Transformed into Glory

     Saint Matthew’s Gospel (Mt. 16 vs. 21-22 & 17 vs. 1-9), brings out the close connection between the Transfiguration and the Passion of Jesus. The Divine Master wished to teach His disciples in this way that it was impossible -- for Him as well as for them – to reach the glory of the Transfiguration without passing through suffering. It was the same lesson that He would give later to the two disciples at Emmaus: “Ought not Christ to have suffer these things and so to enter into His glory?” (Lk. 24 vs. 26). What has been disfigured by sin cannot regain its original supernatural beauty except by way of purifying suffering. Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D.



     When sin entered the world, life as we would have known it was changed forever! Sin brought death, and with it, hardship and pain. Suffering was something that would now be a part of man’s life, and although man had walked away from God, God would not abandon man. He promised to send a Savior to restore to us what had been lost.

Put Out into the Deep

     “I want to go fishing sometimes. How? I will tell you. The most holy passion of Jesus is a sea of sorrows but, at the same time, a sea of love. Pray to God that He teach you to fish in this sea. Then dive into its depths. No matter how deep you go, you will never reach bottom.” St. Paul of the Cross



     Our minds have become so accustomed to the fact that Jesus suffered and died on the cross for us that we fail to see the immensity and intensity of His passion. His love was met with rejection and brutality. We forget that Jesus was God who became flesh, to offer His body to the Father for our sins. We forget that He was sinless, yet took upon Himself all the sins of the world, from the beginning of time until its end. During His passion, Jesus, in His humanity, felt fear, anxiety, forgotten, betrayal, anguish, and excruciating pain. His love was so pure that His feelings were intensified and crushing. Jesus came, out of His great love for us, to show us how to love by giving of Himself completely and laying down His life.