Transfigured and transformed

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate our connection to the ancient Covenant and our relationship with Jesus through which we experience a vision of the Divine that guides our transformation to the task within the task of daily existence.

Falling into the second half

The Covenant with Abram is sealed in fire in the passage from Genesis.

[15:9–17] Cutting up animals was a well-attested way of making a treaty in antiquity. Jer 34:17–20 shows the rite is a form of self-imprecation in which violators invoke the fate of the animals upon themselves. The eighth-century B.C. Sefire treaty from Syria reads, “As this calf is cut up, thus Matti’el shall be cut up.” The smoking fire pot and the flaming torch (v. 17), which represent God, pass between the pieces, making God a signatory to the covenant.1 

The psalmist longs for the presence of God in the Temple.

* [Psalm 27] Tradition has handed down the two sections of the Psalm (Ps 27:1–6; 7–14) as one Psalm, though each part could be understood as complete in itself. Asserting boundless hope that God will bring rescue (Ps 27:1–3), the psalmist longs for the presence of God in the Temple, protection from all enemies (Ps 27:4–6). In part B there is a clear shift in tone (Ps 27:7–12); the climax of the poem comes with “I believe” (Ps 27:13), echoing “I trust” (Ps 27:3).2 

Paul writes to the Philippians describing how Christians constitute a colony of heaven.

* [3:20] Citizenship: Christians constitute a colony of heaven, as Philippi was a colonia of Rome (Acts 16:12). The hope Paul expresses involves the final coming of Christ, not a status already attained, such as the opponents claim.3 

In the Gospel from Luke, the Transfiguration of Jesus presents many symbols of the Jesus mission to fulfill the Law and Prophets.

* [9:30] Moses and Elijah: the two figures represent the Old Testament law and the prophets. At the end of this episode, the heavenly voice will identify Jesus as the one to be listened to now (Lk 9:35). See also note on Mk 9:5.3 

George Butterfield admits that the readings are definitely Lenten but he thinks that St. Patrick would like them.

 the story of the transfiguration of Jesus sheds light on why St. Patrick was so successful. The voice from the cloud told the disciples, "This is my chosen Son; listen to him." This is what St. Patrick did; in the midst of criticism, slander, and hate - he listened to Jesus. Consider his words from section 34 of his Confession:
So I’ll never stop giving thanks to my God, who kept me faithful in the time of my temptation. I can today with confidence offer my soul to Christ my Lord as a living victim. He is the one who defended me in all my difficulties. I can say: Who am I, Lord, or what is my calling, that you have worked with me with such divine presence? This is how I come to praise and magnify your name among the nations all the time, wherever I am, not only in good times but in the difficult times too. Whatever comes about for me, good or bad, I ought to accept them equally and give thanks to God. He has shown me that I can put my faith in him without wavering and without end.5

Peter Edmonds SJ comments that the second reading is designed as an introduction and even a commentary on the gospel reading. It helps us appreciate the gospel reading at a deeper level.

 In the gospel story, we hear how even in his earthly life, Jesus was transfigured in the presence of three of his leading disciples on an unnamed mountain in Galilee. ‘The aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightning’ (Luke 9:28-36). Thanks to the death and resurrection of Christ, Paul assures his converts in this Greek city of Philippi that ‘the Lord Jesus Christ will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body’. This reminder of our own destiny to glory, and the sight of Jesus himself reflecting his glory, reminds us that Lent is a time for rekindling our hope. If on the first Sunday, we pray for an increase in faith, on this second, we pray for a deepening of our hope.6

Jack Mahoney SJ considers the significance of the passage from Luke’s Gospel, finding several points can emerge.

