August 6, The Transfiguration of the Lord
The project and the service
As I watched, Thrones were set up and the Ancient One took his throne. His clothing was snow bright, and the hair on his head as white as wool; His throne was flames of fire … A surging stream of fire flowed out from where he sat; Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him. The court was convened, and the books were opened. As the visions during the night continued, I saw One like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; When he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, He received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed. Dn 7,9-10.13-14
Today the Church celebrates the Transfiguration of the Lord on the Mount Tabor, an event which we have pondered on another occasions. Let’s meditate, then, on the first reading from the Book of the prophet Daniel. It is a passage written in apocalyptic style, fashionable in the last centuries before the christian era, with which the prophet casts his eyes to what it will happen with the advent of the Messiah, when the forces of the evil will be defeated. As far as personally we are concerned, the today reading presents God as an old person, when, at the end of our earthly life, he will open the books where it is written all what we have done and thought during this journey through the time. These are the books on board of our ship, which sailed one day from a certain port to reach another one, where everything occurred is written down during the voyage. The one who, day by day, fills out the logbook is the Lord, the admiral of the ship which, in the today reading, appears at the end and is presented to the old man as ”one like a son of man”. Incidentally this will be the definition which Jesus of Nazareth was able to apply to himself to avoid to appear as the Son of God in the environment of Palestine, certainly not open to receive him as such. Returning, however, to our navigation in the time, a ship is not built by case, it has a purpose and a service to perform as any man which is born has a plan to be achieved. Then, it is not difficult to imagine what the Lord is writing in our journal on board: he records how we are implementing the project, the way the service is done and especially if we attempted to mutiny to take possession of the ship in order to pursue projects different from his ones. I believe that today is the most suitable day to ask him what is the project we have to realize and the service which has been entrusted to us. In this phase of the life, I think to have clearly identified my project, but I have to ask for forgiveness to the Lord, because several times in the past, I tried to take possession of the ship to follow routes and implement projects different from his ones. They were beautiful, but they were my own.