The Transfiguration, Faith and Family Matters

An old post with corrected citations.

The Transfiguration, Faith and Family Matters

If a person wants to probe the mystery of the life of Jesus, one might find it helpful to think of the Transfiguration of Jesus as it must have impacted the Holy Apostles, Peter, James and John, but especially Peter.

It is clear, is it not, that this experience dramatically affected the Apostles’ way of winning converts to Christ? When they started to evangelize after the Resurrection, the Transfiguration had made them stronger in tough times.  Understanding this experience can help us be better teachers of the faith.

As we think of the climb up the mountain, who knows, maybe Peter was having a good bit of doubt at this point. Maybe he was saying, "One minute you treat me like a prince, you call me the 'Rock of your Church.' The next minute, when I want to stop you from dying, you treat me like the enemy and call me Satan. What is all this about?" Then, they get up on the mountain there and Peter, James and John have this spectacular experience of seeing Jesus shining, standing with Moses and Elijah.

This whole scene is capped with the voice from the cloud, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”

Ok, let’s take a step back then, and see what we can learn.  How does the Transfiguration change us, so to speak?  How can we learn from the Apostles, especially St. Peter? I want you to ask yourself what you might learn about transmitting the faith in your family from this experience.

There is a recent study published in a book called “Families and Faith: How Religion is Passed Down Across Generations,” (Oxford) by Vern Bengston, with Norella Putney and Susan Harris.  Bengston and his crew follow 350 families composed of 3500 individuals over several generations.

In a recent article on Zenit, (http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/39793, March 16, 2014) a review of the book says,

“Church attendance in the United States hit a peak in the period 1950-59. Following that there was a gradual decline in the 1960s and a sharp decrease in the following decade.

Immigration from Hispanic countries has offset the numbers of Catholics leaving the Church, but what Bengtson singled out was the growth in the number of ‘nones,’ that is, those who say they have no religious affiliation. By 2012 they represented almost 20% of the adult population.”

The Zenit article then makes a number of observations from the book about the impact of family on the transmission of religion:

Nevertheless, the type of family life does influence the degree to which religious faith is passed on. Warm, affectionate parenting is most likely to result in the successful transmission of religion, Bengtson noted. This was particularly true for relations with fathers, he added.

….Grandparents can have considerable influence and are often more important regarding the religiosity of their grandchildren than is recognized.

Apart from the type of parenting, there are other family situations that have an important impact on the transmission of religion.

Parents in a same-faith marriage are more likely to achieve religious continuity across generations. This is particularly true when both parents are actively religious and religion plays an important role in their lives.

Divorce often, but not always, is a disruptive force in the transmission of religious traditions.

Here are three points to consider for faith in the family.

My first point:  Don’t let the crosses in your life be a stumbling block for your children’s faith.  Peter, in particular, has learned that you cannot reject the Cross without turning your back on God’s plan.  In doing so you become the enemy of God.  If you have been turning away from the Cross, get back to it. Get back to Jesus. When the going gets tough, don’t run. Let our blessed Lord show you the true meaning of the crosses in life. If you have difficulties, crosses, that are impacting the way you live and present the faith in the family, fight the devil. Remember, he will use anything to win the souls of your children including making you think you are unhappy, causing financial difficulties and any other problems that can take your mind off the most important things in life.  All the time you are thinking about how miserable you are, have you ever thought that maybe that is just the devil’s way of taking your children to hell? If you need help to get on the right footing, seek it out.  All things are possible with Christ.

Second: If you are following your own ideas about what the faith ought to be, you need conversion. The Apostles come to a deeper knowledge of who this Jesus is.  He is like Moses and Elijah, but even the voice from the cloud tells them that He is greater. If they had any questions about how to interpret the law and the prophets before this, they do not have any now. 

This is important for us.  Many times, people dip a finger into the Bible and come up with a morsel from one of the prophets or from the law and they want to judge that the Church has made a mistake.  But, if we are supposed to listen to Jesus, then we know that the Church, founded on the Rock of Peter, is the one against whom the gates of the netherworld cannot prevail.  So those Catholics who depart from this haven of safety, the One Holy Catholic Church, are living by following their own private interpretations. Don’t confuse the issue about those born into other communities of faith. God can handle that. That’s not your problem right now. I am talking about your Catholic children. Peter’s experience with his own faith propelled him to be very clear about the duties of his office.  In 2 Peter 1:20 he tells us to “know this, first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation.”  I ask you, what better lesson could Peter have had than these events to cause him to write this to us?  Remember Peter also warns in chapter 3 v. 16 that in the letters of Paul there are some things that are hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.

My final point:  You see the Risen Lord at each Holy Mass and it is your duty to lead others to Him.  I think you should know that Jesus expects you to speak about him in your life.  You are a prophet, a teacher, a priest, and a missionary to your children. You have a position in your current situation that requires that you speak of what you have seen and heard. This, my friend, is really very simple.  You are standing at the end of a line. If you do not attempt to bring some one to Christ that you are close to, what do you suppose will happen to them and to the Church? If you do not go to those around you and bring the Lord to them, that line, that part of the Church ends with you.

