In Jesus, God continually takes us beyond what we see and normally experience. In the Gospel for Sunday, Aug. 6, "Jesus took Peter, James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them and his clothes became dazzling white." Briefly, the three apostles perceived the divinity of Jesus flash forth from his humanity. The blinding light, the cloud and voice from above, the appearance of Moses and Elijah with Jesus left the apostles ecstatic: "It is good for us to be here."
In May, I prayed at that very site, Mount Thabor, while on my trip through the Holy Land. I couldn't help but recall how we ourselves often experience the Divine Presence " through the Mass and sacraments, through the Divine Indwelling within us in sanctifying grace, occasionally in prayer and periodic spiritual experiences. Our experience is less dramatic, of course. In fact, we can take God's presence for granted; get so used to it that our fervor and awe wane. I think this is why Pope John Paul II, in his final encyclical, on the Eucharist, was trying to rekindle in us "profound amazement and gratitude."
Mount Thabor, only a few miles west of the lake of Galilee and home to Peter, James, and John, was the region where Jesus conducted much of his public ministry " a beautiful and fertile area. While lingering there, my thoughts went back to my June 3 column (written before I left Sacramento) in which I pointed out that we Catholics are "born again" Christians. Through Christ, who took our sins upon himself, we have been "born again" in the waters of baptism; although still "earthen vessels," we are now a "new creation," truly sons and daughters of God " sharers in the Divine Life.
It has often occurred to me " and again on Mount Thabor in May " that Jesus' transfiguration does not just tell us something important about him, but also about ourselves. If even momentarily we could see the Divine Life that dwells within us, making us God's sons and daughters, what signs would we see? Wouldn't it be that brilliant, blinding light that the three apostles witnessed on Thabor? Dazzling light and brightness signals the experience of God or his messengers throughout the Scriptures and Christian tradition. Imagine the glory of God already within us! " in spite of the faultiness of our humanity, our "earthen vessel." Even though we are still on pilgrimage in this life and thus sinners, the earthiness is not all there is in us. The "saint" was born in us in baptism and the saving grace of Christ is in the process of preparing us for the full glory of God in heaven. We have the "first installment" already, insists St. Paul. We have the "pledge of glory" in the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, the Father's words to Jesus on Mount Thabor perhaps can apply also to us: "This is my beloved son." You and I are sons and daughters of God. Jesus is the model or pattern for each of us. In the Imitation of Christ we read: Christ's "glory and beauty are within you, and he delights in dwelling there. Prepare your heart. Make room for Christ."
St. Paul draws on Christ's Thabor experience, as well as Moses' Sinai experience to help us understand what Christ's saving grace is achieving in us. This really speaks to me since on the recent trip I visited both Sinai and Thabor. Remember, Moses in receiving the tablets of the ten commandments, experienced something of God's glory, too.
St. Paul explains in his second letter to the Corinthians (chapters 3 and 4): If the Old Covenant, "carved in writing on stone was inaugurated with such glory that the Israelites could not look on Moses' face because of the glory that shone on it (even though it was a fading glory), how much greater will be the glory of the ministry of the Spirit?"
We do not see the glory of God with our eyes, but we "see" by faith. The imagery and symbols of Sinai and Thabor can help us understand what, by faith, we experience and believe. "All of us, gazing on the Lord's glory with unveiled faces, are being transformed from glory to glory into the very image of the Lord." Not because we deserve it, not because we earn it, but "through God's mercy." It is because we have a mighty Savior who is creating us anew. We're not talking about our holiness, but Christ's holiness shared with us, making us, with him, sons and daughters of God.
Many people of our secular culture and world don't get it, can't see it. Again, St. Paul comments: "their unbelieving minds have been blinded by the god of the present age so that they do not see the splendor of the Gospel showing forth the glory of Christ, the image of God." How blessed we are with the gift of faith in the midst of our flawed human pilgrimage! "This treasure we possess in earthen vessels to make it clear that its surpassing power comes from God and not from us."
