TRANSFIGURATION Today is the Transfiguration of our Lord in front of the three Apostles. Can you imagine what that must have been like? Probably made them think that they were going to die at any moment. Having fears like this only to have Jesus say, "Do not be afraid." Only if we are under the influence of sin would we be shivering in our boots. I just hope that the end of my life, I can say, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the Faith."
During the Transfiguration when the Father's voice comes down loud and clear that this is His Son and to 'hear Him', have any of us put ourselves in this situation that the Apostles were?
Have you ever wondered why you keep committing the same faults over and over again? I do. I'm a repeater. It's very frustrating! It makes me think of the St. Augustine prayer for after Communion. Maybe it should be before Confession.
Before Thine eyes, O Lord, we bring our sins, and we compare them to the stripes we have received.
It we examine the evil we have wrought, what we suffer is little, what we deserve is great.
What we have committed is very grievous, what we have suffered is very slight.
We feel the punishment of sin, yet withdraw not from the obstinacy of sinning.
Under Thy lash our inconstancy is visited, but our neck is not bent.
Our life groans under sorrow, yet amends not in deed.
If Thou spare us, we correct not our ways; if Thou punish, we cannot endure it.
In time of correction we confess our wrongdoing; after Thy visitation we forget that we have wept.
if Thou stretchest forth Thy hand, we promise amendment; If Thou strikest, we cry out for mercy.
If Thou sparest, we again provoke Thee to strike.
Here we are before Thee, O Lord, confessedly guilty; we know that unless Thou pardon we shall deservedly perish.
Grant then, O almighty Father, without our deserving it, the pardon we ask; Thou Who madest out of nothing those who ask Thee.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
V. Deal not with us, O Lord, according to our sins.
R. Neither reward us according to our iniquities
Let us pray.
O God, Who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy suppliant people, and turn away the scourges of Thy wrath, which we deserve for our sins. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Our divine Redeemer, being in Galilee the summer before His sacred Passion, took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, and led them to the heights of a solitary mountain. Tradition assures us that this was Mount Tabor, which is exceedingly high and beautiful, and in those days was covered with green trees and shrubs. It rises alone in the midst of a vast plain of Galilee.
It is here that the God-Man appeared in His glory. While Jesus prayed, He permitted the glory which was always due to His sacred humanity - and of which for our sake, not to alarm us, He deprived it - to diffuse its brilliance over His whole body. His face was transfigured and shone as the sun, and His garments became white as snow. Moses and Elias were seen in His company by the three apostles on this occasion, and were heard discoursing with Him of the death which He was to suffer in Jerusalem. The three were wondrously delighted with this glorious vision, and Saint Peter cried out to Christ, "Lord, it is good for us to be here! Let us make three tents, one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias."
While Peter was speaking, suddenly there came a bright cloud from heaven, emblem of the presence of God's majesty, and from out of this cloud was heard a voice which said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him." By these words, God made known that in Christ they must recognize the One He had foretold to Moses, saying: "I will raise up from among them a Prophet like you; I will put My words in His mouth, and He will tell them all I command Him. If anyone does not want to hear the words that this Prophet will speak in My Name, it is to Me that he will have to answer for it." (Deut. 18:18-19)
When the Jews asked John the Baptist if he was the Prophet, the Expected One they had been waiting for. This time the apostles understood perfectly now what these words meant; the prophecy was known to all who listened to the Scriptures read each week in their synagogues. Hearing this voice, they were nonetheless seized with a sudden fear, and fell upon the ground; but Jesus, going to them, touched them, and bade them rise. They immediately did so, and saw no one but Jesus standing there in His ordinary state. This vision happened during the night. As they went down the mountain early the next morning, Jesus forbade them to tell anyone what they had seen, before He had risen from the dead.
St. Andrew of Crete speaks on the point that we might come across in our daily lives; and that is if the Holy Spirit somehow makes His presence known, will we do what is right with it?:
"If the vocation revealed to thee this day be so great and so holy, reverence the call of God. Do not ignore thyself, despise not a gift so great, show not thyself unworthy of the grace, be not so slothful in thy life as to lose this treasure of heaven. Leave earth to the earth, and let the dead bury their dead; disdaining all that passes away, all that dies with the world and the flesh, follow even to heaven, without turning aside, Christ who leads the way through this world for thee. Take to thine assistance fear and desire, lest thou faint or lose thy love. Give thyself up wholly; be supple to the Word in the Holy Ghost, in order to attain this pure and blessed end: thy deification, together with the enjoyment of unspeakable goods. By zeal for the virtues, by contemplation of the truth, by wisdom, attain to Wisdom, who is the principle of all, and in whom all things subsist."
After our Gospel from last Sunday, let's hope and pray that our ears hear what we need to hear, and our tongue proclaim it everywhere. Let Christ say to us: "Ephpheta! Be thou opened!"
Prayer in Honor of the Transfiguration of Our Lord
O God, Who in the glorious Transfiguration of Thine only-begotten Son didst strengthen the sacraments of faith by the testimony of the fathers, and Who didst wonderfully foreshow the perfect adoption of Thy children by a voice coming down in a shining cloud, mercifully grant that we be made co-heirs of the King of glory Himself, and grant us to be sharers in the same glory. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen
Sanctify, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the gifts offered on the glorious Transfiguration of Thine only-begotten Son, and by the splendors of that very illumination cleanse us from the stains of our sins. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen
Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that with the understanding of a purified mind we may follow those sacred mysteries of Thy Son's Transfiguration which we celebrate with our solemn office. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen
Oratio Super Sindonem
Enlighten, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy people, and ever kindle their hearts by the brightness of Thy grace: that through the glory of the Saviour of the world, the eternal Light, the mystery here manifested may be ever more and more revealed, and may grow in our souls. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
We end with St. Ambrose:
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