2nd Sunday Lent :: A

2nd Sunday of Lent

02-17-08

Prepared by Fr. Peter Girard, OP

Scripture Readings First Genesis 12:1-4a Second 2 Timothy 1:8b-10 Gospel Matthew 17:1-9

1. Subject Matter •

The Lord revealed the radiance of His Holy Face on Mount Tabor; we gaze upon this same glory each time we adore Him in the Blessed Sacrament.

2. Exegetical Notes •

The Transfiguration is recorded in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36). This event is also alluded to in 2 Peter 1:16-18 and John 1:14.

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The Greek term for the Transfiguration in Matthew and Mark is metemorphothe, referring to Jesus as having undergone a “metamorphosis.” The Vulgate translates this as: transfiguratus est.

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Beginning with Origen (185-254), St. Irenaeus (120?-202?) and reaffirmed by St. Jerome (347-420), Mount Tabor in Israel has been traditionally identified as the Mount of Transfiguration (some scholars hold that Mount Hermon is the correct location). Tabor is a prominent, rather isolated, cone-shaped mountain 11 miles west of the Sea of Galilee, currently called Jebel-et-Tur. The view from the summit is singularly extensive and grand, standing directly on the ancient border between the northern and southern tribes of Israel.

3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church •

554: From the day Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Master "began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things . . .

and be killed, and on the third day be raised."290 Peter scorns this prediction, nor do the others understand it any better than he.291 In this context the mysterious episode of Jesus' Transfiguration takes place on a high mountain,292 before three witnesses chosen by himself: Peter, James, and John. Jesus' face and clothes become dazzling with light, and Moses and Elijah appear, speaking "of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem."293 A cloud covers him and a voice from heaven says: "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"294 •

555: For a moment Jesus discloses his divine glory, confirming Peter's confession. He also reveals that he will have to go by the way of the cross at Jerusalem in order to "enter into his glory."295 Moses and Elijah had seen God's glory on the Mountain; the Law and the Prophets had announced the Messiah's sufferings.296 Christ's Passion is the will of the Father: the Son acts as God's servant;297 the cloud indicates the presence of the Holy Spirit. "The whole Trinity appeared: the Father in the voice; the Son in the man; the Spirit in the shining cloud."298 You were transfigured on the mountain, and your disciples, as much as they were capable of it, beheld your glory, O Christ our God, so that when they should see you crucified they would understand that your Passion was voluntary, and proclaim to the world that you truly are the splendor of the Father.299

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556: On the threshold of the public life: the baptism; on the threshold of the Passover: the Transfiguration. Jesus' baptism proclaimed "the mystery of the first regeneration," namely, our Baptism; the Transfiguration "is the sacrament of the second regeneration": our own Resurrection.300 From now on we share in the Lord's Resurrection through the Spirit who acts in the sacraments of the Body of Christ. The Transfiguration gives us a foretaste of Christ's glorious coming, when he "will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body."301 But it also recalls that "it is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God":302 Peter did not yet understand this when he wanted to remain with Christ on the mountain. It has been reserved for you, Peter, but for after death. For now, Jesus says: "Go down to toil on earth, to serve on earth, to be scorned and crucified on earth. Life goes down to be killed; Bread goes down to suffer hunger; the Way goes down to be exhausted on his journey; the Spring goes down to suffer thirst; and you refuse to suffer?"303

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568: Christ's Transfiguration aims at strengthening the apostles' faith in anticipation of his Passion: the ascent onto the "high mountain" prepares for the ascent to Calvary. Christ, Head of the Church, manifests what his Body contains and radiates in the sacraments: "the hope of glory" (Col 1:27; cf. St. Leo the Great, Sermo 51, 3: PL 54, 310c). Notes 290. Mt 16:21. 291. Cf. Mt 16:22-23; Mt 17:23; Lk 9:45. 292. Cf. Mt 17:1-8 and parallels; 2 Pet 1:16-18. 293. Lk 9:31. 294. Lk 9:35. 295. Lk 24:26. 296. Cf. Lk 24:27. 297. Cf. Isa 42:1. 298. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 45, 4, ad 2.

299. Byzantine Liturgy, Feast of the Transfiguration, Kontakion. 300. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 45, 4, ad 2. 301. Phil 3:21. 302. Acts 14:22. 303. St. Augustine, Sermo 78, 6: PL 38, 492-493; cf. Lk 9:33.

