Sunday, March 04, 2007

Gospel for the 2nd Sunday of Lent

From: Luke 9:28b-36

The Transfiguration


[28b] He (Jesus) took with Him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. [29] And as He was praying, the appearance of His countenance was altered, and His raiment became dazzling white. [30] And behold, two men talked with Him, Moses and Elijah, [31] who appeared in glory and spoke of His departure which He was to accomplish at Jerusalem. [32] Now Peter and those who were with Him were heavy with sleep but kept awake, and they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. [33] And as the men were parting from Him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah"--not knowing what He said. [34] As he said this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. [35] And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My Son, My Chosen; listen to Him!" [36] And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silence and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.
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Commentary:

28-36. By His transfiguration Jesus strengthens His disciples' faith, revealing a trace of the glory His body will have after the Resurrection. He wants them to realize that His passion will not be the end but rather the route He will take to reach His glorification. "For a person to go straight along the road, he must have some knowledge of the end--just as an archer will not shoot an arrow straight unless he first sees the target [...]. This is particularly necessary if the road is hard and rough, the going heavy, and the end delightful" (St. Thomas Aquinas, "Summa Theologiae", III, q. 45, a. 1).

Through the miracle of the Transfiguration Jesus shows one of the qualities of glorified bodies--brightness, "by which the bodies of the saints shall shine like the sun, according to the words of our Lord recorded in the Gospel of St. Matthew: `The righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father' (Matthew 13:43). To remove the possibility of doubt on the subject, He exemplifies this in His transfiguration. This quality the Apostle (St. Paul) sometimes calls glory, sometimes brightness: `He will change our lowly body to be like His glorious body' (Philippians 3:21); and again, `It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory' (1 Corinthians 15:43). Of this glory the Israelites beheld some image in the desert, when the face of Moses, after he had enjoyed the presence and conversation of God, shone with such luster that they could not look on it (Exodus 34:29; 2 Corinthians 3:7). This brightness is a sort of radiance reflected by the body from the supreme happiness of the soul. It is a participation in that bliss which the soul enjoys [...]. This quality is not common to all in the same degree. All the bodies of the saints will be equally impassible; but the brightness of all will not be the same, for, according to the Apostle, `There is one glory of the sun, and another of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead' (1 Corinthians 15:4f)" ("St. Pius V Catechism", I, 12, 13). See also the notes on Matthew 17:1-13; 17:5; 17:10-13; and Mark 9:2-10; 9:7.

31. "And spoke of His departure": that is, His departure from this world, in other words, His death. It can also be understood as meaning our Lord's Ascension.

35. "Listen to Him!": everything God wishes to say to mankind He has said through Christ, now that the fullness of time has come (cf. Hebrews 1:1). Therefore," St. John of the Cross explains, "if any now should question God or desire a vision or revelation, not only would he be acting foolishly but he would be committing an offense against God, by not fixing his gaze on Christ with no desire for any new thing. For God could reply to him in this way: `If I have spoken all things to you in My Word, which is My Son, and I have no greater word, what answer can I give you now, or what can I reveal to you that is greater than this? Fix your eyes on Him alone, for in Him I have spoken and revealed to you all things, and in Him you will find even more than what you ask for and desire [...]. Hear Him, for I have no more faith to reveal, nor have I any more things to declare'" ("Ascent of Mount Carmel", Book 2, Chapter 22, 5).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.

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