One is that we are being strengthened and confirmed, as were the chosen disciples – and even Jesus himself – in our belief in the mission of Our Lord to suffer and die for our sake, but also to survive and return to a glorious risen life in the power of his Father. This belief can sustain us as we journey through Lent. We can also appreciate the special nuances which Luke brings out in his account of the Transfiguration: the importance of prayer in the life of Jesus, and therefore in ours too; the tiredness of the disciples and the other clues that the Transfiguration took place one night while Jesus was at prayer; and the final pointing to Jesus as the ‘suffering servant’ of Isaiah (Is 53:2-11),  giving suffering a positive and creative construction, as pointed out in Vatican II’s closing message to the poor, the sick and the suffering: ‘you are the brothers of the suffering Christ, and with Him, if you wish, you are saving the world.’7 

Don Schwager quotes “The transfiguration of Jesus,” by Jerome (347-420 AD).

 "Do you wish to see the transfiguration of Jesus? Behold with me the Jesus of the Gospels. Let him be simply apprehended. There he is beheld both 'according to the flesh' and at the same time in his true divinity. He is beheld in the form of God according to our capacity for knowledge. This is how he was beheld by those who went up upon the lofty mountain to be apart with him. Meanwhile those who do not go up the mountain can still behold his works and hear his words, which are uplifting. It is before those who go up that Jesus is transfigured, and not to those below. When he is transfigured, his face shines as the sun, that he may be manifested to the children of light, who have put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (Romans 13:12). They are no longer the children of darkness or night but have become the children of day. They walk honestly as in the day. Being manifested, he will shine to them not simply as the sun but as he is demonstrated to be, the sun of righteousness." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 12.37.10)8

The Word Among Us Meditation on Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 shares all three readings today urge us to do one thing: fix our eyes on heaven.

 Here are some key promises you can fix your eyes on. First, God promises to keep his covenant with you, just as he kept his covenant with Abraham. Second, Jesus promises that your citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). You belong to him! And third, the Holy Spirit promises that if you fix your eyes on Jesus in prayer every day, you’ll begin to see him more clearly, just as the apostles caught a glimpse of him at his transfiguration.9

Friar Jude Winkler notes that Paul’s letters connect the faith of Abram to our justification by faith. Our homeland is in heaven and we are called to transfiguration too. Friar Jude observes that God gives moments to us when it all makes sense. These gifts of numinous moments are times to rejoice.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that it is when we begin to pay attention, and to seek integrity in the task within the task, that we begin to move from the first to the second half of our own lives. Integrity largely has to do with purifying our intentions and being honest about our motives. It is hard work. Most often we don’t pay attention to that inner task until we have had some kind of fall or failure in our outer tasks .(from Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life)

 During the first half of life we invest so much of our blood and sweat, eggs and sperm, tears and years that we often cannot imagine there is a second task, or that anything more could be expected of us. “The old wineskins are good enough” (Luke 5:39), we say, even though according to Jesus they often cannot hold the new wine. If we do not get some new wineskins, “the wine and the wineskin will both be lost” (Luke 5:37). The second half of life can hold some new wine because by then there should be some tested ways of holding our lives together. But that usually means the container itself must stretch or die in its present form and be replaced with something better.10

Our experience of relationship with Christ exhorts us to surrender to the transformation that brings richness of truth, beauty, goodness, and life. 

References

1	(n.d.). Genesis, chapter 15 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Retrieved March 17, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/Genesis/15:5
2	(n.d.). Psalms, chapter 27. Retrieved March 17, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/Psalms/27:1
3	(n.d.). Philippians chapter 3. Retrieved March 17, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/philippians/3:17
4	(n.d.). Luke, chapter 9. Retrieved March 17, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/luke/9:28
5	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections …. Retrieved March 17, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
6	(2019, March 6). Preparing for Easter with St Paul | Thinking Faith: The online journal of .... Retrieved March 17, 2019, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/preparing-easter-st-paul
7	(2010, February 24). The Transfiguration of Jesus | Thinking Faith: The online journal of the .... Retrieved March 17, 2019, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20100224_1.htm
8	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 17, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
9	(n.d.). 2nd Sunday of Lent - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily Meditations .... Retrieved March 17, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/03/17
10	(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive: March 2019 - Daily Meditations Archives .... Retrieved March 17, 2019, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/2019/03/