“Jesus climbed a high mountain for a transforming experience of prayer with the Father. What things or pastimes can we sacrifice and what challenges can we overcome for the sake of such an experience in prayer too?”
Three things happened to Jesus as He prayed on the Mount of the Transfiguration (Cf. Lk 9:28-36)
Firstly, His humanity was visibly transformed by the light of the Father, “While He was praying His face changed in appearance and His clothing became dazzling white.” This change was so striking that it elicited the praise and generosity of His companions, “Master, it is good that we are here, let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
Secondly, He was strengthened by the Father to face and accept all the suffering that was to come during His passion, “And behold, two men were conversing with Him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His exodus that He was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.” In prayer, Jesus freely accepted and embraced every detail of His approaching suffering and death.
Lastly, He was affirmed and lovingly embraced by the Father’s love, “Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my chosen Son.’” Jesus experienced the accepting love of the Father in the depth of His humanity.
How badly we need these three things as disciples of Jesus in our earthly journey to eternal life. We too need to experience this deep intimacy with the Father in prayer, allow His love to transform and affirm us as we face and embrace the pains and sufferings that will surely come our way as we follow Jesus along the loyal road of the cross to heavenly glory.
Don’t we desire to be completely transformed by the love of the Father? We look at our sinful and selfish selves and we know that we can be better and more selfless persons, passionately loving God and others. But we painfully realize and accept that we cannot change ourselves for the better no matter how strongly we desire to change.
Only the God who made us can truly transform us from the inside out so that we radiate His life and light to others like the transfigured Christ. It is in prayer that we allow this divine transformation to take place. We allow God to transform us deeply so that we reflect His light to others.
When we do not allow God to transform us in prayer, we will end up either hating ourselves or pretending to be good and happy. Either way, we end up frustrated because we do not open ourselves to divine transformation through prayer.
Don’t we want God to give us the strength and courage to face and accept the many sufferings that come into our lives? God alone knows all the suffering and pain that we are going to face in this life, and He prepares us to face them when we enter into communion with Him in prayer. Unlike Jesus who knew every detail of His passion and death, we can only guess or imagine the sufferings that we will face in this life.
Jesus knew the suffering to come but did not spare His disciples the experience of that suffering. Rather, He chose to strengthen them for Calvary through a momentary glimpse of His glory during the Transfiguration. Likewise, God does not always deliver us from all our sufferings; But He will surely strengthen us to face them with fidelity because there is no heavenly glory without sharing in the very suffering of Christ.
This is why St. Paul has these striking words for the Christian in Philippi, “For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things.”(Phil 3:18-19) When we refuse to accept the sacrifices and sufferings that come to us as Jesus’ disciples but only desire the momentary pleasures, ease, and self-satisfaction of life, we only settle for shame now and eternal destruction in the next.
Lastly, don’t we want God to embrace us and affirm His love for us as His beloved children? We are children of God from the moment of our baptism. But how easily we tend to forget or doubt this filial adoption when suffering and pain come into our lives, and we see how sinful we are. We even begin to doubt God’s love, power, and wisdom because of our painful experiences.
It is in prayer that we give God a chance to love and embrace us, affirm us, and remind us that we are His beloved ones even in our difficulties and sins. We have a sense of His abiding presence in us and with us at such moments. But if we do not receive this divine love and affirmation, shame and fear will slowly creep into our hearts.
This Lenten season, let us pray like Jesus and with Jesus in His Transfiguration. Like Jesus, we too must be intentional in our prayer moments, “Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray.” Like Him, we too should find time and place regularly for a one-on-one encounter with God in personal prayer. Jesus climbed a high mountain for a transforming experience of prayer with the Father. What things or pastimes can we sacrifice and what challenges can we overcome for the sake of such an experience in prayer too? It is not enough to merely attend Mass daily or several times a week without these moments of personal prayer.
Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!
Image credit: Transfiguration (detail) by Raphael | Raphael, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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About the author:
Fr. Nnamdi Moneme, OMV, is a Roman Catholic priest and religious of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary currently serving in the Philippines. He teaches theology and is a seminary formator for candidates to the priesthood and religious life. Father also gives Ignatian retreats and serves as spiritual director to many of the lay, religious, and clergy in the area.
He earned his first degree in Physics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. Ordained in 2009, he studied at St. John’s seminary, in Brighton, Massachusetts. Father has an STL/MA in Moral Theology from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines.
Father Moneme blogs at https://toquenchhisthirst.wordpress.com/.
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