Invited to an intimate communion with the Father

Dom Vincenzo Paglia

The Mount of Transfiguration, which tradition identifies with Mount Tabor, is presented to us as an image of the entire spiritual journey. We can imagine Jesus calling us to lead us with him up the mountain, as he did with the three closest disciples. The aim is to allow us to share with him the experience of intimate communion with his Father, an experience so profound that it transfigures his face, his body, and even his clothes. Some exegetes suggest that this account relates a spiritual experience that first touched Jesus himself: a heavenly vision producing a transformation within him. This hypothesis allows us to grasp the spiritual life of Jesus more deeply. We sometimes forget that he, too, had his own spiritual journey, as the Gospel notes: “He grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with Jesus” (Luke 2:52).

Undoubtedly, faced with the fruits of his pastoral ministry, he must have experienced joy, but also anguish and the worry of knowing his Father's will (Gethsemane and the cross being the most dramatic moments). In short, nothing was self-evident, nor was anything predetermined for him. Jesus himself experienced the pain and joy of a journey. There was an ascent for Jesus too, as for Abraham first, and then for Moses, Elijah, and every believer. He too felt the need to "ascend" to the Father, to go and meet him. It is true that communion with his Father was his whole being, his whole life, the bread of his days, the substance of his mission, the heart of all that he was and all that he did; but he himself must have needed particular moments when this intimate relationship could be fully manifested.

His disciples, at any rate, certainly needed it. Indeed, Mount Tabor was one of those very singular moments of communion that the Gospel extends to the entire history of the people of Israel, as evidenced by the presence of Moses and Elijah who "spoke" with him. Jesus did not experience this alone; he brought his three closest friends with him. It was one of the most significant moments in Jesus' personal life, and it became so for the three disciples as well, and for all those who allow themselves to be led on this same ascent. In the Church's tradition, there have been many interpretations of this Gospel passage. Among the most consistent is the one that sees the reflection of the Transfiguration in monastic life, because of the radical nature of the choice it entails. I believe, however, that we can also see (even more so, experience) the Transfiguration in the Sunday Liturgy, in which we are all invited to participate.

During the celebration, in union with Jesus, we experience the highest moment of communion with God. And it is precisely during the Holy Liturgy that we could echo Peter's words: "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three tents..." The Sunday Liturgy is the highest spiritual moment to which we are all called. Truly, it is not only the high point of the week, but also the source of the days that follow. The Mass, in a sense, is everything. Everything else is merely a consequence. When the Gospel writes that, "awakening," the three found only Jesus alone, it is as if suggesting that the Mass, so to speak, is enough for us. There is such power in it that, after transforming us, it enables us to change the world around us.

Saturday, August 6

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor.

A memory of Hiroshima, the first atomic bomb. A memory of Pope Paul VI, who died in 1978.

Dan 7:9-10.13-14; Ps 96; 2 Peter 1, 16-19; Luke 9:286-36.