Message of Abbot Paul - Friday 6th August

Message from Fr Paul for Friday, 6th August 2021

           Today we celebrate the Transfiguration of Our Lord, the feast that recalls the day on which Jesus was radically transformed in appearance on Mount Tabor in the sight of three of his apostles, Peter, James and John. As we are in the Year of Mark, it is Mark’s version of the Transfiguration, (Mk 9: 2-10), that we read at Mass. The account begins in the usual way, with Jesus going with the inner group of three up a high mountain to be alone and pray. Then the most extraordinary thing happens. “There in their presence he was transfigured: his clothes became dazzlingly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter spoke to Jesus: ‘Rabbi,’ he said ‘it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say; they were so frightened. And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and there came a voice from the cloud, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’ Then suddenly, when they looked round, they saw no one with them any more but only Jesus.” The three have a vision of heaven, you could say, the light is blinding, and yet they can make out Jesus together with Moses and Elijah and they are talking together. Moses, the giver of the Law, the great Patriarch who, at the Exodus, led his people out of slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land, and Elijah, the great Prophet of Israel. Jesus is the new Moses, the giver of the new Law and he is the new Elijah, the Word of God incarnate. Peter who always has to say something, but never quite knows what to say, offers to build three tents or huts for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, commemorative shrines, I suppose we might call them today. But before there is an answer, a thick cloud envelops them so they cannot see and the voice of the Father is heard to say from heaven, “This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him.” We are reminded of the Baptism of Jesus, when John the Baptist had that vision of the Holy Trinity, the voice of the Father, the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove, and Jesus declared to be the Son of God on whom his Father’s favour rests. Just as suddenly as the vision began, so it ends, then they can see no one but only Jesus, for Jesus is the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets, God’s beloved Son to whom alone they should listen.

The vision of the Transfiguration, this vision of the glory of heaven, will or should prepare them for what is to come, the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. “As they came down from the mountain, he warned them to tell no one what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They observed the warning faithfully, though among themselves they discussed what ‘rising from the dead’ could mean.” But who is ever prepared for the death of a loved one? The disciples must have been bewildered and confused by what they saw and heard on that day on Mount Tabor. Mark tells us that they discussed what “rising from the dead” might mean, otherwise they obeyed Jesus’ order not to share until after the Resurrection what they experienced that day.

It’s sad that the Transfiguration isn’t kept as a major feast or solemnity by the Western Church. Today is a really big feast in the Eastern Churches. I remember my student days in Greece, spending the feast on Mount Athos with the Greek monks, the steep climb to the top of the Holy Mountain, the all-night vigil, the dawn Liturgy and the picnic of bread and olives, peaches and cherries that followed, all washed down with the resinated wine I love so much. Such happy memories of a deep living faith have kept me going ever since.