4. Patristic Commentary and Other Authorities •

St. Irenaeus of Lyon (120?-202?): Gloria enim Dei vivens homo: vita autem hominis visio Dei, that is “For the glory of God is a live human being: and human life is the vision of God.” Cf. Adversus Haereses 4,20,7.

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St. Ephraem the Deacon (306-373): “For they saw his face bright as lightning and his garments white as light. They saw two suns; one in the sky, as usual, and one unusually; one visible in the firmament and lighting the world, and one, his face, visible to them alone. His garments white as light showed that the glory of his divinity flooded from his whole body, and his light shone from all his members. For his flesh did not shine with splendor from without, like Moses, but the glory of his divinity flooded from him. His light dawned and was drawn together in him.” Cf. Sermon on the Transfiguration of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ, n.8.

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St. Ambrose (339-397): “Peter saw this Grace: so, too, did those who were with him, though they were heavy with sleep. For the incomprehensible magnificence of the Godhead overwhelms the perceptions of our body. For if the sharpness of bodily vision cannot bear the ray of the sun directly into watching eyes, how may the corruption of human members endure the glory of God? And, thus, the garment of the body, purer and finer after the removal of the materiality of vices, is fashioned for the Resurrection…. Therefore, keeping vigil, they saw His majesty, for none sees the glory of Christ unless he is vigilant.” Cf. Exposition of the Holy Gospel According to St. Luke, Bk. 7:17.

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St. John Chrysostom (347-407): "Even then He did not display to us all the splendor of the world to come. For that the vision was accommodated to human eyes, and not an exact manifestation of the reality is plain from the very words of the Evangelist. For what did he say? "He did shine as the Sun." But the glory of incorruptible bodies does not emit the same kind of light as this body which is corruptible, nor is it of a kind to be tolerable to mortal eyes, but needs incorruptible and immortal eyes to contemplate it. But at that time on the mountain He disclosed to them as much as it was possible for them to see without injuring the sight of the beholders; and even so they could not endure it but fell upon their faces." Cf. Exhortation to Theodore After his Fall, n.11.

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Pope St. Leo the Great (d. 461): “And in this Transfiguration the foremost object was to remove the offence of the cross from the disciple's heart, and to prevent their faith being disturbed by the humiliation of His voluntary Passion by revealing to them the excellence of His hidden dignity. But with no less foresight, the foundation was laid of the Holy Church's hope, that the whole body of Christ might realize the character of the change which it would

have to receive, and that the members might promise themselves a share in that honor which had already shone forth in their Head.) Cf. Sermon 51, n.3. •

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274): “The clarity which Christ assumed in His transfiguration was the clarity of glory as to its essence, but not as to its mode of being. For the clarity of the glorified body is derived from that of the soul, as Augustine says (Ep. ad Diosc. cxviii). And in like manner the clarity of Christ's body in His transfiguration was derived from His Godhead, as Damascene says (Orat. de Transfig.) and from the glory of His soul. That the glory of His soul did not overflow into His body from the first moment of Christ's conception was due to a certain Divine dispensation, that, as stated above (14, 1, ad 2), He might fulfill the mysteries of our redemption in a passible body. This did not, however, deprive Christ of His power of outpouring the glory of His soul into His body. And this He did, as to clarity, in His transfiguration, but otherwise than in a glorified body. For the clarity of the soul overflows into a glorified body, by way of a permanent quality affecting the body. Hence bodily refulgence is not miraculous in a glorified body. But in Christ's transfiguration clarity overflowed from His Godhead and from His soul into His body, not as an immanent quality affecting His very body, but rather after the manner of a transient passion, as when the air is lit up by the sun.” Cf. ST, III, q.45, a.2.

5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars •

St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582): “They are within the palace, near the King, and they see that he is beginning to give them here his kingdom. It doesn’t seem to them that they are in the world... In sum, while this prayer lasts they are so absorbed and engulfed with the satisfaction and delight they experience within themselves that they do not remember there is more to desire; they would eagerly say with St. Peter: ‘Lord, let us build three dwelling places here.’” Cf. Way of Perfection, Ch. 31.

