1. Meditation of the day

Meditations: Saturday of the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time

Some reflections that can assist our prayer during the 6th week of Ordinary Time.

WHEN someone opens up new perspectives to help us understand something new about the world, or to better understand our own lives, we might say that they have “brought us light.” Before, perhaps everything was a bit darker and more confusing. Sacred Scripture also frequently uses the symbolism of light, as we see in a striking way in some Gospel passages. Saint Mark tells us that “Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured before them, and his garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them” (Mk 9:2-3). Christ is transformed with radiant light, with no trace of darkness. Moreover, the disciples then hear the voice of God the Father. Everything on Mount Tabor becomes a luminous mystery.

“The Transfiguration invites us to open the eyes of our hearts to the mystery of God's light, present throughout salvation history. At the beginning of creation, the Almighty had already said: ‘Fiat lux – let there be light!’ (Gen 1: 2), and the light was separated from the darkness. Light is a sign that reveals something about God; it is, as it were, a reflection of his glory, which accompanies his manifestations. When God appears, ‘his brightness was like the light, rays flashed from his hand’ (Heb 3: 3ff.). Light, as the Psalms say, is the garment in which God wraps himself (cf. Ps 104:2). In the Book of Wisdom, the symbolism of light is used to describe the very essence of God: wisdom, an outpouring of God’s glory, is ‘a reflection of the eternal light,’ superior to all created light (cf. Wis 7:27, 29ff). In the New Testament, it is Christ who is the full manifestation of God’s light. His Resurrection has forever defeated the power of the darkness of evil. With the Risen Christ, truth and love triumph over deceit and sin. In him, God’s light now definitively illumines the lives of men and women and the path of history. ‘I am the light of the world,’ he says in the Gospel, ‘whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’ (Jn 8:12).”[1]

IN 1931, while celebrating Mass in Madrid for the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, Saint Josemaría experienced a special light. Perhaps reflecting on the radiance of Mount Tabor, the founder of Opus Dei clearly understood that ordinary Christians would henceforth be apostles with the mission of bringing Christ into all human activities.

He writes in his personal notes that day: “The moment of the Consecration arrived. While raising the Sacred Host, without losing the proper recollection, without becoming distracted (I had just made interiorly the offering to Merciful Love), the words of Scripture came to my mind with extraordinary force and clarity: et si exaltatus fuero a terra, omnia traham ad meipsum’ (Jn 12:32),” when I am lifted up above the earth, I will draw all things to myself. “Ordinarily, before the supernatural, I am afraid. Then comes the ne timeas! – do not be afraid, it is I. And I understood that it would be the men and women of God who would raise the Cross with the teachings of Christ on the summit of all human activities.”[2]

“In the event of the Transfiguration we contemplate the mysterious encounter between history, which is built up daily, and the blessed inheritance that awaits us in heaven, in full union with Christ, Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. Like the disciples, we too must descend from Tabor to daily life, where human events challenge our faith. On the mountain we have seen the truth; on the paths of life we ​​are called to proclaim tirelessly the Gospel, which illuminates believers’ steps.”[3]

THE MISSION of Christians consists in “enkindling small lights in people’s hearts, being small lamps of the Gospel that carry a little love and hope.”[4] St. Josemaría kept on his desk, as a reminder of God’s presence, an insulator, which is a device that prevents the passage of electricity. He used it as a reminder that, in contrast, we Christians are called to be transmitters of the light we carry within. “In spite of our personal shortcomings,” the founder of Opus Dei wrote, “we carry within us divine and aromatic essences of inestimable value; we are instruments of God. And since we want to be good instruments, the smaller and poorer we consider ourselves to be with true humility, the more our Lord will make up for all we lack.”[5]

One of the most light-filled moments of our day, when we unite ourselves closely to God and listen to his voice, is Holy Mass. There the present is somehow transfigured. Through the liturgy, the world enters into the clarity of heaven. There Christ brings us bright light for our daily lives. We find guidance for our lives, light for our souls, and renewal of our love. “Sursum corda,” we say before the Preface: “Lift up your hearts.” This is what happened to Peter, James, and John that day on Mount Tabor. Flooded with light and joy, they wanted that moment to never end. Holy Mary, Queen of Angels, must have shared so many light-filled moments with her Son, of which we have no record. We can ask our Lady to bring light again into our hearts whenever we discover any dark corners there.

[1] Benedict XVI, Angelus, 6 August 2006.

[2] Saint Josemaría, Intimate Notes, no. 207.

[3] Saint John Paul II, Meeting, 6 August 2001.

[4] Francis, Angelus, 6 August 2017.

[5] Saint Josemaría, Letters 2, no. 26.

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