Dear All,
Last week we were in the desert with Jesus – this week we find him on Mount Tabor with three of his apostles who are treated to an extraordinary experience. This is the Transfiguration – an Epiphany, making us maybe mindful of the Feast of the Magi – and also we hear those words ‘this is my beloved Son’ and again we are taken back to the words we heard by the Jordan at Jesus’s Baptism. So many echoes & also foretellings – the same disciples are with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, & the Resurrection with its stories in the days following with all the appearances. All these are mysterious happenings yet full of light & glory.
The blessing is from Heavenly Peace – ‘The peace of Christ be with you’. We hope it brings you peace & many other blessings.
With love to you all
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For anyone who comes to Evening Prayer on Tuesdays or Wednesdays in the side-chapel at Blessed Sacrament, please note we aren’t able to be there on Wednesday 19th March – apologies.
Jesus Transfigured
They climbed a hill together,
Jesus & Peter, James & John,
to find a quiet place,
a place apart from the crowds
who were clamouring for healing,
and for Jesus to teach them more about the Kingdom of Heaven.
The demands on them had been heavy.
He had fed the hungry crowd,
healed the deaf & blind,
and raised the little daughter of Jairus who they thought was dead.
He had taught them such unusual things,
always surprising them with his stories,
and they began to wonder who he could be.
Who could do such things?
Heal as he did?
Speak such wise words in the synagogue?
And then in the quiet of that place
they began to see him differently.
They recognised that in some mysterious way
Jesus was the Son of God;
the one for whom they had waited & longed,
just as the prophets of old had waited & longed for the Messiah.
They did not understand quite what was happening,
but gradually, & oh so slowly,
they began to see that they must listen to Jesus
and learn from him,
for what he was teaching would change the world.
After this encounter with mystery,
they returned down the hill,
back to the ordinary,
back to the waiting crowds
and other requests for healing,
and answers to the question:
‘Who is this man?’
Who is this man?
How do I listen & understand & respond to his teaching?
Let me, too, find a quiet place, a place apart,
and try & enter into the mystery,
that I, too, might have a moment of recognition
and of knowing & of travelling deeper into mystery.
‘This is my Son, my beloved; listen to him.’
Let me receive these words into my heart
that my life might too be changed.
Lynda Wright
The Transfiguration of All
David Adam
Here is a mountain-top experience, in a rarified atmosphere, & yet we are called to share in it. We are all given the opportunity to be alone with Jesus & to see him for what he truly is. And in seeing him & his glory we will be changed.
The transfiguration was not only a vision of the glory of Jesus, but an awakening to what all of life is about. Vision, if it is true, always demands change within us & about us. Vision awakens us to new potential, to new ways of seeing & doing what is asked of us.
Only those who keep their eyes open are truly able to see.
Transfiguration
The mountain was the place of revelation. The Transfiguration revealed Jesus’s divine nature and the glory that would be his after the Resurrection. The apostles, Peter, James & John were the three who also accompanied Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. On the mountain the voice from the cloud asks them to listen to Jesus. They are being reassured that if they persevere through suffering and difficulties, a wonderful encounter with God will be theirs too.
Suffering & glory go hand in hand. This is the pattern Jesus himself experienced and it is ours too if, through the clouds of our lives we can hear his voice, ‘you are my beloved’.
The experience of the Transformation is often referred to as an epiphany. For Jesus, it was a confirmation from his father in the course he had taken: ‘this is my son, the beloved’. The assurance of the Father’s love would give him the strength to face the future. It was also a moment of insight for Peter, James and John as they got a glimpse of the glory of the Risen Lord. The full significance of this was not revealed to them until Jesus had risen from the dead. We too can have a Tabor experience in moments of deep joy and when we are moved by an inner awareness of God’s love.
Adapted from Carlo-Maria Martini
Pope Francis reflects on the passage
The Transfiguration of Christ shows us the Christian perspective of suffering. Suffering is not sadomasochism: it is a necessary but transitory passage. The point of arrival to which we are called is luminous like the face of Christ Transfigured: in him is salvation, beatitude, light and the boundless love of God. By revealing his glory in this way, Jesus ensures that the cross, the trials, the difficulties with which we struggle, are resolved and overcome in Easter, in Resurrection. Thus this Lent, let us also go up the mountain with Jesus! But in what way? With prayer. Let us climb the mountain with prayer: silent prayer, heartfelt prayer, prayer that always seeks the Lord. Let us pause for some time in reflection, a little each day, let us fix our inner gaze on his countenance and let us allow his light to permeate us and shine in our life. And in God’s time we will come to the full Easter experience.