The Transfiguration and Two Graces: Listening, and Seeing!

LENT II

“In the prayer at the beginning of the Mass we asked the Lord for two graces: “To listen to Your beloved Son”, so that our faith might be nourished by the Word of God, and another grace — “to purify the eyes of our spirit, so that we might one day enjoy the vision of glory”. To listen, the grace to listen, and the grace to purify our eyes.

This is directly related to the Gospel we heard…”

(excerpt of Pope Francis’ homily on the Transfiguration, March 16, 2014)

For me, the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration, tells the truth about what happens when we go with Jesus, away for quiet prayer, especially when there is an issue of suffering, as Jesus took Peter, James and John with him right after he had told them the hard news of his coming Passion.  What seems, then  gives way to what is, as surely as the person of Jesus became transformed and shining, divinely beautiful, while God told the apostles, This is my beloved Son, Listen to Him.

As Pope Francis says it, the graces of prayer change our hearing and our sight, so that what we bring to prayer, takes on a new light, coming from the Lord himself and his  silent message of love and support, his inspiration, and kind call for outreach.

Sister Wendy Cotter, CSJ, Ph.D

Transfiguration Continued

The second Sunday of Lent provides us with this well-known Transfiguration Gospel.

“Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them to a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white such as no one on earth could bleach them.” (Mark 9)

Rocky Mountains, Jasper

Mountains, in our Scriptures, are usually considered holy places where suddenly the Sacred seems to embrace us and God is revealed in a special way. I love mountains! I’ve marveled at them since I was a small child and we were all piled into our car and driven to visit my Grandfather Baker. We had to travel through the Rocky Mountains in Jasper to get there, and always, at first sight, it would literally take my breath away. With my nose pressed to the back seat window, I would gaze at each one with wonder and awe. Years later, when I was stationed in Burns Lake, BC. I had the incredible opportunity to ride in a helicopter to the top of a mountain, and we were allowed to get out and gaze at the spectacular sight surrounding us. We were at the top—everything else was below us. It seemed I could not only touch the sky but, “put out my hand and touch the face of God”, as so famously expressed in J.B. Magee’s poem, High Flight.

In an article entitled “Whole Earth Transfiguration”, put out by the Deep Green Church, the authors suggest that in this day of new realities, perhaps there is a new mountain view—another place of sacredness— one that is much, much higher than the mountains we know, or of which Peter, James, and John could never have dreamed.

Astronaut photograph AS17-148-22727 courtesy NASA Johnson Space Center Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth

They describe a view of the Earth, a picture taken in 1972. This picture is unique because it is the only time the camera ever caught the sun directly behind the Moon-Lander and so it spectacularly illuminates the Earth, giving us a view never before seen by humanity. It was transfigured! Maybe today, our mountaintop is space. What would God want to reveal to us today with this Transfiguration of the Earth? https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/1133/the-blue-marble-from-apollo-17 (NASA.gov)

This article then acknowledges the work of Elizabeth Johnson CSJ in providing three practices that might be helpful as we come to grips with our new perspective:

1) “Practices of worship and reverence (in order to understand the sacredness of all things)

2) Practices of holiness and right living (in order to live a sacred life)

3) Practices of justice and right relationships (in order to enable sacredness for others.)”

Our proposed Directional Statement “Moving with Love”, is probably quite significant as we touch our long-held charism of “The Congregation of the Great Love of God”. Perhaps the 1972 photo of our illuminated, transfigured earth is showing us just how inclusive and diverse that would be.

-Sister Irene Baker, csj

Transformation and Transfiguration

In Philippians 3:17, we hear St. Paul challenge “Sisters and brothers, join in imitating me.” How can we imitate Paul? We see it in the earlier passage (3 b) “for Him I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in Him.” Paul put his faith in God as did Abram in our first reading, Genesis 15:5

How blessed we are today to know that we have Christ and have a place in Him if we keep our eyes fixed on Him, trust Him and as Paul encourages “stand firm in the Lord”.

In St. Luke’s Gospel 9:28-36, the Transfiguration is the final event before Jesus took the road to Jerusalem. Peter, James and John saw the divinity of Jesus – yet in their human weakness during Jesus’ Passion, Peter denied Jesus and the other two ran away.

How often do we fail to see the divine in those we meet daily? The first line of a hymn that we sing on this Sunday is– “We behold the splendor of God, shining on the face of Jesus.” Let us replace the word “Jesus” with the names of those we meet today.

If we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, “He will transform our wretched bodies into copies of his glorious body.” Phil. 3:21

 - Carole Anne Guay CSJ

We Serve in Ways that are Uniquely Ours

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” Mt 20:28

Here we are a few weeks into Lent-this holy time of purification when we ask God to call to us, to turn us, to orient us to a life of serving God through our dear neighbour. As we try to listen each day and especially during Lent to orient our hearts to the Sun of compassion, let us ask ourselves, “What does this look like in my life? How do I serve my neighbour? How am I reaching out to those in need as the book of Christian prayer puts it ‘for those who ask and for those who are too needy to ask’. What does this conversion look like? How is it different from how I usually live?”

There is no right answer or one answer. God calls each of us to serve in a way that is uniquely ours, using the gifts given and the graces received.

One Sister I know says that Lent is her favourite season of the year. While I am personally somewhat far from experiencing that sentiment, I do hear what she is saying: this time of purification, service and compassion is a gift to be received, an opportunity offered for us to further nurture the relationships in each of our lives. As we do so, let us consider adopting this as our way of being not just during Lent but throughout the year.

Nancy Sullivan CSJ