The Feast of the Transfiguration gives a foundation of hope to a life of faith.
Posted on August 8th 2010 in Weekly messages
A recent analysis of the nature of happiness has drawn the very obvious conclusion that these feelings are most acutely felt either as anticipation for, or remembrance of, some special event whether it be a holiday, a visit to a favourite relative, or a return to a particular place. It often seems that the experience of what is subsequently described as happy is not explicitly felt that way at the time. It’s only afterwards that one can reflect on what an enjoyable and happy day it has been. These moments of pleasure whether anticipated or remembered play an essential role in our lives. They keep us going though the mundane duties of daily life. They help us to put up with aggravation in the workplace, the demands of daily life, an ungrateful family or difficult relatives.
The same sense of remembrance and anticipation may be said of our own lives of faith. The Feast of the Transfiguration which took place last Friday may assist in helping to understand the relationship between happiness and faith, which is normally described as a beatitude. Attending Mass Sunday on Sundays, attempting to say our prayers during the week, or of examining our conscience in the light of our conduct and the teachings of the Church, can easily seem a heavy burden, an unrewarding task, or a futile expending of effort. However, every temptation to think in this way is to place a far greater emphasis on the experience of the present moment rather than on the truth to which one is committed, namely the person of Jesus Christ. The temptation to give up, to set aside the practices of the faith, fails to take to heart the command of God, spoken through the cloud, to Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration, ‘This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him’. The content of what Jesus says can always take us out of the misery or black hole into which we might have descended. The words of Jesus are both a comfort and a challenge to every temptation to maintain a spiritual or psychological status quo.
This deliberate journey that Jesus undertook with His three closest disciples was one of hope. Jesus recognises that they needed, just as all those of us who came afterwards, encouragement to fulfil their lives of faithful discipleship. He purposefully took Peter, James and John up the mountain in order for them to catch a glimpse of His divinity. This diversion on the road towards Jerusalem, came between the first and second Passion predictions of His impending death and subsequent Resurrection. Each prediction was met with incomprehension on the part of the disciples. There is an inchoate sense of foreboding amongst the disciples which makes them ask the most inappropriate of questions as to who is the greatest. St Mark explains that the disciples did speak about this event amongst themselves, so presuming it was a source of hope in the last months of Jesus’ public life.
The truth of the Gospel does not depend on personal religious experience, but it would be a strange life of faith if a believer had never once felt the presence of Christ’s Holy Spirit, even if only for a tantalisingly brief moment. The fire of the Holy Spirit may be experienced as the warmth of security, similar to those feelings experienced as a young child in relation to his or her mother or father. So whatever way we have, or do experience the presence of God, they are precious moments to carry with us through our daily life.