Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR C SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT - 4.3.07 Gen 15,5-12.17-18; Phil 3,17-4,1; Lk 9,28-36 Transfiguration: a Christian peak-experience The
visions of devout people. Religious experiences are unique phenomena, difficult to communicate or
describe to others, since what is extraordinary & amazing to one may be
interpreted as insignificant & coincidental by another. Still we all get
caught in uncanny, foreboding aspects of life & we all are fascinated by the
strong images that imagination brings to our minds, at times of exalted moments
in our life. Take as an example, the awesome time when we Catholics receive Holy
Communion, (as indeed all sacraments): what sort of ‘Visualizations -
Auditions or Locutions’ do we experience, when we receive sacramentally our
Eucharistic Lord ?... Today, we celebrate Jesus’ Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor
& we share in Peter’s surprise, when he exclaimed without knowing what he
was saying: ‘Master, it is wonderful for us to be here!’... It’s as if we
too hear the Father’s “whisper of a voice” saying to us: ‘Listen to
him!’. Today’s Opening Prayer says: ‘Father, help us to hear your Son
& may his word be a light to our steps, as we process on our way to you’.
Last Sunday (1st of Lent) we reflected on the ‘desert’ experience where
Jesus spent 40 days: & we pondered on the lonely, sterile desert of our life
& longed for the Living God with renewed vigour. Today (2nd Sunday of Lent)
we go deeper into desert experience & search more keenly for the peak
experiences on the mountain top. People of all languages & cultures have
felt a strong awe & inspiration, when climbing mountain tops, whose majestic
peaks lay hidden in the clouds, hiding beyond the abode of the invisible God.
(Remember how, just before being killed, Martin Luther King uttered his inspired
words: I’ve been on the Mountain of the Lord & I have a dream)... Transfiguration
is a Christian peak-experience. From its earliest years, Christianity has valued the
“Desert & Mountain’ spirituality. It caught the imagination of thousands
of devout Christians, who in their thirst for union with God, fled the busy-ness
of life & became hermits, monks or nuns in isolated places, & in
surroundings of stillness, silence
& prayer. In this committed, courageous life-style, the peak & summit
experience was seen as a “climb” towards a transfiguration (Greek:
metamorphosis) in Christ, a climbing of the mountain of Christian perfection.
Jesus too had his peak experiences in the desert & on mountains: of
Beatitudes, of Transfiguration, of Olives, of Calvary & Ascension. On
mountains Jesus spent nights in prayer (MT 14,23) & on Mount Zion will shine
God’s glory in the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 21,4). In their desire to follow
their Divine Master, Christians men & women of every age, language &
nations have sought inaccessible heights in order to establish their school of
asceticism & spirituality. It didn’t take long for Christians to establish
monasteries on MT. Sinai - MT. Olympus -
MT. Athos - Mt Tabor - Meteora -Mt Cassino, & on thousands of other
inaccessible peaks in the world. In these centres, different ascetic trends have
unfolded, more or less eremitical, & some seeking
absolute stillness in the security of inaccessible mountain peaks. But
the ultimate goal was & is always the same: a desire to achieve a closer
communion with God, which in turn is motivated by a keen striving towards a
mystical Transfiguration, where for each of us, the striving for exaltation
& a progress to complete unity with the Spirit is mystically realized. This
exalted concept is realized on Mt Athos: where, the highest peak towers more
than 2000 metres over the sea; it’s called ‘Transfiguration Peak’ & on
it stands the ancient Church of the Transfiguration: from this awesome point,
eternity is not far away! ______________________________________ |
