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Feast
of the Transfiguration of the Lord, Cycle A
9:00 and
11:00 St. Mary Magdalen
August 6,
2017
The
“Beloved”? All of Us!
(Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
The Message: Beloved
The message today is
clearly about Jesus himself.
But, of course, this
focus also leads to us. There is a
message for us about (1) Who we are and (2) How we are to live.
Jesus: Beloved
The Gospel passage
says that Jesus is “transfigured.”
The word means that
he himself doesn’t change, but his appearance to others changes. Peter, James and John see him differently
from how they have ever before seen him.
Now, these three
disciples are probably aware of the description of “The Ancient One” – that’s the expression used in the Book of
Daniel, our first reading. Daniel has
this vision of “The Ancient One” – God the Father.
He sees light and
brightness surrounding the Father and testifies that, “His clothing was bright
as snow, and his hair white as light.”
In a similar way,
the disciples see Jesus’ “face shining
like the sun and his clothes as white as light.” So, for this reason the 3 disciples made the
connection with “the Ancient One.”
They now know for
sure that Jesus has a unique relationship with God. They are, in fact, ready to say that he is
one with God. And perhaps even that in some way he is God.
And then a voice
from a cloud nails it down for the disciples.
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;
listen to him.” “This is my beloved
Son.”
The disciples hear
words that confirm what they are seeing.
This man whom they have been following, Jesus, is the Son of God.
Christians: The Beloved
One of our Catholic theologians
takes these words spoken from the cloud a step further.
He says that God is saying the
same words to us. “You are my beloved daughter. You are my beloved son.”
God is saying these words to
each of us who is connected with Jesus through baptism.
I would hold that these powerful
words — “God’s unconditional love for us”
— form the foundation of our self-worth and give us a basis for our
self-esteem.
So, maybe each day it would be
good to prayerfully imagine God saying these words to us. They give us a footing for the day – to live
out of that sense of self-worth.
Maybe we can especially hear God
saying these words when we feel down, when we feel failure, when we feel left
out and when we feel put down by others.
If we let ourselves hear these words in those moments, we can continue
to live out of our inherent worth as persons.
This will help us not to give up
on life and not to strike back at others.
We will know intuitively that we are okay and worthy no matter what is
going on.
All: The Beloved
Now there is one more message
here about Jesus and about us.
The passage says that Moses and
Elijah appear with Jesus.
Moses is the giver of the Law
and Jesus says that he, Jesus, comes to fulfill the Law. The Law says that we are not to kill and now
Jesus says that we are not to act with destructive anger in any way.
Elijah is the last great prophet
and Jesus says that he, himself, also comes to fulfill the prophets.
The prophets say to care for the
poor and the stranger and now Jesus says that when we care for these persons,
we are actually caring for him.
So Jesus fulfills what Moses and
Elijah say. He respects them and accepts
what they say and takes it further.
He doesn’t bash or trash them as
a way to assert himself and his teaching. The message here is that we also are
not to bash and trash.
We are not to shame and
humiliate others. We are not to do this
in a one-on-one relationship or in front of others.
We don’t have to do that to feel
worthwhile and good about ourselves because our self-worth, remember, comes
from God. We are God’s beloved sons and
daughters.
We don’t this to others because
they also are God’s sons and daughters.
We need to recall, and recall, often those words from the cloud today.
Conclusion
Quite a passage of Scripture
this morning!
A great statement about Jesus
and who he is. And a great statement
about who we are and how we are to live!
