Often in sacred art we see halos surround the head or body of a person deemed sacred. A halo is often seen as a crown of light rays, or a disc of light. The halo can be found in the sacred art of many world religions. In Christian art, halos are seen principally around the figure of Jesus, Mary, Mother of God, and many of the saints.
On the second Sunday of Lent, we hear the Gospel account of the Transfiguration. Jesus, Peter, James and John go up the mountain to pray. While Jesus was praying his face and body is transformed. His whole body is glowing in a dazzling white light. Two important figures of the Hebrew Testament, the prophets, Moses and Elijah, also glowing dazzling white, appear alongside Jesus. They speak to him of the torture and death that awaits him in Jerusalem. Peter, James and John, are gobsmacked and frightened by what they see. A cloud envelops them and they hear the voice within the cloud say, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” Suddenly, the vision stops and everything is normal again. Shaken and quiet they descend the mountain with Jesus.
The central image the Transfiguration gives to us is this intense, white, dazzling light that surrounds the bodies of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. In religious icons, especially that of the Orthodox Churches, the light represents the grace of God shining through the icon. It draws those who view the icon to the deeper reality of God that is beyond the painting. In their earthly ministry, Moses, Elijah and Jesus were living icons who drew people beyond the surface of their daily living to the reality of God that encompasses all of life. However, in doing their earthly ministry they also experienced personal suffering.
Moses was a hunted man much of his life. Pharoah wanted him dead. Even when the Israelites escaped the cruel enslavement of the Egyptians, the suffering didn’t end. They wandered 40 years in the desert. Moses would die looking at the Promised Land from a mountain top, never having stepped into the Promised Land. Elijah, too, was also a hunted man. He spent a great deal of his life escaping death at the hands of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. We all know how Jesus was betrayed, viciously tortured and executed.
That which we need to take away today is that our bodies will be also be glorified one day. Our bodies will also glow with dazzling light. In the second reading today, St Paul tells the Philippian community, “Jesus will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.” This same teaching is repeated in the first letter of John. “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” This is really good news! However, there is a sobering part to this news. In order to have a glorified body like Jesus’, there is always some kind of human suffering involved. To experience our own Transfiguration, like Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, we must first pick up our own cross. As disciples of Jesus we must enter into the Paschal Mystery, the suffering, the dying, and the rising of Jesus.
We each have a cross that is unique to us. We each have our own Paschal Mystery. For some of us it may be a lifetime recovering from an addiction of one sort or another. For some of us it may be the loss of significant relationships by separation and divorce, or by death. For some, our Paschal Mystery may be the result of a chronic illness or injury. For some of us, it may the cross of unemployment or poverty. Though we carry within ourselves the Paschal Mystery of Jesus, we can find comfort in these words of St Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians. “Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.”
One day, we will all have a halo around us. Jesus, Moses, and Elijah have shown us the way to our own Transfiguration. For today, the question we must ask ourselves is this, “In the way we live our lives, are people drawn into a deeper relationship with God?” Are our halos dull and grey, or do they reflect the dazzling light of God who surrounds and fills us?
