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| "The Transfiguration" by J. Tissot. Brooklyn Museum / Public Domain. |
On the Gospel Reading at Mass on the Second Sunday of Lent
Both before and after his Transfiguration, Christ told his
apostles he would suffer and die at the hands of men.
Today’s Transfiguration Gospel is according to Matthew [17:1-9], and does not say what Moses
and Elijah were talking about with Christ.
It is Luke’s Gospel that says Moses and Elijah were talking with
Christ about his coming exodus of Suffering, Death and Resurrection in Jerusalem.
The prayer called the Preface later in today’s Mass upholds some of the meanings of the
Transfiguration.
It is truly right and
just, our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere
to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father,
almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our
Lord.
For after he had told
his disciples of his coming Death,
on the holy mountain
he manifested to them his glory,
to show, even by the
testimony of the law and the prophets,
that the Passion leads
to the glory of the Resurrection.
Before the glory of the
Resurrection the Son of God had
first to undergo the Passion and his coming Death.
In the Death of Christ naked on the cross, the human body underwent
destruction as the naked— unveiled— setting and sign of both sin and shame.
However, in his Transfiguration and especially his everlasting Resurrection— Christ unveiled the human body as fully alive with dignity,
holiness, and glory.
You and I, in our own bodies, choose during Lent to take on
penitential, sacrificial works of mercy, fasting and prayer.
To be steadfast in penitential works is to choose to be
vulnerable.
Choosing to be vulnerable helps us to be spiritually naked,
unveiled, honest and open for God.
Our vulnerability in willing penance can help us begin to know from
the inside the unveiled, naked vulnerability that Christ chose in his extreme
penance of Suffering and Death on the Cross.
For our sake, God in Christ unveiled himself through the penance,
vulnerability and humiliation of suffering and death.
The open vulnerability of Christ in his Suffering and Death also
unveiled and opened up the grace, glory and resurrection of the human body.
Through our own lowliness, honesty, openness and vulnerability in
doing penance, we unveil ourselves for God.
Today’s second reading [2
Timothy 1:8-10] told of God and man unveiling and opening themselves to
each other.
... Christ Jesus...
destroyed death
and brought life and
immortality to light....
Bear your share of
hardship for the gospel
with the strength that
comes from God.
He saved us and called
us to a holy life,
not according to our
works
but according to his
design and the GRACE bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made MANIFEST
through the APPEARANCE of our savior....
Again: GRACE was bestowed on us in
Christ Jesus before time began,
but is now made MANIFEST through the APPEARANCE of our savior.
Christ is GRACE MADE MANIFEST— and we see that manifest grace unveiled for a moment in his
Transfiguration— grace shining like sunlight from his face and clothes.
Grace is the open depth of God’s goodness that he unveils for us
in the person of Christ.
In his Eucharistic Body and Blood, the grace, the open depth of
God’s goodness is really present while also hiding beneath veils of bread and
wine.
In his Eucharistic Body and Blood, Christ opens and gives us his
whole risen humanity— living, transfigured and glorified.
The Eucharist really is the Body and Blood of Christ who has risen
forever from the dead.
And yet, though he has risen forever from the dead, and can never
again die, in his Eucharist he gives himself to us in the humble vulnerability
of food and drink.
Most humble vulnerability, because food and drink are living
things that we kill and take in so we can live!
By opening ourselves to vulnerability in penance, we begin to
follow and come close to the openness of Christ in his Eucharist,
Transfiguration, Suffering, Death and Resurrection.
The seemings of bread and wine are veils.
Beneath those veils, the Eucharist gives us the same mystery that
was unveiled in the Transfiguration, where the bright
cloud that is the Holy Spirit wraps
us up with the real presence of Christ and brings us the voice of the heavenly
Father.
This is my beloved Son, with whom I am
well pleased; listen to him.
Giving us the open goodness of his strength in his Eucharist, the
Lord wants us to listen to him say what he told his apostles at his
Transfiguration: Rise, and do not be
afraid.
The glory of the Eucharist is a mythical falsehood if we do not
have faith in God.
Faith demands courage: Rise, and do not be
afraid.
The Eucharist calls, stirs and strengthens us to rise with
courage, because in his Eucharist as food and drink God is open to us and
vulnerable.
In his vulnerability, God opens to us the fullness of sharing his
glory.
We begin to open ourselves to glory by our Lenten penances of
prayer, fasting and works of mercy.
The vulnerability and openness that come through penance allow our
lives to follow, show and make present the saving history of Christ’s
vulnerability and openness in his Life, Death and Resurrection.
So penance is even a sacrament of the Church— for a sacrament is a
sign, an instrument and a presence of Christ.
If we take up the cross through our Lenten penances— believing in,
inspired by and following God who opens and empties himself for those he loves—
then penance is also transfiguration:
God’s glory shining out of us into the world.
By our penitential works of mercy, prayer and fasting— not only
during Lent, but also always and everywhere— it is right and just, our duty,
salvation and our transfiguration to give thanks to the Lord our God.
Turn. Love. Repeat.
