04

Feast of Transfiguration—Year A

Fr. Jijo Kandamkulathy CMF

 甘天霖神父

Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9

A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew,

Glory to you, O Lord!

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and do not be afraid." And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, "Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ.

Homily：Mirroring the Divine Face

Today we read the gospel of the transfiguration of Christ. Jesus took Peter, James and John, the closer companions, up the mountain to pray. It was probably not the first time. Jesus might have been grooming them into this habit of praying alone, quite different from the usual Jewish traditions. That day, unusually, he was “trans-figured”—his figure, his clothes, his face, all started shining.  It was as if the veil of his humanity moved away from his face for a while, and his divinity was shining through in the sight of his close disciples.

We cannot avoid remembering how Moses went up the mountain and met God in a much similar way. On his return, he had to use a veil to cover the glare on his face. Moses somehow reflected the radiance of God. With Jesus, it was not just the face but the whole body was transfigured. These are changes that happen to people who encounter the Father.

The disciples, in the meanwhile, enjoyed the experience of Moses and Elijah with them. It was euphoric. They wanted to build booths there to freeze the moment, like taking a selfie or a screenshot of the moment to make it eternal and live there in that experience. “Templing the experience” is how my friend, Fr. Paulson CMF, wrote about this moment. They wanted to preserve the experience. He said it is futile as someone trying to capture the mist of the Niagara in a bottle, or like the old game of children to capture sunshine in a matchbox.

Their proposal came from a dreamy sleep. Sleep is the term the Scripture uses for lack of perception into the gravity of the situation. We read about the sleeping virgins, sleeping stewards, sleeping servants, sleeping disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, all referring to the failure to recognize the gravity of the moment. To live in the glorious moment forever is one of the temptations that Jesus faced from Peter to which Jesus does not respond. Jesus tells him later that he would have to undergo a violent death. After the transfiguration, Jesus brings them down to reality to the foot of the mountain.

Beyond the theological meditations on this text, it is also pertinent to think over: when do our faces begin to look like that of God? When can we radiate the light of God to others? When do people begin to think that in us, they see God? It requires a huge “trans-substantiation” in us. This is a term we use for the change that happens to the host during the consecration in the Mass. The essence of the host gets changed into the essence of Christ. When our substance gets changed into divine profile, that change happens to us too. Our substance changes when we think and feel like Christ. Our appearance changes when we do what Christ did.

Mother Teresa had developed this divine countenance. When someone asked her, “For a million-dollar, I would not do the kind of job that you do,” she replied, “Nor will I. But I do this because I see the suffering Christ in every one of them.” Some of these poor people called Mother Teresa God, goddess and other names equivalent to divinity. It is the mystery of transfiguration. When we are able to see the face of God in the poor, in the suffering, they too see the face of God in us. It is the experience of Christ meeting Christ, the experience of the suffering Christ meeting the compassionate Christ.

This is the mirror effect of a genuine spiritual transfiguration of life. It happens through a long process of polishing our own selves. It is much like the practice of making old-fashioned metallic mirrors. After making the shape of the mirror with molten metal in a mould, the craftsman begins to polish the surface with different objects for days until one sees one’s own face reflected without blemish on the surface.

We have all been made in the image and likeness of God. That face has been blemished by our human perspectives. Our lives need a lot of polishing until we can see the face of God mirrored in the poor, in the needy. The moment that we begin to see the face of God in the other that is the moment, they are able to see God’s face on our faces too.

The polishing most poignantly is perfect when we become like God in acts of mercy. Jesus tells us, “Be merciful like your heavenly Father is merciful.” Jesus taught this value when he narrated the last judgment story. “Have you been merciful when I was hungry, thirsty, lonely and naked?” Now, we know where we need the grinding and polishing.

