The Feast of the Transfiguration: a call to embrace light, our neighbour and change
On 6 August the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Transfiguration. This is when believers reflect on the story from the Gospels when before his entry into Jerusalem, Jesus revealed his divinity to three of his closest disciples using a miraculous and supernatural light. His appearance was changed by a brilliant white light which shone from him and from his clothing.
Some important and relevant reflections for us as Catholic community can be highlighted using the wisdom of two of our Popes. Firstly, the story reminds us of the light of Christ, important for us as indicated by our motto ‘The Lord is My Light’. We can consider what this means for us, in guiding our values and the way we live our life. In his address before the Angelus on August 6, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI described how the events of the transfiguration display Christ as the “full manifestation of God's light.” The Pope stressed that the feast of the Transfiguration is an important opportunity for believers to look to Christ as “the light of the world,” and to experience the kind of conversion which the Bible frequently describes as an emergence from darkness to light. “In our time too,” Pope Benedict said, “we urgently need to emerge from the darkness of evil, to experience the joy of the children of light!”
Secondly, the Transfiguration reminds us to see the light of Christ in others too. This is especially relevant given our charism guided by the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the fact that the Benedictine value of focus this year is Neighbour. Pope Francis reflected earlier this year on the Gospel reading from Matthew on the Transfiguration. Francis said that we must “see the same beauty on the faces of the people who walk beside us every day,” such as family, friends, and colleagues. “How many luminous faces, how many smiles, how many wrinkles, how many tears and scars reveal love around us,” the Pope said. “Let us learn to recognize them and to fill our hearts with them. And then let us set out in order to bring the light we have received to others as well, through concrete acts of love diving into our daily occupations more generously, loving, serving, and forgiving with greater earnestness and willingness,” the Holy Father said. “The contemplation of God’s wonders, the contemplation of God’s face, of the Lord’s face, must move us to the service of others.”
Lastly, it is an opportunity to consider how God created us as beings who change and develop their identity and sense of purpose over time. Uniting Church minister Jo Inkpin shared her interpretation of the Transfiguration and stated “For, as human beings, as Christians, we are never fixtures but loved works in process. What we shall be is not what we are now. All that is loving in our past and present is indeed taken up into what we shall be. In the glory of God however, we are, and will be, so much than we can ever imagine. This is part of the gift of the Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ” which we celebrate this weekend.
Louise Barry - Religious Studies Coordinator