Good evening.
We have many things to
celebrate this evening. The first is the great feast day of our Lord Jesus’
Transfiguration. The second is the great work to which Michael and Heather
Vento have dedicated themselves in founding the Image of God Institute. Wonderfully,
this Institute and the Transfiguration go hand in hand – the Transfiguration, in
fact, reveals the goal of the Image of God Institute. I will circle back to
that in a bit.
In the days before His
crucifixion, Jesus took three of his disciples – Peter, James, and John – up
Mount Tabor.There, Jesus showed Himself the source and the summit from which
all humanity comes and for which we are all made. On that height, Jesus
revealed the glory of His Divinity; He who is the “Light of the World” revealed
the splendor of His light. For Catholics, an equivalent to this moment would be
if light suddenly shined from the Eucharistic host (I would be rendered mute if
this took place as I held Jesus in my very hands at the altar). This did once
happen when St. Clare of Assisi raised the monstrance to defend herself and her
sisters from ruthless barbarians, but I digress.
What is tremendous in that
moment of the Transfiguration of our Lord on Mount Tabor is that Jesus does
not shrug off his human flesh in order to show his divinity. Rather, His
divinity shines through his humanity.
Even his clothes become dazzling white.
In this, we see that He comes not only to redeem us, but to sanctify us and
glorify us (“glory” being the “stuff” of God – that is the very technical,
philosophical term: stuff)
But, even more, Jesus
comes to divinize us, just as Saint Peter, in Sacred Scripture, tells us:
[Jesus’]
divine power has bestowed on us everything … called us by his own glory and
power. … so that through them you may become partakers in the divine nature … (2
Peter 1:4)
“Partakers in the divine
nature” – what does this even mean? How can we explain this? Saint Paul makes
an attempt in his Second Letter to the Corinthians when compares the glory of
Moses’ face with that of Jesus:
[I]f the [Old
Covenant] carved in letters on stone, was so glorious that the Israelites
could not look intently at the face of Moses because of its glory that was
going to fade, how much more will the ministry of the Spirit be glorious? … we,
with our unveiled faces reflecting like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, all
grow brighter and brighter [NAB: from glory to glory] as we are turned into the
image that we reflect [that is, the image of God] …(2 Cor 3:7-8, 18)
Let me ask you a question:
whose faces were glowing? Yes, it was Moses’. But Paul also says we will reflect the glory of the Lord.
That “reflection” is not from a mere external rebounding of light, like the
moon of the sun. No, the reflection will come from the Light Himself and from
the transformation He accomplishes from within us – from our being divinized.
Yes, Jesus not only wants
a relationship with us; He wants to unite us to the deepest essence of His
being.
If this is the first time
you are hearing this, it probably seems too much to fathom. And perhaps this is
precisely the hole that the Image of God Institute rightly exists to fill.
Let’s put this first part
of the talk plainly, then. In the Transfiguration, we start to see clearly the
reality (using the words of Saint Athanasius) that “God became man so that men
might become gods.” How refreshing! Becoming a “nice person”—as nice as that is—is
not the apex of the Gospel.
Notice too how this
refreshes what we say about the Eucharist, about how we eat the Lord’s “body,
blood, soul, and … divinity.” How can we eat His divinity – and for what
purpose other than to become Him? … You are—you become—what you eat! Your body
and blood become one (in communion) with His body and blood. So … your soul and
humanity… with his soul and … divinity. Yes, you become one. And not with His
dead body, but with His resurrected, glorified body. This is a great mystery…
And for men, for humanity,
this divinization is impossible, but for God all things are possible.
This is pure gift; it is
the deepest grace.
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One may ask: in addition to
the Sacraments, how does God start to divinize us – or is it simply accomplished
in the end?
Pope Saint John Paul II,
who is an important patron of the Image of God Institute, took up this very
theme in his Encyclical Letter Veritatis
Splendor (which is translated, the splendor of truth or the radiance of the
Truth). In that letter, the Pope made many insightful connections.
First, he says,
Truth enlightens
man's intelligence and shapes his freedom, leading him to know and love the
Lord. Hence the Psalmist prays: "Let the light of your face shine on us, O
Lord" (Ps 4:6).
Notice the connection between
Truth and Freedom and the light of Jesus’ face. Jesus, who promised us the
Spirit of Truth, and that the Truth would set us free, is Himself the “true
light that enlightens everyone (John 1:9).
So, returning to the
Transfiguration, we see that not only is Jesus’ humanity radiant, but it is
Truth itself that shines. The Truth has a radiant splendor. And so, when we are
in communion with the Truth, we too start to shine. We have seen in this in the
faces of the innocent and the aged wise…
Pope Saint John Paul II wanted
us to rediscover the glory of the Truth when he promulgated Veritatis Splendor
on this very feast day—the Transfiguration—nearly 30 years ago. That was not
accidental. Popes like to promulgate letters of the feast days that highlight
the letter’s essence. Here, Pope Saint John Paul II wanted us to grasp that the
Truth is the Light in the Darkness (“the people in darkness have seen a great
light”). Jesus is the Truth and His Light reveals who we are and who we are to
become.
In that same letter, however,
in the opening paragraphs in fact, Pope Saint John Paul II highlights the
problems facing the Church and her embrace of the Light of Christ.
As I quote this at length,
please remember that this was written nearly 30 years ago.
Today … it seems necessary to reflect on the
whole of the Church's moral teaching, with the precise goal of
recalling certain fundamental truths of Catholic doctrine which, in the present
circumstances, risk being distorted or denied. In fact, a new situation has come
about within the Christian community itself, which has
experienced the spread of numerous doubts and objections of a human and
psychological, social and cultural, religious and even properly theological
nature, with regard to the Church's moral teachings.
[off the cuff: doubts, for example,
concerning what is male and what is female…]
It is no longer a matter of limited
and occasional dissent, but of an overall and systematic calling into question
of traditional moral doctrine, on the basis of certain anthropological and
ethical presuppositions.
[so, this isn’t a thing just on the
margins anymore; it is a widespread thing; he said that thirty years ago]
At the root of these
presuppositions is the more or less obvious influence of currents of thought
which end by detaching human freedom from its essential and constitutive
relationship to truth. Thus the traditional doctrine regarding the natural law,
and the universality and the permanent validity of its precepts, is rejected;
certain of the Church's moral teachings are found simply unacceptable; and the
Magisterium itself is considered capable of intervening in matters of morality
only in order to "exhort consciences" and to "propose
values", in the light of which each individual will independently make his
or her decisions and life choices. … as if membership in the Church and her
internal unity were to be decided on the basis of faith alone, while in the
sphere of morality a pluralism of opinions and of kinds of behaviour could be
tolerated…
[off the cuff: so, he is saying
that the perception is that the Church really can’t speak authoritatively on
these matters; she just wrings her hands; and, in the end Catholics think that “being
Catholic” is a subjective matter which doesn’t actually mean conforming oneself
with the perennial teachings of Jesus and His Church. Sound familiar?]
In particular, the question is
asked: do the commandments of God, which are written on the human heart and are
part of the Covenant, really have the capacity to clarify the daily decisions
of individuals and entire societies? Is it possible to obey God and thus love
God and neighbour, without respecting these commandments in all circumstances?.
(VS, 4)
He spends the rest of the
encyclical addressing these matters. To all of this, I just with to say: thanks
be to God that we have the Image of God Institute that is attempting to address
these problems through study of the Theology of the body and other of the
saintly pontiff’s writings!
