The Mountain Top of Glory
What happened on the Mount of Transfiguration we can never know, but we do know that something tremendous did happen. Jesus had gone there to seek the approval of God for the decisive step he was about to take. There Moses, the great law-giver of the people of Israel, and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, appeared to him. It’s as if the princes of Israel’s life and thought and religion were urging Jesus to go on.
Scripture often leaves the rest of the story to our imagination, and through imagination “Self Image”, we develop our relationship, or a closer relationship to God! Today’s Gospel is such a story.
Put yourself in the following scene: Jesus took Peter, James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
You are now on the mountain with Jesus. It’s peaceful with a wonderful view in all directions, and plenty of time to be alone, one-on-one with the Lord
Talk straight with him and ask him to give you some thoughts about what to do this Lenten season.
It’s hard to climb a mountain. It takes a lot of effort, but we need mountain top experiences in our lives to know God and ourselves in a new light. Our transfiguration occurs when we let the glory of God shine through us so that others can catch a glimpse of that glory.
As scripture says “We see now as if in a mirror, later in heaven we will see clearly”. We can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like to see the face of our Lord in all of His glory! But, we can seek the Glory of our Lord in all we meet and just maybe, we can let the light that is in ourselves shine forth.
Jesus came into the world and took on all of our frailties, while remaining fully divine. How this could be is another one of the great mysteries. But He had to take on our full humanity, in order to die for our sins. He remained fully human until His Resurrection when He again shone in all His glory!
As Jesus was praying, He was transformed and appeared shining with heavenly glory. What the Mystery of the Transfiguration realizes in Jesus is the glorification of human nature, elevated by God to the most profound intimacy, in limitless charity, with divine nature itself. His humanity is truly transfigured: the glory of divinity is reflected in a dazzling way on his face and on his entire being. But this too is a special sign for all who are called by God to share in his infinite happiness.
We too are transformed by the receipt of the Eucharist, which has been transformed from bread and wine into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ at each Mass. Through which we are obligated to undergo a complete change which, under the power of God, will find expression in our character and conduct. In the third chapter of St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, believers are described as being “transformed in the same image of Christ in all of His moral excellencies, the change being effected by the Holy Spirit.
There is a vivid sentence here in today’s Gospel. It says of the three apostles, “When they were fully awake they saw his glory.”
In life we miss so much because our minds are asleep, and there are certain things which are liable to keep our minds asleep.
(a) Through prejudice, we may be so set in our ideas that our minds are shut. A new idea knocks at the door but we are like sleepers who will not awake.
(b) There is mental lethargy. We hear, but refuse the strenuous struggle of thought. “How many of us have really thought things out and thought them through? Sometimes we are so lethargic that we will not even face our questions and our doubts.
(c) Then there is the love of ease. This is a kind of defense mechanism in us that makes us automatically shut the door against any disturbing thought.
A man can drug himself mentally until his mind is sound asleep.
But life is full of things designed to waken us. You may be surprised at some of them.
(a) One is sorrow. There is a story told about a young singer, who was technically perfect, but quite without feeling and expression. It was said of her “She will be great when something breaks her heart.” Often sorrow can rudely awaken us, but in that moment, through the tears, we will see the glory.
(b) Another is love. Somewhere the poet Browning tells of two people who fell in love. She looked at him; he looked at her—“and suddenly life awoke.” Real love is an awakening to horizons we never dreamed were there.
(c) Then there is the sense of need. For long time we may live the routine of life half asleep; then all of a sudden there comes some unanswerable question or some overpowering temptation, some summons to an effort which we feel is beyond our strength. On that day, with nothing left to do but to “cry out, clinging to heaven by our finger nails.” And that sense of need awakens us to God.
We might do well to pray, “Lord keep me always awake to you”