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Pope John Paul II (1920-2005): “The mystery of light par excellence is the Transfiguration, traditionally believed to have taken place on Mount Tabor. The glory of the Godhead shines forth from the face of Christ as the Father commands the astonished Apostles to “listen to him” (cf. Lk 9:35 and parallels) and to prepare to experience with him the agony of the Passion, so as to come with him to the joy of the Resurrection and a life transfigured by the Holy Spirit.” Cf. Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 2002.

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Reverend J. Augustine DiNoia, OP: “Some people seem to think that Christian faith involves the suppression of the human. Once you accept the Gospel, they say, your freedom to be yourself is constrained and your ability to explore the many possibilities that life offers is frustrated. But, in fact, as the deepest meaning of the mystery of the Transfiguration reveals to us, to follow and imitate Christ is not to suppress our freedom, and, with it, our distinctive human and personal identities. On the contrary: the whole point of freedom is to make it possible to embrace the good to which Christ directs us. In the end, to become more like Christ is not to become less ourselves, but more uniquely and distinctively ourselves.” Cf. A Tale of Three Encyclicals, 1999.

6. Quotations from Pope Benedict XVI •

“When one has the grace to sense a strong experience of God, it is as though seeing something similar to what the disciples experienced during the Transfiguration: For a moment they experienced ahead of time something that will constitute the happiness of paradise.” Cf. No One Lives on Tabor While on Earth, Angelus Address, March 12, 2007.

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“Human existence is a journey of faith and, as such, goes forward more in darkness than in full light, with moments of obscurity and even profound darkness. While we are here, our relationship with God develops more with listening than with seeing; and even contemplation takes place, so to speak, with closed eyes, thanks to the interior light lit in us by the word of God.” Cf. No One Lives on Tabor While on Earth, Angelus Address, March 12, 2007.

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“The mountain is the place of ascent, not only outward, but also inward ascent; it is a liberation form the burdens of everyday life, a breathing in of the pure air of creation; it offers a view of the broad expanse of creation and its beauty; it gives one an inner peak to stand on and an intuitive sense of the Creator.” Cf. Jesus of Nazareth, Chapter IX.

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“In His oneness with the Father, Jesus is Himself ‘light from light.’ The reality that He is in the deepest core of His being, which Peter tried to express in his confession, that reality becomes perceptible to the sense at this moment: Jesus’ being in the light of God, His own being-light as Son… Jesus, however, shines from within; He does not simply receive light, but He Himself is light from light.” Cf. Jesus of Nazareth, Chapter IX.

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“The holy cloud, the shekinah, is the sign of the presence of God Himself. The cloud hovering over the Tent of Meeting indicated that God was present. Jesus is the holy tent above whom the cloud of God’s presence now stands and spreads out to ‘overshadow’ the others as well.” Cf. Jesus of Nazareth, Chapter IX.

7. Other Considerations It is certainly wondrous to contemplate the mystery of the Lord’s Transfiguration as it relates to what He would tell Philip on Holy Thursday night: “He who sees Me sees the Father (Jn. 14:9).” For the Holy Face of Jesus, the Theanthropos, the Eternal Logos who assumed a sinless, perfect human nature (i.e., communicatio idiomatum) for our redemption, remains the perfect effulgence and reflection of the Father’s glory. When we gaze upon the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, therefore, just as the Apostles gazed upon Him at the Transfiguration, we touch the resplendent Face of God Himself. When St. Thérèse was novice mistress in the Carmel of Lisieux, the Solemnity of the Transfiguration and the Feast of the Holy Face were celebrated simultaneously on August the 6th. On that day in 1896, the Little Flower and two novices made a Consecration to the Holy Face, asking to become “Veronicas” comforting Jesus in His Passion. The link between the shekinah at the Transfiguration and the spirituality of devotion to the Holy Face is summed up well in the conclusion of their prayer: “O beloved Face of Jesus! As we await the everlasting day when we will contemplate your infinite Glory, our one desire is to charm your Divine Eyes by

hiding our faces too so that here on earth no one can recognize us… O Jesus! Your Veiled Gaze is our Heaven!” The Transfiguration was named the “Fourth Luminous Mystery” of the Rosary by Pope John Paul II in Rosarium Virginis Mariae on October 16, 2002.

Recommended Resources Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, New York: Doubleday, 2007. John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Vatican City, October 16, 2002.