证道：打磨基督徒的生命，慈悲如同天父。

今日，我们恭读基督显圣容的福音。耶稣带着比较亲密的三个同伴伯多禄、雅各伯和若望，上山去祈祷。这可能并不是第一次。耶稣也许一直在培养他们独自祈祷的习惯，这是与普通的犹太传统非常不同的。在那天，不同寻常的是：耶稣改变了自己的人像、衣服和面容，都开始发光照耀。彷佛祂脸上的人性面纱暂时消失了，而祂的神性在祂亲密的门徒们眼前闪耀。

我们无法忽视梅瑟曾以非常相似的方式上山与天主相遇的记载。在他下山时，用面纱遮盖了脸上闪耀的光。梅瑟在某种方式上反映着天主的光辉。在耶稣身上，不仅是脸上，而是整个身体都容光焕发。这种改变也在那些与天父相遇的身上发生。

与此同时，门徒们喜乐于梅瑟和厄里亚与他们同在的经验。这是令人非常欣喜快乐的。他们想要在那里搭帐篷来定格那时刻，就像自拍或瞬间截图那样使其成为永恒，并生活在那经验中。正如我的同会朋友保尔森神父对这时刻所写的：“把这经验作为圣殿”。他们想要维持这经验。他说，这就像某人想要把尼亚加拉瀑布的雾气装进一个瓶子那样徒劳，或者是孩子们把阳光抓到火柴盒里的老游戏，也是徒劳的。

他们的提议是在睡得恍惚时提出的。睡觉是圣经术语，用在对形势的严重性缺乏认知的时候。我们看看睡觉的童贞女、睡觉的管家、睡觉的家仆、在革责玛尼睡觉的门徒们，都是指他们没有意识到那时刻的严重性。永远生活在荣光的时刻，是诱惑的一种；因此，耶稣面对伯多禄的要求，并未作出回应。耶稣反而告诉他，之后，祂必要忍受一种残暴的死亡。在基督显圣容之后，耶稣把他们带到山下的现实之中。

在经文的神学性默想之外，还有一些值得深思的事情：我们的脸上什么时候会看起来像天主的面容呢？我们什么时候能用天主的光辉照射别人呢？人们什么时候能开始认为，他们能在我们身上看见天主呢？这需要在我们身上发生一个巨大的“质变”。这是圣体在弥撒奉献中转变的一个术语。面饼的实质变成了基督的实质。当我们的性体变成神的形象时，这种转变也会在我们身上发生。当我们像基督那样思考和感受的时候，我们的性体就被转变了。当我们行基督曾经之所行的时候，我们的外貌就会改变。

圣德兰姆姆已经养成了这神圣的面容。当有人向她说“为了一百万美金，我也不会做你所做的工作”的时候，她回答说：“我也不会。不过，我这样做，是因为我在他们每个人身上看到了基督的苦难。”其中的一些穷人称呼圣德兰姆姆为天主、女神和其他与此一样神圣的称呼。这就是显圣容的奥秘。当我们在穷人身上、在苦痛中能够看到天主的面容时，他们也会在我们身上看到天主的面容。这是基督与基督相见的经验，苦痛的基督与怜悯的基督相遇的经验。

这是生命中一种真正灵性转变的镜像效果。它是我们通过一个漫长的打磨过程才能发生的。这很像制作老式金属镜子的做法。用熔化的金属在模具里做出镜子的形状后，工匠就开始用不同的物体打磨镜子的表面，直到你看到自己的脸在镜子的表面毫无瑕疵地反射出来。

我们都是按照天主的肖像和模样所造的。不过，那张脸却被我们的人类视角玷污了。我们的生命需要很多打磨，直到我们能够看到天主的面容反映在穷人和有需要的人身上。我们开始在其他人身上看到天主的面容之时，也是他们能够在我们脸上看到天主的面容之时。

当我们在慈悲的行动中成为与天主相像时，最深刻的打磨才是完美的。耶稣告诫我们：“慈悲如同天父”。当耶稣讲述最后审判的故事时，教导了这种价值观。“当我饥饿、口渴、孤独和裸体时，你慈悲以待了吗？”现今，我们知道了自己需要研磨抛光的地方了。

文本来源：雅颂福传

译者：Fr.Jame