Transifguration

After the Mass, I must again descend from the Tabor of

union with God, to the affairs of workaday life; from the

brilliant heights, where it was so good to be, to the 

darkness of this world with its dangers, its scandals, its 

temptations, and its sufferings. Stay Thou with me, O 

Lord, for the night cometh.

Dom Dominic Johner

This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear Him.

Today, in the Traditional Latin Mass, the Church encourages us on our Lenten journey with the Transfiguration....

"Thus did Jesus encourage His apostles, when the time of temptation was near; He sought to impress them with His glory, that it might keep up their faith in that trying time, when the outward eye would see nothing in His Person but weakness and humiliation. Oh, the loving considerateness of Divine Grace, which is never wanting, and which shows us in so strong a light the goodness and the justice of our God! Like the Apostles, we also have sinned; like them, we have neglected to profit of the help 

that was sent us from Heaven; we have shut our eyes against the light; we have forgotten the fair vision that was granted us, and which made us so fervent and happy; and we fell. We have not, then, been tempted above our strength and it is indeed our own fault that we committed sin. The three Apostles were exposed to a terrible temptation, when they beheld their Divine Master robbed of all His majesty; but how easy for them to resist the temptation, by thinking of what they had seen, but a few days before! Instead of that, they lost their courage, and forgot prayer, which would have brought their courage back; and thus the favored witnesses for Thabor became cowards and deserters in the Garden of Mount Olivet. 

"There was but one thing left them to do: throw themselves upon the loving mercy of their Jesus, as soon as He had triumphed over His enemies; they did so, and His generous Heart pardoned them. Let us imitate them here too. We have abused the Grace of God and rendered it fruitless, by our want of correspondence. The fountain of this Grace is not yet dried up; as long as we are in this world, we may always draw from this source, which comes from the Blood and merits of our Redeemer. It is grace that is now urging us to the amendment of our lives. It is given to us in abundance during the present time, and it is given mainly by the holy exercise of Lent. Let us go up the mountain with Jesus; there we shall not be disturbed by the noise of earthly things. Let us there spend our forty days 

with Moses and Elias, who long ago sanctified this number by their fasts. Thus, when the Son of Man shall have risen from the dead, we will proclaim the favors He has mercifully granted us on Thabor."

Dom Gueranger: