GOD'S MASTERPIECE IN BECOMING

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2^ND SUNDAY OF LENT – C

Luke 9:28-36

To listen/download as podcast: http://cradio.org.au/talks-and-resources/homilies/fr-vladimir-echalas-solt/listen-to-him/

     We were all created in the image and likeness of God.  Sharing in God’s image, we carry in ourselves the reflection of God’s essence and beauty; sharing His likeness, we were gifted with the qualities of God.  All of these were destroyed by sin.  Adam and Eve realized that they were naked after they sinned.  Right after the Fall, God promised to send the Saviour who will clothe once more the nakedness of humanity with dignity as children of God. 

Last Sunday, we saw the Temptations of Jesus which were three shortcuts to glory, as  if the devil was tempting Him not to go through the cross.   After Jesus announced His Passion to the Apostles, they could not believe and Peter even rebuked Him.  Like a tempter, Jesus called Peter ‘Satan’.  Because they were slow to understand the meaning of His impending death, Jesus was transfigured to prepare the apostles for the scandal of the cross.   In as much as the Trinity manifested themselves before the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus, the same manifestation happened in the Transfiguration before the beginning of His passion.  The Father’s voice was heard confirming that Jesus was His beloved Son and this time addressed Himself to the apostles “Listen to Him.” The Father’s voice ushered in a new way of “listening” not anymore to the Decalogue (The Torah) of Old Testament but to Jesus the Living Word.

          From the beginning of creation up to this day, everything around us keeps on changing and moving.  Science calls it Evolution. Inanimate objects and living things are in continuous flux because molecules are in constant motion.  From the first moment of our conception, we never stop growing and transforming.  But our personal transfiguration has already begun at the moment of our baptism.  When we were baptized, we were con-figured to the image of Christ and are constantly being transfigured moment after moment until we reach the fullness of our being in Christ.  St. Paul reminds us of this beautiful movement: “We all grow brighter and brighter as we are transfigured into the image that we reflect; this is the work of God who is Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18).

         Whenever we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, the Transfiguration that happened on Mt. Thabor is happening once again here and now.  If Moses and Elijah represented the Law and the prophets of the OT and the three apostles Peter James and John represented the NT, each one of us represents the present time.  We do not just become mere spectators of this spectacular event but we actively participate in it as if we are there.  This is why, we are also transfigured together with the Christian community and the Church when we participate in the Transfiguration of Jesus in the Eucharist.    

When I saw with my eyes the marble masterpieces of Michaelangelo like the Pieta or David, I imagined God as a sculptor.  Like Michaelangelo, God does not just see us as a piece of marble but rather as masterpieces in becoming if only we let Him chisel away the unnecessary in us so that He can transform us unto His very own image.  At the end we will realize that we are the masterpieces of God.