Now, if the Father is well-pleased with Jesus and tells us so.  Shouldn’t we be able to tell others.  If God can say how wonderful his Son is, won’t you do it, too?

God Who Saves the Weak--Or a Weak "god"? Purity Makes the Difference

There is a huge difference between the God who saves the weak and a god who is created out of human weakness.

On its face, the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus teaches us that Jesus is God.  Seeing Jesus transfigured, taking on the radiance of His Divine Nature, speaking to Moses and Elijah, Jews like Peter, James and John would understand the meaning of this.  The Law, represented by Moses, and the Prophets, represented by Elijah, testify to the truth of Jesus, the one who stands before them.  What they see is God unveiled, not hidden, but God, awe-inspiring and majestic, just as Moses witnessed on Mt. Sinai.  This is the One, as St. Paul writes, Christ Jesus, who is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us.  This is the Beloved Son, who speaks for God and is God, the One to whom we are to listen.

There is, at the same time, in the account of the Transfiguration, a meaning that has practical significance for our spiritual journey during Lent.  It is about the discipline with which we approach it through prayer, fasting and giving alms.  It is about repentance, which only comes about when first we recognize that we have sinned.  The Beatitudes teach that the pure of heart are blessed; they shall see God.  The Jesus encountered on Mt. Horeb is the one we must make every effort to encounter ourselves.  Lent is designed to assist us in that quest as we seen to purify ourselves of all that is not of God in order to receive Him with a pure heart.  We are deceived in this world and this culture of death. As St. John’s first letter says: 1 John 2:15-17  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides forever.  Again, recall the Beatitude, “blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” 

We are being put to the test like Abraham who was told to go sacrifice his son.  Our Lenten test is much easier, however.  Our goal is to be purified, to put to death worldly desires.  Abraham was put to the test to see if he valued the one true God above even his own son.  In passing the test, Abraham gave us an image of God the Father who sacrificed the Christ for our sake.  Abraham, thus, walked with God.  St. Paul suggests that Abraham knew Christ even though he lived centuries earlier.  Abraham’s vision was pure.  His trust in God was not marked by anything less than the goal of eternal happiness.  His example, unique in salvation history, nevertheless is an example to us to be purified lest we not gain an eternal inheritance in the land of the living.

Let us ask ourselves, why do we not see this Lord in his glory?  Why is it that we refuse to lay aside everything in order that we might walk constantly with God and see his glory?

For the most part, God is not forcing the issue with us as he did with Abraham.  But this does not mean that we are left without opportunities to step out in faith.  We have Lent to voluntarily remove from between the Lord and each one of us the desires that cloud the vision of our minds and hearts and prevent us from ascending the mountain, that prevent us from seeing Jesus Christ as do the pure of heart.

If we are honest with ourselves we would have to admit that, on account of our desire for pleasure, our rebelliousness, our stubbornness, our pride, our laziness, or our greed, that we find the price of seeing God too great, much like the Israelites who fearfully refused to ascend the mountain with Moses in his day.

The Church today is in turmoil.  Publicly, Catholics openly deny the truths of the faith.  Where is the one who accepts in the heart that the Church speaks for God? Often, matters related to purity separate them from the Church.  Many Church leaders, those charged before God to protect the integrity of the faith, do nothing about politicians who are teaching falsehood and even claiming a greater authority than the bishops, or for that matter, than Christ himself. Many teachers of the faith do nothing about the errors that are thrust upon us, choosing instead to run while the wolf devours the sheep.  Catholics are as likely as anyone to fall into the errors condemned in St. Paul’s teaching regarding sexual purity and holiness in marriage.  Out of wedlock births now exceed 40 percent, and in some places, they constitute the majority of births.

If we are to see God, the Beatitudes say we must be pure.  Let me begin with the priests.  Priests must be pure in heart and body--and I speak of myself first--if we are to testify to the truth.  Young men and women must learn again the importance of purity of heart and of body.  They must learn to respect their bodies as God’s temples if they are not to lose their souls on account of the evils the unruly desires unleash.  The culture of death is against them. Who will rise up to protect them? Husbands and wives need to begin again to respect the proper role of purity and chastity in their marriage, be open to life, not contracepting, but trusting in God’s plan.  If God gives Abraham a son, cannot he not also provide for him?  Spouses can learn the sacred signs of fertility and space births scientifically and morally according to the way God made the body.  Learn to love and respect each other as God intended and the true Christ, radiant and powerful, will be part of marriage again.  You do not have to go to Mt. Horeb to see Jesus transfigured.  You can see him everyday in your homes if you, like Abraham, are willing to believe that God is all-powerful and put him first instead of some anemic god created out of human weakness.  There is a huge difference between the majestic God who comes to save the weak and a weak god created out of human frailty.