This is not a story to stop people on the pathway toward justice. While it may suggest the futility of their struggles for material compensation, the point is that, if one has a case, one should go for it because it is a right and a just course of action. For example, if you were scammed, you should seek restitution. The story about the woman who died after she won may help us appreciate our history beyond this temporal existence.
Each person has a history and that history does not end when we breathe our last.
In the Gospel today, Jesus ascended Tabor and there in the midst of His sleeping disciples, He is transformed. The Transfiguration opens up a window providing a glimpse beyond the present realities of life. Somehow, our vision can be myopic that at times we are unable to discern the bigger picture. The analogy is a camera lens focussing on a painting or picture too closely that all the details are blurred out. The larger canvas of the Transfiguration is that it is closely associated with the Passion in the Garden. They both belong to the bigger picture and are connected one to the other.
If a coin has two sides, then the Transfiguration is actually the other side of Gethsemane. There is almost a perfect symmetry between them but some may find it hard to recognise that. Both took place on top of a mountain. Tabor for the Transfiguration. Mount Olives for the Agony in Gethsemane. He was transfigured on one but He was somewhat disfigured on the other as He sweated of blood. One highlighted His Divinity whereas and the other showcased His humanity.
There should not be any problem for Peter to be warned by the Lord of His impending Passion. Yet, Peter was unable to digest it. He was not able to see how Christ’s Transfiguration was a preparation for the Passion. All Peter knew about the Passion was the Disfigurement of Christ and that was unacceptable to him. His vision for Christ was a “transfiguration” which mirrors an earthly victory.
The exchange between Jesus and the other two prophets emphasises the change that Jesus would accomplish. He was about to effect the Exodus, the salvation that would come via His Passion and Cross in Jerusalem. Humanity would be saved by His suffering and the Transfiguration is a foretaste. When Moses led the Israelites, they left Egypt for the Promised Land. For Jesus, the Promised Land will no longer be a place but an exalted state of being. We will be saved and His dazzlingly white Body is a promise of the fate that is ours.
St Paul in the 2nd Reading spoke of mimesis. It is the Greek word for our English “mimicry”. Imitate me. Why? He had imitated Christ and thus the Philippians were supposed to imitate Paul for he has shown the way to live the Transfiguration. He reminds us that our homeland is not here on earth. Our homeland is the eternal one in heaven. This makes sense of the story of the woman who regained her inheritance only to discover that she could bring nothing with her into the eternal homeland.
If at all, the only possibility for us is to work for the treasures that neither rust nor rot. This is not in any way a counsel to ignore life temporal but to have an attitude of planting our feet, one here and the other in heaven. However, between here and heaven, Jesus taught: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him take up his cross and follow me”. Peter struggled to accept that the path to Tabor passes necessarily through Golgotha. Only later did Peter come to know that Calvary was not the final stop for Jesus.
What Calvary does is to change us. It tempers our body for the life that we are all called to. The change we can appreciate is that both the phenomena of the Transfiguration and the Passion point us in the direction of the Resurrection. “For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the Saviour we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of His glorious body. He will do that by the same power with which He can subdue the whole universe”.
The promise of the Resurrection gives us a footing to stand firm in Christ. However, when faced with trials, we cave in to despair. When we feel that road we have taken leads nowhere, we are broken. But the voice that reached out to the Disciples is the assurance we need. “Listen to Him”. He who has travelled the rocky road grants us the guarantee that when we follow Him to Calvary, we will not end in defeat but victory.
The grace we desire is that momentary glimpse into a future of possibilities. It is a glance into eternity which we sorely need especially when we feel as if the weight of the world is on our shoulders and we are unable to cope. At time, it is in a situation between life and death that we catch a glimpse of eternity. These are the near-death experiences that grant a person the realisation of the futility of life and all its attendant achievements. “What gains a man the whole day but loses his soul”. Furthermore, Jesus went up the mountain to pray. The height grants Him a perspective. Essentially, it is through prayer that one catches the fleeting shadow of God’s presence. Every Thursday the Cathedral provides the opportunity to encounter the Lord through silent Adoration. Sometimes, a retreat too. Or maybe a pilgrimage or a talk that one attends. All these are basically experiences that might allow us to catch God at work. Thankfully, we are one of the pilgrim’s centres. It gives us the possibility to encounter Christ during this year of hope. As we continue with our Lenten journey, may we experience many transfiguring events to strengthen our hope and to grant us the confidence for the life to come and the longing to reach heaven.2nd Sunday of Lent Year C The Transfiguration.
