2nd Sunday of Lent 28.2.10 Transfiguration
The Church has always understood that the main reason Our Lord showed Himself to the three apostles in glorified form was to strengthen them (and through them all disciples) against the scandal of the Cross.
When they would later see Our Lord crucified and apparently defeated they would remember this vision of His glory and maintain faith in Him despite adverse appearances.
Yet we know they were still overcome by the sight of His suffering. They had seen Him work so many miracles but now His power seemed to have run dry. They allowed themselves to lose hope. He had healed the sick, walked on water, even raised the dead, but apparently He was finished. Not so, as we know. Yet we are no better. We also are inclined to lose hope as soon as something goes wrong.
It is alarmingly easy to forget consoling things when we are under pressure of some kind. We have not only the Transfiguration but the Resurrection itself, and then Pentecost and countless other miracles; yet we can still be overcome by adversity and feel as though we are losing our faith.
We also have to confront the scandal of the Cross and the mystery of suffering in our lives. We will cope with these things if we anchor ourselves on Christ and what He has demonstrated. He is stronger than death and sin and can set His followers free from these things.
There are times when it might appear God is absent, or when we cannot work out what He is doing; but it can never be true that He is really absent, nor that He is somehow working against our interests. He is the same every day; He never loses power; never changes His mind; never forgets us.
We are very subject to time and we simply forget things, or we let time erode our previous fervent convictions.
If God ever worked a miracle the power of that miracle still applies.
The remedy for us is to immerse ourselves into the consoling aspects of our faith. In our creeds, our prayers, in the scriptures – there are reminders everywhere of God’s power and fidelity to us. ‘Behold I am with you always, until the end of time’ (Mt28,20)
And if words are not enough there are countless miracles we can recall, some of them embedded in our sacramental life such as the miracle of the Eucharist. There we have Our Lord Himself, present in all His power and love.
We learn to re-think our understanding of time. Just because a miracle happened a long time ago does not mean it has somehow ceased to be relevant. Miracles do not wear out. Nothing belonging to heaven wears out with time.
It is all just as true now as when it first happened. Our Lord’s rising from the dead is just as real this present Sunday as the original Easter Sunday. We can be just as happy now as those first disciples were then.
When things look dark we go through the drill of reminding ourselves that God is still God; that His promises are still reliable; that with His help we will come through whatever this crisis is and have all the more reason to praise Him.
We can take a lesson from Joseph in the book of Genesis. In the good years he set aside food for the lean years. So with us, when we recognize God’s blessings we can store that up for the lean times when His presence is not so obvious. We train ourselves to believe in Him in all times and conditions.
Good Fridays turn into Easter Sundays; dark into light. When things look dark, remember the Transfiguration!
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