The Church's Springtime ~ The Transfiguration Light

This isn't a mistake but a detail of a Russian icon of the Transfiguration. Even the mountain is sparkling with the light of the Transfiguration. In the radiant Christ - all light - we witness the Glory of God breaking through: the energies of God, the beauty of God, the abundance of God's presence. Are we known as the religion of light? Not the religion of candle-lighters, but of personal light? God made us for light.

first light
daylight
twilight
sunlight

moonlight
starlight
lamp light
speed of light

bright light
low light
dim light
candle light

fire light
red light
green light
satellite

subtle light
search light
spot light
stage light

head light
tail light
brake light 
sky light

God started it all when God said, "Let there be light."
God's own light!
And soon we'll sing, Christ our light,
as the great candle is carried up the aisle,
and lifted up as from a tomb
to fill the room,
while we ask for Christ to lead us
out of this present darkness
of barbarism,
death,
distrust,
dissatisfaction,
caused by human folly,
to an Easter of life
lived authentically,
generously,
beautifully ~
as Christ lived his.

Transfiguration Table

This alive and bright painting is titled Transfiguration Table. It is August, and nature is offering one last great push of light, wheat, flower and fruit before autumn. Even the wallpaper gets in on it all, reflecting nature's gifts. And we have been invited into this most modest home to share the simple feast day meal.

"There in their presence he was transfigured: his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as dazzling as light. Matthew 7:1-8.

Gospel and painting: everything suggests God's abundance. It is a brilliant summer day: blue sky with fruit trees that seem to sparkle. The window is wide open and the curtains transparent, allowing the room to fill with light and air. The lamp is lit before the piled up icons in the Beautiful Corner; an altar-like candle burns to welcome us as guests. All the more, wheat shafts bring the Eucharistic table to mind, and a brimming bowl is ready with wooden spoons.

At first, it strikes me as strange that there would be fruit lifted up by the window to ripen. But then, maybe it's not about fruit at all, but about us, that in Christ, God reaches into our world to ripen us in some yet unimagined way.

A Rosary Decade in the Light of the Transfiguration

Our Father Who art in Heaven...

O Christ, the light of your Transfiguration shines to the trillion, trillion galaxies - stars beyond which I can see.

Hail Mary...

By your Transfiguration, Oh Jesus, the mountains and hills, the canyons and the desert, even the stones sparkle and glow.

Hail Mary...

In your Transfiguration, Oh Jesus, you illuminate and make bright the plants, the trees, the grass and  flowering things.

Hail Mary...

Jesus, may your Transfiguration-light invade the deepest places of the human mind, where evil plans are made.

Hail Mary...

Transfigured Jesus, radiate light where there is hatred, bigotry, racism and all the crazed fears, we call phobias.

Hail Mary...

Jesus, turn the splendor-ed light of your Transfiguration on us in our ignorance, folly and unknowing. Compassion-ate us.

Hail Mary...

Oh Jesus, by your lustrous face, let us learn well your transfiguring command to love other people well.

Hail Mary...

Oh, that your Transfigured radiance would pour into the hidden places where we are lost in isolation, confusion, depression and addiction. Restore us to a bright joy.

Hail Mary...

I pray to know how deeply I am held in Christ's Transfiguring light, and all the others with whom I share life on this planet.

Hail Mary...

Shine! Shine! O Christ of the Glory-Mountain; save the nation which veers off into shadow.

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Lessons Descending Mount Tabor

Mount Tabor in Springtime

On their way down the mountain, he enjoined them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They seized upon those words, and discussed among themselves what this 'rising from the dead' could mean. And they put a question to him. 'Why do our teachers say that Elijah must be the first to come?' He replied, 'Yes, Elijah does come first to set everything right. Yet how is it that the scriptures say of the Son of Man that he is to endure great sufferings and to be treated with contempt? However, I tell you Elijah has already come and they have worked their will upon him, as the scriptures say of him.'  Mary 9: 9-13

These verses follow the Transfiguration account of Mark 9:1-8. And as the little group now descends the mountain, Jesus instructs them not to tell others about their mystical experience until he has been "raised from the dead."  Of course the three disciples are confused, and even though Jesus has made reference to the resurrection, when he is raised on Easter morning, they are taken by surprise. 

Then out of their confusion they question Jesus. I grew up being told no questions allowed: "Just believe it; it's a mystery." But that won't do. Jesus doesn't scold or ridicule them; he allows for questions. Lots of people have lots of legitimate questions, especially about human suffering and why God allows us to experience such pain, loss and sorrow. 

But in their questioning they speak of the great prophet, Elijah, who was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. But when Jesus speaks of Elijah, he's really speaking about John the Baptist, who was treated with contempt and murdered. Jesus announced that he should personally expect no less treatment. And so the shadow of the cross falls across the scene as they descend the glory- mountain.

