Second Sunday in Lent Reflection: Transfiguration
Franciscan Reflections From The Hermitage – Second Sunday In Lent – Transfiguration – (Matthew 17:1-9)
To listen to this reflection: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/52862503
Learning to see with ‘the eye of the heart’ … to become ‘fully human and fully divine’, the embodiment of non-dual consciousness, becoming complete, enlightened, pure, whole and holy.
This is an invitation to become the image of the Exemplar, the Divine Imprint of the Christ within, opening up the new space that leads to freedom and love, and that peace the world cannot give.
It is only by the process of kenosis, emptying ourselves, that we come to understand that our learning must always begin again. Without this humility our sense of perspective will always be skewed… our gratitude being subverted beneath fear and entitlement.
It is with humility that our knowledge becomes transformed into wisdom to differentiate between unnecessary suffering and the pain that accompanies transformation and metamorphosis.
This is the wisdom to face and understand all our worldly defences and avoidance strategies against pain… all that has become a block to our transformation and Transfiguration.
This choice we are given is also a call to action, a call to let go of what is captured our hearts, preoccupies us unnecessarily and has made us insecure and anxious, grasping always at the next diversion.
Beyond insight and spiritual maturity, our foundation must be humility. This is the wisdom that recognises that the light is within us … to stand in awe … yet recognise that we are not the source of that light.
As Jesus was accompanied by trusted friends and as St Francis admonished his followers, we also require a trusted friend to hold up the mirror that reflects who we are and whom we are becoming… even when this is painful viewing.
Robert Wicks supplies us with a list of those beautiful spaces in our inner life that humility dramatically opens for us:
- ·space of simplicity and with the complex demands of both home and office;
- ·space for solitude to listen to the messages of our quiet spirit lest they be drowned out by the days’ noise;
- ·a space for pacing ourselves while resisting the lure of speed and new technology;
- ·space for gratefulness and giftedness in a world filled with the sense of entitlement;
- ·space for honesty and clarity rather than spinning the truth to our own advantage;
- ·space for the old relationships in place of mere manipulation of others;
- ·space for restraint instead of instant gratification and aggression;
- ·space for doubt and deeper questions rather than filling ourselves with false certainty and pat answers;
- ·space for reflection so that compassion doesn’t lead to undisciplined activism;
- ·space for generosity where previously only strident self-interest stood;
- ·space for transparency where opaque defensiveness is our normal rule;
- ·space for sound self-respect in lieu of inordinate self-doubt or unbridled self-assurance;
- ·space for intrigue or curiosity about our actions and motivations so we don’t wander down the blind alleys of projection or self-condemnation;
- ·space for forgiveness so we don’t fall prey to rigidity and self-righteousness;
- ·space for what will always be true rather than solely having an interest in what is currently in vogue; and ·space for the courage needed to be ordinary instead of wasting all our time chasing after what we believe will make us someone special.
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