569. August 6, Transfiguration of Our Lord
Meditations no. 500 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
Our Lordâs transfiguration strengthens the Apostlesâ faith.
After six days Jesus took Peter, James and his brother John, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. By a totally unexpected gift from heaven, the three Apostles see the Master clothed with divine glory, in the company of the most renowned Old Testament figures. So great was the joy of the Apostles, that Peter could not help but exclaim, Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make you three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.
However, the wonder soon passed, for God wanted to use this incident to strengthen the Apostlesâ faith. As Pope St Leo teaches, Our Lord openly showed his glory in the presence of his chosen ones⌠so that his disciples would not be scandalized when he dies on the cross. God works this wonder in order to hearten the Apostles and encourage them on the difficult path ahead. They still need special care, like a small child that has to be coaxed by gifts to take the medicine that will cure him.
On the path of each Christian, purification is needed in order to attain contemplation. We have to persevere in our efforts to love God day in and day out, even though we may not feel like it and might even think we are being hypocritical. If we ever suffer this temptation, we should recall what our founder always taught us: I donât mind telling you that the Lord has, on occasion, given me many graces. But as a rule I have had to go against the grain. I follow my plan, not because I like it, but because Iâve a duty to do so, for Love. âBut, Fatherâ, you ask me, âcan one put on an act for God? Wouldnât that be hypocritical?â Donât worry: for you the moment has arrived to play out a human comedy before a divine spectator. Persevere, for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are contemplating your act; do it all for love of God, to please him, although you find it hard.
Our vocation to the Work gradually transforms us into contemplative souls.
Lord, you revealed the true radiance of Christ in the glory of his transfiguration. May the food we receive from heaven change us into his image. To truly be transformed in Christ, we have to strive each day to correspond to our calling to be saints.
Our Father said: To bring peace to souls, to transform the world, to seek God our Lord in the world and through the things of the world, I have no other prescription than that of personal sanctity. That is why I always say that I have only one cooking pot.
Invocabitis mei, et ego audiam vos (Jer 29: 12). You will call upon me and I will listen to you. We call upon him by talking to him, speaking to him in prayer. So I tell you with the Apostle, conversatio autem nostra in caelis est (Phil 3: 20). Our conversation is in heaven. Nothing can separate us from the charity of God, from Love, from a constant conversation with Him. We begin with vocal prayers that most of us, if not all, have learned from our motherâs lips: sweet, ardent phrases addressed to the Mother of God, who is our Mother. Each day I customarily pray, not just once but many times, âO my Lady, my Mother! I offer myself entirely to you. And as proof of my filial love, I consecrate to you this day my eyes, my ears, my tongue, my heart.â Isnât this true contemplation, isnât it an expression of love? For what do people who love one another say? What do they give each other? They sacrifice themselves for the one they love. We have given ourselves, body and soul, to God. In a word, âall that I am.â
Have you ever considered how we are taught in the Work to love the things of heaven? First by one prayer, and then another, and another, until one almost doesnât want to use words, since they seem so inadequate, and it is the heart that speaks. We begin to live as captives, as prisoners. And while we fulfill as perfectly as possible (with all our mistakes and limitations) the tasks allotted to us in life, our soul longs to escape. It is drawn towards God like iron by a magnet.
Our vocation as children of God in Opus Dei gives us a sure path to be contemplatives in the midst of our human tasks. It enables us to detect the divine spark hidden in daily details, and teaches us to deal with the Sacred Humanity of Christ as one deals with a brother, a friend.
Our heart now needs to distinguish and adore each of the divine Persons. The soul is, as it were, making a discovery in the supernatural life, like a small child opening his eyes to the world about him. The soul spends time lovingly with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and readily submits to the work of the lifegiving Paraclete, who gives himself to us with no merit on our part, bestowing his gifts and the supernatural virtues. And somehow, without realizing it, we attain union.
We have run quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum (Ps 41: 2), like the deer that longs for flowing streams, thirsting, our lips parched and dry. We thirst to drink at this fountain of living water. Then throughout the whole day, without doing anything strange-with the formation we receive in the Work, which is based on simplifying our soul-we drink from this abundant, clear spring of fresh water that wells up to eternal life. Words are not needed, because the tongue cannot express itself. The intellect grows calm. One doesnât speak: one looks! And our soul breaks out in song, because it feels and knows it is under the loving gaze of God, all day long.
Our Lord wants us to become contemplatives in all our ordinary occupations.
He was still speaking, when lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.
Our Lordâs transfiguration is a foretaste of heavenly glory, where we will see God face to face. His Love will be poured into our bodies and souls to conform us perfectly to Christ. And through grace, we can already share in this glory here on earth in an imperfect but none the less real way.
Our Father told us, After saying for years that even sleep becomes prayer for a contemplative soul, you cannot imagine how comforted I was to discover a text of St Jerome that says the same thing.
By our complete dedication, within our limitations and with the humiliation of our interior failures, we return to God each day, as one returns to the main road after a detour. I have often told you that I am always playing the role of the prodigal son. This is the moment for contrition, for love, for the fusion of the creature, who is nothing, with his God and his Love, who is everything.
My children, I am not talking about extraordinary things. These are, they must be, ordinary happenings in our soul. You should lead your brothers along this path to the madness of love that teaches us how to suffer and how to live, because God has given us the gift of Wisdom. Then, what serenity, what peace is ours!
Asceticism? Mysticism? I donât care what you call it. What do names matter? It is Godâs gift. When you make an effort to meditate, God will not deny you his gifts. The Holy Spirit will give them to you. My children, have faith, and deeds of faith! For this is already contemplation and union. And this is the life of my children in the midst of the concerns of this world, even though they might not be aware of it. It is a way of praying and living that does not separate us from earthly realities, but that leads us to God in the midst of them. And by bringing earthly realities to God, we creatures divinize the world. I have often told you the story of King Midas! Everything we touch is turned to gold, in spite of our personal errors.
Thus our soul is enkindled with light from the Song of Songs: Surgam et circuibo civitatem (Song 3: 2). I will arise and search throughout the city. Per vicos et plateas quaeram quem diligit anima mea. In the streets and crossings I will seek him whom my heart loves. I will run from one end of the world to the other- through all nations and peoples, through highways and byways-to seek peace for my soul. And I discover this peace in my daily occupations, which are no hindrance to me; quite the contrary they are my path, my reason to love more and more, to be more and more united to my God.
And when the time comes, as it must, for adversity, struggle, trial, passive purification, the Psalmist places on our lips and in our lives the words, cum ipso ero in tribulatione, I will be with him in the time of trial. Jesus, what is my cross compared to yours? What are my scratches compared to your Wounds? Compared to your infinite and pure Love, what is the value of the poor little cross that you have placed in my heart? Then your hearts and mine are filled with a holy zeal, ut nuntietis ei quia amore langueo (Song5: 8), to tell him that I am dying of love. Ours is a noble, a divine sickness. As an old friend of mine used to say, we are the aristocrats of Love on this earth.
It is not we who live, but rather it is Christ who lives in us (cf. Gal 2: 20). There is a thirst for God, a desire to seek out his tears, his words, his smile, his face. I can find no better way of expressing it than to turn once again to the Psalms: quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum, as a deer longs for running streams, my soul longs for you, my God.
May the Mother of God, who is also our mother, protect us, so that each one of you, each of your brothers and sisters, the whole Work, may serve the Church in the fullness of faith, with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and with a contemplative life. May each of us, by fulfilling the duties of our own state and profession, joyfully serve the Spouse of Christ wherever God has placed us.