Monday, August 6, 2012


WHAT DOES THE FEAST 
OF THE TRANSFIGURATION  
MEAN  TO YOU?



INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily  for today’s feast of the Transfiguration is a question, “What Does The Feast of the Transfiguration Mean to You?”

Every once and a while we come around a corner and there is a celebration going on - that we are totally in the dark about?

It could be an anniversary - a birthday - a feast day for some group - or what have you.

I don’t know the why and the what of the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona in Spain - part of the Fiesta de San Fermin. I looked it up in Google for a quick glimpse. San Fermin is the patron saint of Navarra in Spain. I know nothing - nada - about him.

The only Islamic feast - better fast - that I know about 1% of is Ramadan - when Muslims believe the gates of heaven are open and the gates of hell are closed and the devils are in chains - and sins are remitted for those who fast with pure motives.

So if someone had no clue about the Feast of the Transfiguration and they asked you what it mean, what would you say?

TODAY IS THE FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION

Having been going to daily Mass all my life I’m aware of the feast of the Transfiguration. It’s every year on August 6th, but the scene of the Transfiguration is read several times every year. Today we heard Mark’s version. It’s also in Luke and Matthew.

What does the feast of the Transfiguration mean to you?

Every year I have a chance to preach on it - so I have various takes and lots of sermons on the scene - especially after being a priest for 47 years.

5 VIGNETTES

This morning I just sat there and said to myself, “Let me see if I can come up with 5 vignettes about the Feast of the Transfiguration.

Number One:  Today August 6 is the day the first Atomic Bomb was dropped - on Hiroshima in Japan. From 66,000 to 87,000 people died as a result of that bombing. The numbers were based on a census of the people who lived in the area that was destroyed. So they don’t know how many Korean workers and Japanese soldiers were also killed. I looked up on line Hiroshima and felt “woo! once more - and in the midst of the pictures was an image of Christ on the cross. This event - the crucifixion and the A-Bombing always lead me from the word “transfiguration” to “disfiguration”.  So that would be my first comment.

Second Comment:  Was September 11, 2001 our Hiroshima? Did we get a glimpse in a small way what it was to be like at Hiroshima?  I lost one cousin. I also met Father Michael Judge once.  What we experienced as a nation with the losses in New York, the Pentagon, Pennsylvania and with the passengers in those planes, Japan experienced - that August 6th, 1945 - as well as so many other people whose lives were wiped out or changed in World War II.

Third Comment: When I saw the pictures of those burnt at Hiroshima, I thought of my cousin Patty’s daughter Jeanne. She was severely burned and had over 50 operations on her face, arms, chest. In spite of that she has become a beautiful woman. Those who just see her scars and marred skin might not think that. However, once you get to know her, you’d see her beautiful personality.  This morning while preparing this homily, I looked up the word “transfiguration”  in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations and found a quote from Victor Hugo that I need to ponder. “Great grief is a divine and terrible radiance which transfigures the wretched.” From Les Miserables.

Fourth Comment: I noticed my first three comments had more to do with disfiguration than transfiguration. So let me give a very positive transfiguration moment. I had a spaghetti dinner once with 20 priests at a Franciscan Monastery on top of the mountain they think was the mountain of the Transfiguration. After we got up there in Mercedes Benz cabs,  we had a wonderful Mass to start the day off. Then we had an hour of silence. Then we had the Italian dinner. Several times up on that mountain we said in our hearts what the disciples said in the gospel, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” It taught me to say that sentence on many a mountain, at many a family celebration, on many a vacation, at many a transfiguration moment.

Fifth Comment:  Jesus taught me over and over again to see many of life’s moments in a new light. I learned that the transfiguration in the gospels is a glimpse of the resurrection - as we heard in today’s gospel. So thank you Jesus for the times I’ve experienced resurrection before the resurrection - especially in the Eucharist, in friends, babies, wrinkled old folks, spring buds and autumn leaves - in a snow storm - in sweat - yes sweat, when someone is really working hard to make a living. For example, driving up West Street on these hot, hot days, I’ve noticed that team of workers who are  building us better sidewalks lately and on and on and on.

CONCLUSION

So today I’m asking you to do your homework. What does the Feast of the Transfiguration mean to you? See if you can come up with 5 vignettes.














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