Reflections on the Word
Genesis 12:1-4a;  2 Timothy 1-8b-10;  Matthew 17:1-9.
March 19 & 20, 2011
Sr. Phyllis Jaszkowiak

Last week Fr. Schwab talked to us about sin and temptation.  I’m luckier, I think.   I get to talk about Transfiguration, that is letting the Divine shine through our humanness.

When I was in Israel, our group went to the mount of Transfiguration.  As I stood there looking at the valley below, I felt surrounded by God. We Christians have built a church there, but I was not drawn to go into this building.  God was to be met outside on the mountain.  I didn’t see Moses or Elijah, but I did feel God’s presence on the mountain.  

The Gospel today tells us three things:  Each of us can meet the God who dwells within us, we are to listen to Jesus, and encounters with God give us the strength to continue to do God’s work in our lives.

Meeting this God who is within, takes time, silence and discipline; time apart by ourselves in silent prayer, and time together with the community in prayer.  Lent is a time to make space for God in our lives in a much deeper way than usual.

The Transfiguration of Jesus did not just happen.  Jesus spent countless hours in prayer, listening to his God, just being in God’s presence.  The gospels tell us that Jesus spent whole nights in prayer.  And every now and then, God came to him in very concrete ways, like at his baptism, at the Transfiguration, and at Gethsemane in the garden.  With those long hours in prayer, Jesus was consciously and constantly in God’s presence, and was prepared for these extraordinary, visible experiences of the God so always very near.

Jesus’ life of prayer is a model of what we are to do as well.  We need to spend time in prayer, listening to and being with God, so that in those special ‘ah ha moments’ when God comes, we will respond to God with love.

The great masters of prayer, St John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, continually encouraged people to develop this discipline of silent prayer each day.  Private, personal prayer is a challenge and a discipline, but the rewards are tremendous.  Little by little we are transformed into the Divine.

A theology teacher in one of our Catholic High Schools tells the story of how when she was in high school, on a retreat, she met Jesus at Mass.  The feeling was so overwhelming to her that she said, “I will always attend Mass, no matter how boring it seems, because I know that Jesus is there.”  This experience kept leading her to an ever deepening relationship with God.

There are many stories in Scripture of people meeting God.  Moses, when he went up the mountain to receive the 10 commandments, experienced God with such an overwhelming power that his face shone forth with a blinding light.  So much so that the Israelites asked him to put a veil over his face so that they would not be blinded by the light.

St. Paul refers to this, in 2nd Corinthians, when he talks about us and that we reflect the light of Christ to others.  Can you think of anyone who radiates the light of Christ in this way?  They are so filled with God; you cannot help but know you are in God’s presence when with them.

The transfiguration moment for Peter, James and John, was not so much Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah, but God’s voice coming from the cloud addressing them, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”  Jesus is the one who will teach them and show them the way.  He is the guide beyond fear and into love.

Once we have experienced God, we can more readily choose to do the work for which we are called.  We listen to and follow Jesus, through his death and resurrection.  It is not an easy task to listen and follow.  It could open us up to experiences we would rather not have, or to places we would rather not go. But the command is clear, listen to Jesus and follow him.

So let us this Lent resolve to make a space for God, to pray in silence and with each other.  Then we may be invited to see God face to face.  As St Paul say in his second letter to the Corinthians, “Now this Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we, with our unveiled faces reflecting like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect.”   ( 2 Corinthians 3:17-18)