Transfigured to be Transformed

We remember the big events of our lives. The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary are some of the memories which God presents to humanity so that we have record and a path to consider and reconsider the invitation and meaning God has for our life. Genesis is described by Father Larry Gillick SJ as “a complex collection of stories which lead the reader to an understanding of how Israel depicted its history and beginning identity as God’s Holy People”. This identity as a Holy People is tied to being a fertile people with population and land to support them. The promise made to Abram in the passage today requires enormous faith and trust that God will transform the wandering and infertile faithful family into the ancestors of a tribe so large that the members cannot be counted. This people will inhabit the land which will support their life. The promise of the powerful to the weak is often in Covenant form. It consists of blessings and curses which will accrue from their relationship. Friar Jude Winkler points out that God calls a curse upon himself (to be torn asunder like the carcasses through which He passes) should He not live up to the Covenant.  This event for Abram and Israel is the memory which will sustain the people to continue in the memory of the glory of the Davidic Kingdom (9th Century BCE) to live in persecution and exile as the people of Israel live as God’s Holy People faithful to the Covenant. The Gospel of Luke signals an important memory event for Jesus followers as He takes Peter, James and John up the mountain to pray. At least 3 characteristics point to the deep significance of this event. These three companions are present at many crucial revelations of Jesus to humanity. The destination is a mountain which is where the people of God from Abraham onward have encountered the Divine. Jesus is going to pray. In prayer, He is in communion with the Will of the Father. The greatness promised to Abram is the Will of the Father for all. The transformation required by people to live daily as Jesus is the exhortation, today, of Paul to the Philippians and us. This change will require an acceptance of our Cross to be examples of the selfless service which is our memory of the mountain of Calvary. The luminous experience of the Transfiguration is a mountaintop experience. We have such memories that give us the encouragement that the future is about fulfillment of the Promise even though the present may find us struggling to be transformed people in a life deprived environment.