Lent brings us up the mountain to show our future - it is Transfiguration!
Today, Lent brings us up to the heights, to the mount of the Transfiguration, on which Jesus gives us a higher and deeper vision of what reality is really about! A way of seeing that sees through the appearance, glamour and zeitgeist of the world which is but a veil that hides the real, the beautiful and the eternal. A spiritual perception that perceives that our lives on earth are fundamentally about undergoing a process of soul-making that fits us out for eternity in and through the choices and events of our lives. In other words, in this life each of us is choosing to make ourselves fit for heaven or fit for hell.
Last week Our Lord called us out into the desert to pray, fast and give alms so as to overcome the three ways Satan seeks to turn the world into a wilderness, a place of desolation: the way of sensuality, the way of power and the way of fame, glory and honour. This week we need to get a pespective on our lives; we need to climb the mountain for a panoramic view of our past and how it brought us to our present day and in this day the Lord may unveil step by step the future!
The fact that Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus is also significant. Moses represents the Moral Law and Elijah represents the Prophets, in other words our lives need to conform to the Moral Law in and through the virtues; and our lives need to recall that God calls us to be faithful as did the prophets who walked with the Lord day by day hearkening to his Word and his Spirit. In this we discover the way of Providence which is all about going beyond appearances and going beyond hear-say to discover the undertow of what God is wishing to make of us in and through the daily events of our lives. But very many people, infected as they are with a materialistic way of life, cannot see this deep drama, this theo-drama, where God comes amongst us to lead us, guide us and re-make us. Lent calls us to see this theo-drama that undergirds the earthly terrain of a fallen world. What undergirds this fallen world is a spiritual war, where souls fight and strive to follow either the banner of Christ or the banner of Satan. Thus Lent is about unveiling the true meaning of life in this world which is not about one nation fighting another, or of one nation fighting many nations but rather you and I fighting the Legions of Satan using the weapons Christ gave us. We are to fight the flesh, the world and the devil by prayer, by fasting and by almsgiving and always to do so in a state of grace.
The word ‘apocalypse’ means to unveil and the mystery of the transfiguration of Jesus is truly apocalyptic for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear! Our Lord unveils what it is to be made in the image and likeness of God. It is this unveiling that the 3 disciples experience when the veil that hides the truth of who Jesus is and what is his mission that is briefly pulled back. It is like a curtain that has veiled the eyes of all three disciples, a curtain or veil that is pulled back briefly so that they can see who Jesus really is and what his mission is truly about; and by this unveiling they are overwhelmed by a transfiguring light that surrounds them and awes them.
St. John Chrysostom says, “Why does Christ take only these disciples? Because they stood out among all the others: Peter because he loved Jesus, John because Jesus loved him, and James because of the answer which he gave together with his brother: we are able to drink Your cup with You (Matthew 20:22). It wasn’t an unsubstantiated statement: James proved it with his actions. Indeed, he was so disliked and hated by the Jews that even Herod thought that it would be a great gift to the Jews if he killed James” [John Chrysostom’s Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, 17:1.]. We are to love like Peter, we are to let God love us as did St John, we are to prove our love by actions not just sentiments or words as did St James and be willing to overcome all opposition with love as did all three which is to carry our cross.
Lent is thus also about a renewed way of life built on a deeper vision of the truth brought about by purification from sin and the need to be freed from the attachment to sin. Like a dirty stain glass window that blocks the light and hides the image we are called by Christ to let Him cleanse us and purify us so that the light of Grace that has been made for the being made in the image of God can shine out in His likeness that is Christ’s Holiness.
Here we find that the miracles of Jesus unveil the truth of human existence. The truth is that running parallel to life on earth is the material and spiritual dimensions of human existence which come together in the body and soul of every human being. For matter is supposed to serve Spirit and the Spirit is supposed to rule matter. But with the fall of man this relationship has been ruptured and this rupture is made visible in both dimensions of human existence. Man cannot be healed in his body alone, nor can he be healed in his soul alone rather the healing and salvation of the human person requires healing in both body and soul. Our Lord’s miracles reveal that we are to be healed body and soul and so they all point to the Life of the Resurrection. The resurrected Life that is given to us in and through the sacraments which make visible the action of Christ to enliven, renew, remake and transfigure us for eternity and for life with God.
It is for this reason that Christ’s institutes the healing power of grace in the Sacraments which are designed to be visible and material signs of the Spirit that communicate both material and spiritual effects. A sacrament is an outward sign of inward grace and so sacraments are God’s technology for the repair, healing, sanctification and perfection of fallen human nature because they link our fallen humanity to Our Lord’s sinless humanity and our mortal human nature to his divine and eternal nature. The sacraments continue the presence and power of the incarnation of Christ into every human person that truly receives them with Faith. This new life that Jesus brings begins with the three sacraments that initiate us into the fullness of Christ’s life, namely, Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist.
So let us renew the power of life in Christ by removing the obstacles to sancifying grace, namely our sins, which either hinder that life or kill that life! How do we do this? We do it by going to the Sacrament of Confession and confessing all our sins. This season of Lent may well be the most important Lent you and I will ever make; if it is to be our last let it be our best!
