Sunday, August 6, 2017

Project BLACK MAMBA: Transfiguration of the Lord

Late Edition
Mea culpa! Mea culpa! Mea máxima culpa!

'Tis the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord: Transfiguration-link ūnus, Transfiguration-link duo, Wikipedia-link Transfiguration, & Wikipedia-link Feast.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. The Feast of the Transfiguration is celebrated on 6 August no matter the day of the week, this year superseding what would otherwise be the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:
Jesus is transfigured (or metamorphosed) & becomes radiant in glory upon a mountain.
Scripture of the Week
Mass Readings—Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
The Book of Daniel, chapter seven, verses nine, ten, thirteen, & fourteen;
Psalm Ninety-seven, verses one & two, five & six, & nine;
The Second Letter of Peter, chapter one, verses sixteen thru nineteen;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter seventeen, verses one thru nine.

Commentary: Video Gospel reflection by Jeff Cavins: Encountering the Word.

Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, today we celebrate the Transfiguration of Lord. I would like to place this event and story within their clearly Jewish and Biblical framework. The transfiguration takes place on a mountain, and this immediately places it in relation to the Old Testament. The law is given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and Elijah challenges the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel. Mountains are places of encounter with God.

So, in the New Testament, Jesus gives his law on a mountain: the Sermon on the Mount; he dies on Mt. Calvary, and, in a climactic moment in his public life, he brings three of his disciples to the top of a mountain—and there he is transfigured before them.

What is especially being stressed here is the manner in which Jesus represents the fulfillment of the Old Testament revelation, economically symbolized by the two figures with whom he converses: Moses, representing the law, and Elijah, representing the prophets. When a Jew of Jesus' time would speak of the Scriptures, he would use a shorthand: the law and the prophets. So in speaking to Moses and Elijah, in the glory of the transfiguration, Jesus signals that he brings them to their proper fulfillment.

Mass Journal: Week 32
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute:
In any moment when you surrender to the will of God & choose to be the-best-version-of-yourself (sic), you are holy. Any moment that you grasp as an opportunity to exercise virtue is a holy moment. But as quickly as this holiness can be found, it can be lost, because in any moment that you choose to be less than the-best-version-of-yourself (sic), you have become distracted from living a holy life. There is nothing more attractive than holiness. This attractiveness has not only been demonstrated in Jesus, but is constantly demonstrated here & now in our own place & time: whenever someone goes out of his or her way to ease the burden of a stranger; whenever someone is honest; whenever someone lays down his or her life by working hard to support his or her family; whenever someone rejects the premise of modern culture. In his letter to the Thessalonians, Saint Paul writes, "This is the will of God: that you be saints" (1 Thessalonians, 4:3). God wants you to be holy. Your holiness is the desire of God, the delight of God, & the source of your happiness. To embrace who you were created to be & to become the-best-version-of-yourself (sic) is God's dream for you. Therefore, holiness is for everyone, not just for a select few, for monks in monasteries & nuns in convents; it is for you & me.

If not a Sunday, 6 August would also be the festival of Saints Justus & Pastor, Martyrs (died circa 304, of Alcalá), martyred in the reign of the emperor Diocletian: Martyr-link Juliett, Martyr-link Papa, & Wikipedia-link.

'Twould also be the festival of Saint Hormisdas, Pope (450-523), fifty-second Bishop of Rome: Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

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