There was a woman who was cheated of her huge inheritance. She fought hard to regain what was unjustly snatched from her. The legal litigation took years but finally she won. Sadly, it was a pyrrhic victory for she died soon after she won. In the end, nothing of her massive inheritance was useful to her.
This is not a story to stop people on the pathway toward justice. While it may suggest the futility of their struggles for material compensation, the point is that, if one has a case, one should go for it because it is a right and a just course of action. For example, if you were scammed, you should seek restitution. The story about the woman who died after she won may help us appreciate our history beyond this temporal existence.
Each person has a history and that history does not end when we breathe our last.
In the Gospel today, Jesus ascended Tabor and there in the midst of His sleeping disciples, He is transformed. The Transfiguration opens up a window providing a glimpse beyond the present realities of life. Somehow, our vision can be myopic that at times we are unable to discern the bigger picture. The analogy is a camera lens focussing on a painting or picture too closely that all the details are blurred out. The larger canvas of the Transfiguration is that it is closely associated with the Passion in the Garden. They both belong to the bigger picture and are connected one to the other.
If a coin has two sides, then the Transfiguration is actually the other side of Gethsemane. There is almost a perfect symmetry between them but some may find it hard to recognise that. Both took place on top of a mountain. Tabor for the Transfiguration. Mount Olives for the Agony in Gethsemane. He was transfigured on one but He was somewhat disfigured on the other as He sweated of blood. One highlighted His Divinity whereas and the other showcased His humanity.
There should not be any problem for Peter to be warned by the Lord of His impending Passion. Yet, Peter was unable to digest it. He was not able to see how Christ’s Transfiguration was a preparation for the Passion. All Peter knew about the Passion was the Disfigurement of Christ and that was unacceptable to him. His vision for Christ was a “transfiguration” which mirrors an earthly victory.
The exchange between Jesus and the other two prophets emphasises the change that Jesus would accomplish. He was about to effect the Exodus, the salvation that would come via His Passion and Cross in Jerusalem. Humanity would be saved by His suffering and the Transfiguration is a foretaste. When Moses led the Israelites, they left Egypt for the Promised Land. For Jesus, the Promised Land will no longer be a place but an exalted state of being. We will be saved and His dazzlingly white Body is a promise of the fate that is ours.
St Paul in the 2nd Reading spoke of mimesis. It is the Greek word for our English “mimicry”. Imitate me. Why? He had imitated Christ and thus the Philippians were supposed to imitate Paul for he has shown the way to live the Transfiguration. He reminds us that our homeland is not here on earth. Our homeland is the eternal one in heaven. This makes sense of the story of the woman who regained her inheritance only to discover that she could bring nothing with her into the eternal homeland.
If at all, the only possibility for us is to work for the treasures that neither rust nor rot. This is not in any way a counsel to ignore life temporal but to have an attitude of planting our feet, one here and the other in heaven. However, between here and heaven, Jesus taught: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him take up his cross and follow me”. Peter struggled to accept that the path to Tabor passes necessarily through Golgotha. Only later did Peter come to know that Calvary was not the final stop for Jesus.
What Calvary does is to change us. It tempers our body for the life that we are all called to. The change we can appreciate is that both the phenomena of the Transfiguration and the Passion point us in the direction of the Resurrection. “For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the Saviour we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of His glorious body. He will do that by the same power with which He can subdue the whole universe”.
The promise of the Resurrection gives us a footing to stand firm in Christ. However, when faced with trials, we cave in to despair. When we feel that road we have taken leads nowhere, we are broken. But the voice that reached out to the Disciples is the assurance we need. “Listen to Him”. He who has travelled the rocky road grants us the guarantee that when we follow Him to Calvary, we will not end in defeat but victory.
The grace we desire is that momentary glimpse into a future of possibilities. It is a glance into eternity which we sorely need especially when we feel as if the weight of the world is on our shoulders and we are unable to cope. At time, it is in a situation between life and death that we catch a glimpse of eternity. These are the near-death experiences that grant a person the realisation of the futility of life and all its attendant achievements. “What gains a man the whole day but loses his soul”.
Furthermore, Jesus went up the mountain to pray. The height grants Him a perspective. Essentially, it is through prayer that one catches the fleeting shadow of God’s presence. Every Thursday the Cathedral provides the opportunity to encounter the Lord through silent Adoration. Sometimes, a retreat too. Or maybe a pilgrimage or a talk that one attends. All these are basically experiences that might allow us to catch God at work. Thankfully, we are one of the pilgrim’s centres. It gives us the possibility to encounter Christ during this year of hope. As we continue with our Lenten journey, may we experience many transfiguring events to strengthen our hope and to grant us the confidence for the life to come and the longing to reach heaven.