In the Resurrection of Jesus, God will have his day. These three disciples have been given a peek into that day and Jesus, good teacher that he is, reinforces the lesson on the way back down Mount Tabor. But many Christians get stuck at Calvary, joyless and obsessed with death and sin (especially the sins of other people). Saint Augustine said, "We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song." Christ's death and resurrection is one fluid movement. Do you feel you have that movement in balance? Does Resurrection show in our lives: looking for life, encouraging life. repair, restoration and personal evolution?

Here's a little biography of Sister Constance and her Memphis companions. Life-claiming yellow fever and an Easter-shout!

In 1878 the American city of Memphis on the Mississippi River was struck by an epidemic of yellow fever, which so depopulated the area that the city lost its charter and was not reorganized for fourteen years. Almost everyone who could afford to do so left the city and fled to higher ground away from the river. (It was not yet know that the disease was mosquito-borne, but it was observed that high and dry areas were safe.) There were in the city several communities of nuns, Anglican or Roman Catholic, who had the opportunity of leaving, but chose to stay and nurse the sick. Most of them, thirty-eight in all, were themselves killed by the fever. One of the first to die (on September 9, 1878) was Constance, head of the Anglican Community of Saint Mary. Her last deathbed words were all Easter:  "Alleluia, Hosanna!"

Transfiguration

Here is a photo of the wonderful 6th century mosaic discovered in the chapel of Saint Catherine's Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai, Egypt. The mosaic, dating to the time of the Emperor Justinian, depicts the gospel account of the Transfiguration we read in Saint Mark's Gospel:

Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain where they were alone; and in their presence he was transfigured; his clothes became dazzling white, with a whiteness no bleacher on earth could equal. They saw Elijah appear, and Moses with him, and there they were, conversing with Jesus. Then Peter spoke: "Rabbi," he said, "how good it is that we are here! Shall we make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah?" (For he did not know what to say; they were so terrified.) Then a cloud appeared, casting its shadow over them, and out of the cloud came a voice: "This is my Son, my Beloved; listen to him." And now suddenly, when they looked around, there was nobody to be seen but Jesus alone with themselves.  Mark 9:2-8 

Six days later. Some days earlier and in the verses previous to this account, Jesus has shared sad news with the disciples that he will be rejected and made to suffer, and that there is a cross for them to carry too. We can imagine how disheartened they were to hear this.

Peter, James and John. That these three are Jesus' gospel-insiders doesn't mean they are being held for us as fine examples of faith. Peter will deny knowing Jesus at the Last Supper. After this Transfiguration account James and John will argue over who is the greatest. And the three of them will fall asleep in the Gethsemane Garden the night of Jesus' arrest. 

"...and led them up a high mountain..." Biblically, a mountain is an image of a meeting with God. The image calls to us: "Pay attention, God is going to teach us something new." We can have our own mountain top experiences for sure.

"...he was transfigured; his clothes became dazzling white, with a whiteness no bleacher on earth could equal."  Jesus consoles them in their sorrow, giving them this window into Easter. It's not that Easter replaces Good Friday, but the darkness and sorrow of Jesus suffering-death is transformed into Easter light and joy.

"...and out of the cloud..." Another image: God is here! We might re-think what we're saying the next time we complain: "There's a cloud hanging over me" indicating a string of bad luck and instead, as spiritual people, acknowledge the nearness of God through it all.

"This is my Son, my Beloved; listen to him." Oh, I want to listen to Jesus! Have you heard this hymn: I want to walk as a child of the light, I want to follow Jesus...star of my life...I want to see the brightness of God...clear sun of righteousness shine on my path...in him there is no darkness at all...night and day are both alike...shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.


"They saw Elijah appear and Moses with him..." These two have been referred to as Israel's heavy hitters. They are present here to let us know that in Jesus Christ, God's ancient promises have come true. God's day is here.

But what does it all mean? The previous verses, the three insider apostles and then this scene: it is all of one fluid movement. Indeed, something has to die so that something new and glorious can appear. Something has to change, as Jesus is changed. It isn't appearances that must change, but consciousness, (even sub-consciousness!), hearts, minds and choices. The change (the transfiguration) is deep and personal to each of us, yes, but it is all the more ecclesial, national and global. Get this:

"The poor man cries before your house, and you pay no attention. There is your brother, naked, crying, and you stand confused over the choice of attractive floor coverings."  Saint Ambrose of Milan

Someone leaving the Catholic faith once said to me, "I want a religion that's about more than just dying and rising." I'd agree, if I thought for a moment we really understood the profound heart-searing depth and urgency of "dying and rising." 

I met a lawyer recently who is at retirement age. She talked about going back to school to become an RN so she can go to third world countries, where there are no doctors and nurses, to take care of the sick-poor. She's discerning this only for herself, not suggesting we all have to do it. But I thought, "WHOA!"