, as they turn away, sprawled on the ground. It was the experience of Jesus resplendent with glory, with a radiance. In the story of the visit with the patient in hospital, we see the same resplendent glory and radiance expressed with the smile. It rings so true for you and for me, that this transfiguration glory, this radiance, is intended for us also. All around us, in our experiences and encounters with others, are we open and mindful of the momentary visions of transfiguration? Do we see the extraordinary in the ordinary? Do we live open with expectation to the grace of the present moment? Can we see God in the frail, broken and yet glorious beauty of the world and all the cosmos? St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:18 expresses this truth: “we, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” This feast of the Transfiguration is offering us a gift – of seeing the sacred in the ordinary, not in the sensational. In those simple things that were expressed by Richard Harris – the smile, the serenity, the love in the face of another. And in our own longing and openness to the ordinary around us, to find ourselves transfigured also. Macrina Wiederkehr in her book ‘A Tree Full of Angels’ shared these ponderings in her own words: “This book is not about the sensational. It is about bringing the longings of your heart in the present moment and finding the grace that waits for you there. It is about finding the sacred in the ordinary. You are to gather up the joys and sorrows, the struggles, the beauty, love, dreams and hopes of every hour that they may be consecrated (made holy, transfigured) at the altar of daily life.”
We do well to ponder this. I know in the sense of unknowing, that I am touched, from time to time, by the beautiful image of the soul that I believe God sees in every person and who offers us the gift of seeing this for ourselves also. No matter what modern science is telling us, no matter what our senses or thoughts are telling us, there is so much more in a human being. Inside each and every one of us there is a sacred place where the uncreated light of God meets the created beautiful human being made of feelings, thoughts, language, memories, desires, hopes, beliefs, imagination, visions, soul and body. The human being is a window and an opening into an infinite universe, a micro-cosmos, which sometimes we can barely sense, but nonetheless it exists. It is indeed an outward and visible sign of an inward the spiritual grace – we ‘see’ each other, we see with the heart, into the deep place of truth, and in seeing each other we see the face of God in each other. That outward visible physical body of that deep inward heart and soul of a person being transformed from glory to glory. Those moments when we see the holy in the ordinary – those transfiguration moments – are so healing, so precious, so reaffirming.
God’s energies are always reaching out in loving care to embrace our humanity, and it is the energies of God that help to draw us closer to God. Since earliest times and down through the ages the desert fathers and mothers have always taught that God became what we are in order that we might become as God is. We are called to become God’s very own people – with a resplendent glory of our own!
It might be very easy, indeed speaking honestly, I would say that it is very very easy to lose heart when things are going badly for ourselves, or when we look at the world today that is in such a dreadful and frightening state. What the gift of transfiguration faith offers us is the knowledge that something is always happening within us, within each other, within the world and the cosmos. We, all of creation, is being renewed in our inner nature day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). It becomes important for us to ponder this, since for the most part in our journey in life it is a hidden glory of renewal. We can all too easily dismiss or ignore or forget this about ourselves or other people or our world and all of creation and miss the glory of ongoing renewal that is happening in us and in all of humanity and creation. Yes happening, day by day, day after day! This feast day is a day to stop and ponder how important a gift this is in the midst of the troubled times, the brokenness and violence around us.
Every event, every day, and every second of our lives all have the potential of revealing God’s energies and movement within our relationships and the whole of creation and the cosmos. This is our hope and our faith. Indeed, the process of “Theosis”, a co-creation, a process of transformation, is always at work in all of creation, in all of humanity, in which the grace of God illumines and helps to transforms us! This is the hope we have, born of knowing the unconditional and tenacious love of God for the whole world, a God who never leaves us nor forsakes us.
There are pockets of mysterious transfiguration happening every day, by us holding a greater vision of kindness, love and compassion for all humanity. Our complicated times can be seen as very distressing, but what if we could see them as a greater opportunity for us to claim the pockets of transfiguration around us and to hold that vision of respect and dignity for every human being, beyond separations of gender, religion, wealth, political affiliation, or power? This feast day is a reminder to us of how important it is to ponder the question ‘what are, where are, the pockets of mysterious transfiguration happening around me?’ Or where does this transfiguration need to happen?
We live in an age of many opportunities, distractions and inner fragmentations, in which is it is difficult to sense sometimes the uncreated energies of God. Although we can be alone at home, through computer, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and emails we are constantly connected and bombarded with information. Sometimes we even become too busy with words and thoughts while we are praying, and therefore our minds are neither quiet, nor open to God.
The feast of the Transfiguration offers us a welcome opportunity to consider the wisdom of removing ourselves from time to time from our personal world and go to a Mount Tabor, that place where Jesus took his friends. That could look differently in our 21st century. It could be a formal retreat or as simple as turning off electronics and going into a quiet space in our house, our office, or in nature. We need, desperately need, to nurture this openness and quietness on a daily basis so we can become an open heart for God, allowing energies to move us and surprise us. Today we, the world, is so in need of being open and surprised every day by the possibility of Transfiguration, of seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary, of seeing the holy in the ordinary, the every day miracles in our lives and in our world.
Richard Harries ends his meditation “From Glory to Glory” in his book Seeing God in Art with this prayer:
“Risen, ascended, glorified Lord, open our eyes to see something of your glory in the people we meet day by day, and so live in us that they may see something of your glory in us.”
Yes! Yes! “Arise shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1.