Dn 7:9-10, 13-14
Ps 97:1-2, 5-6,99
2 Pt 1:16-19
Mt 17:1-9
The Transfiguration draws us into a mystery. It is a mystery that is beyond the reach of historical reconstruction, the grasp of scientific explanation, and well-beyond the possibility of geographic verification. All of these are irrelevant. The Transfiguration represents the fulfillment of scripture, the fulfillment of a promise, and the beginning of mankind's salvation, as in the reading from Deuteronomy:
"The Son of Man received dominion, glory, and kingship;
all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.
His dominion is everlasting;
his kingship shall not be destroyed."
"His dominion is everlasting; his kingship shall not be destroyed."
On this Feast we recall Jesus appearing in brilliant glory to three of his disciples while in the company of the Law and the Prophets. Imagine the scene: Dazzling light. Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus. Place yourself with the apostles. Stand with them on the mountain. The tension becomes almost unbearable. And then you hear God's voice. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him.”
"Listen to him."
The Father confirms that Jesus is who Peter had earlier confessed him to be, the Christ, the Son of God. The Father has given you a mission: "Listen to him." Like the apostles, you are stunned into silence and overcome with awe. On this day Jesus--Jesus the Nazarean, Jesus the teacher, Jesus the wonder worker, Jesus the healer was revealed in his Divinity.
There is another event to recall today. That event was also marked by blinding light. It was also overshadowed by a cloud. It was an event which, if you place yourself at the scene, will cause stunned silence and prostration.
August 6 is the date the Church sets aside to recall that Jesus revealed his Divinity on a mountain. On August 6, 1945 the human race revealed its depravity at Hiroshima. The world would never be the same. Hiroshima captured in one event the sum total of human depravity since the fall of Adam and Eve. It took the cumulative horrors from all the wars of the past centuries, from the twentieth century, the bloodiest in history, and condensed them into a singular event. This time God did not give mankind a mission from the cloud. There was a terrible silence. There was a void. Or was there?
The voice of God was obscured by the explosion. It was not silenced.
Almost 2000 years since Jesus' incarnation, birth, passion, death, resurrection and ascension, and seventy-two years since Hiroshima, the mandate: “listen to him” is as compelling and urgent for us as it was for the shaken apostles. Indeed, it is more compelling because Hiroshima, and Nagasaki three days later, demonstrated a capability for destruction on a large scale that is unique to the present time, a capability that will only increase. A capability shared by too many countries.
"This is my Son; listen to him.”
"Listen to him."
As we listen to Jesus, as we take his teaching to heart and allow that teaching to transform us, we move that much closer to the eschatological glory of the transfigured Jesus. And we move that much farther from the apocalyptic destruction of the nuclear bomb, the destruction of the Armenian genocide, the agonies on the Baltic States, the Cultural Revolution of China, and the concerted attacks on morality and human life in the U.S. today.
"The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the LORD of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory."
before the LORD of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory."
"The Lord is king,
the Most High over all the earth."
_________________________________________________
+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD
No comments:
Post a Comment