Today’s readings: Genesis 15, 5-12.17-18; Philippians 3, 17 - 4,1; Luke 9, 28-36.
We were introduced to the Lenten season in the desert, being brought face-to-face with who we really are and with the daily temptations that interfere with our inner journey towards fullness of life and towards God. Now our journey proceeds on a mountain, being brought face-to-face with Jesus in contemplation. Contemplation may not be one of the buzzwords of our times, yet it is the key to our remaining focussed on what brings us peace, order and harmony in life.
The mystery of the transfiguration of the Lord is at the centre of our faith. It is only in contemplating Christ that we can wholly contemplate and discover our own humanity, who we really are. Lent reminds us that we are not self-sufficient, that the source of our true being is in contemplating God’s mystery. In a seventh-century homily on the transfiguration, John Damascene highlights that humanity is called to an integral deification by participation in the transfigured Christ.
This is very important for us to understand when at this time of year we speak of conversion. Strictly speaking, Lent is not so much about our capability to change what we dislike in us. Lent puts God at the centre, not ourselves or our propositions. Lent is more about how we can let God be God in our lives.
In Genesis we read that Abraham put his faith in the Lord and this made Him justified. Justified means graced, with a new standing in the sight of the Lord. For Abraham, believing meant that he could already fully experience God’s mercy and be touched by Him. “God’s mercy transforms human hearts,” writes Pope Francis in his Lenten message for this year. On our part we experience blindness and deception, often accompanied by the proud illusion of our own omnipotence. Putting faith in the Lord opens new pathways.
The gospels normally portray Jesus in face-to-face relationships with people. These are all stories narrated with realism, rendering the interaction of characters and circumstances. But his baptism and transfiguration, are two instances that signify the special character of his relationship with God the Father. In both instances, the Spirit intervenes and the Father invites us to behold the son and listen to him. Because it is only in him that we have salvation.
In its deepest understanding, the Church is nothing other than the world in the course of its transfiguration, the world that in Christ reflects the light of paradise. On the mountain, Peter, John and James were for the time being only observers of a mystery that was to radically change their very being and their way of seeing things.
It is right that we emphasise, as the Pope does in his Lenten message, the need of works of mercy. We need the courage to exit our alienation and to touch the suffering of those who have no security, no food, no clothes, no peace. But we also acknowledge that when all is said and done, we can easily remain in our daily ruts and continue to be stuck in our existential alienations.
In his book The Solace of Fierce Landscapes, Belden Lane writes about “rediscovering a broken God”. Because God many times is not what we expect. “We may be ready like Peter,” he writes, “on the mount of transfiguration to concede God’s presence in stupefying splendour, but our image of God doesn’t prepare us for a truth realised in brokenness.”
We need to be shaken out of our expectations. Otherwise, even faith becomes illusionary. Speaking of conversion, little do we think that it demands a seriously radical rethinking not only of our way of life, but even of our perception of who God is.
God entered Abraham’s story with a covenant that meant a radical change of the course of events for Abraham, his family and his descendants. Abraham lived long enough to see this; just as Peter lived to understand that following Jesus was not easy going, as he might have imagined on the mountain of transfiguration.