Tradition and Transformation

The Celebration of the Transfiguration of the Lord through the texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary today offer us an opportunity to consider many aspects of our experience in our journey to holiness. The texts from the Book of Daniel and the second letter of Peter declare the relationship of Jesus as the Beloved Son of God. The experience of Peter, James and John is one of transcendence beyond our physical reality. Tom Shanahan SJ considers how Scripture scholar Tom Wright compares Jesus at the Transfiguration and at the Crucifixion. The location of the Transfiguration is noted by Friar Jude Winkler as Mount Tabor. In the Greek and Orthodox tradition, “Tabor Light” becomes a peace within as in the example of hesychast Saint Gregory Palamas through the continuous praying of the “Jesus prayer”. In Church history, the spiritual insight from contemplation about the immanence of God and the rational analysis of the Divine have been in conflict. Our daily experience is enriched and we are attuned to witness mountain-top events through knowledge of tradition and the resonance of the indwelling Holy Spirit with Light of Tabor which we encounter in our journey.