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Finally, let’s turn to the
other patron of the Institute, Pope Benedict XVI, who was also a close friend
of Pope Saint John Paul II and who helped write some of his encyclicals. Pope
Benedict built on his predecessor’s foundation when he wrote the encyclical
letter Caritas in Veritate – Charity in Truth. It is worth quoting the opening
few sentences:
Charity in truth,
to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his
death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic
development of every person and of all humanity. Love — caritas —
is an extraordinary force …. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal
Love and Absolute Truth. The search for love and truth is purified and
liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humanity brings to
it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the
plan for true life that God has prepared for us. In Christ, charity in
truth becomes the Face of his Person. (CinV, 1)
“The plan for true life…”
What is the plan for true life? That God should become man so that we may
become gods. And what does it mean to become gods? That we should live as they
do; that we should love as they love.
In the person of Jesus
Christ, Truth and Love meet. In the Transfiguration, not only does Truth shine,
but so does Love. Together, they are radiant. And they shine not simply in His
divinity, but also through the Body, our humanity.
For true, authentic human
development – growth in holiness, divinization – we must embrace the Truth of
Love, not as something amorphous or as needing some subjective rendering, but
as it is: as having definition as the Body of Jesus has, as united to the Divine,
flowing from Him, who Himself loves to the end. In a word, we must conform ourselves to Him.
Conformity and obedience
are bad words in the modern world – but what the modern world does not understand
is that it conforms itself to things and fads all the time! How many are
blindly obedient to group think and the echo chamber?
Here, Pope Benedict is
particularly insightful when he notes, in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est, that
conformity to God means loving as Jesus loved – and Jesus loved both God and neighbor.
“Love of neighbor,” Pope
Benedict wrote,
consists in the
very fact that, in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like
or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter
with God …His friend is my friend … If I have no contact whatsoever with God
in my life, then I cannot see in the other anything more than the other, and I
am incapable of seeing in him the image of God.
So, in order to rightly love
another, I must first meet God and learn to love Him.
But there is more. Pope
Benedict acknowledges that there are some who have met God and who love
religion, but who fail to love their neighbor. Quote:
if in my life I
fail completely to heed others, solely out of a desire to be “devout” and to
perform my “religious duties”, then my relationship with God will also grow
arid. It becomes merely “proper”, but loveless. Only my readiness to
encounter my neighbour and to show him love makes me sensitive to God as well.
Only if I serve my neighbour can my eyes be opened to what God does for me and
how much he loves me. (18)
This is a very challenging
statement for our times. How many are able to give insightful reflections on scriptures
or saints, but fail to help out their roommates or take positions of leadership
and volunteering in their parishes and communities? The splendor of the love of
God which they currently enjoy will fade unless it is coupled with the love of
neighbor!
This is the great mystery
of the Transfiguration. Love comes in the nature of God and in the nature of man
– for Jesus loves both!
The Transfiguration, then,
comes as a gift to strengthen the Apostles as it is God and man both who will
hang on the Cross – Jesus tries to strengthen their faith so as to love both.
To conclude, Pope Benedict
notes that Love and Truth
cannot be
produced: they can only be received as a gift.
That which is
prior to us and constitutes us — subsistent Love and Truth — shows us what
goodness is, and in what our true happiness consists. It shows us the
road to true development (CinV 52).
When Peter and James and
John encountered Jesus transfigured before them, bringing to them the glory of
Love and Truth, it says they were “terrified.” But Peter finds the words to
say: “Lord, it is good that we are here.” He then expresses the desire to
establish a tent to Jesus and to Moses and to Elijah – that is, Peter longs to
praise God for His glory. And even Moses and Elijah, for Peter recognizes and
wishes to praise the glory of God in them. Moses and Elijah have become saints.
They have been divinized in the “plan for true life.”
May our evening here give
praise to God. May it radiate the glory of God’s truth, His charity, and the
working of His divine, merciful grace.
This is the work of the
Image of God Institute: to transform our minds and hearts so as to become all
the more partakers of the divine nature and reflect our Savior’s glory. It is
the glory, I am certain, which we will experience in Kasie’s testimony. And it
is His glory that will lead us to praise Him and rejoice in Him.
For “love rejoices in the
truth” (1 Cor 13:6)
God bless your evening and
my God bless the work of the Image of God Institute.
