Vol. XXX, No. 8
Dear Oblates and Friends of Portsmouth,
Twice during the liturgical year the gospel narrating the Transfiguration is used: once during Lent and again in midsummer, a twofold reminder of victory over death and the promise of glory in the after-life. The last painting Rafael was working on before his untimely death in the plague, while still very young, was a portrayal of Jesus' transfiguration before his three closest disciples on top of Mount Tabor, the subject of the upper part of the painting, while in the lower section, at the base of the mountain, occurs the miracle of the cure of a child possessed, performed by Jesus immediately after his descent. Rafael has brought the two events together in the same picture, dividing the upper, visionary section from the lower part, which is filled with a variety of persons in need of the healing that only Jesus can effect. The child is already cured, and he and those with him gaze upward in wonder with arms outstretched, echoing the astonishment of the three apostles who witnessed the transformation in Jesus after waking from sleep.
The painting was commissioned to celebrate the triumph of the Christians over the Muslims, with Jesus cast in the role of divine physician, able to overcome the death of the body and impart glory in the hereafter. Ironically, Rafael himself was soon to succumb to a fatal disease, but only in the body, for the upper section of the painting depicts the transfigured Jesus, symbolizing the conquest of death in the life to come, when the believer shares in Jesus' triumph over the forces of evil, whether they be moral or physical, just as in the historical context, which motivated the picture, the pagan unbelievers were decisively defeated: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
In the Eastern Orthodox Church this vision of Jesus is one of the most important events in the life of Jesus, and can generally be found as one of the icons on the iconastasis in the sanctuary of a church. The Church of the Transfiguration is a principal shrine in the Kremlin in Moscow; at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt an ancient mosaic commemorates the scene in the monastery of Saint Catherine, the oldest abbey in the East; at the top of Mount Tabor on the plain of Galilee the Franciscans have built a church to mark the site.
What does this sudden metamorphosis in Jesus signify? The answer lies in those who are witnesses of the vision, when in his ministry it occurs, and what prompts it. All three synoptics record the incident and underline its importance by relating that it occurred six days after Peter's confession of faith in Jesus' messiahship following the mass desertion of his disciples at large, who were unwilling to accept Jesus' teaching and his concept of the messianic role. The sight of His transfiguration is a reward for the faith and love of Peter, speaking for the other apostles, and a sign of hope and confidence for the time not far off, when their faith will be tested at the time of Jesus' passion and death, which Jesus predicts as they descend from the mountain and reenter the world of sickness and disease symbolized by the epileptic boy.
The transfiguration, coming at the turning point in Jesus' ministry, represents the fulfillment of the messianic promise, foretold by Elijah, greatest of the Old Testament prophets, and Moses, the Lawgiver, whose Law foreshadowed the new covenant of Jesus, the Messiah. Much of Jesus' ministry is encapsulated here, especially in the way Rafael has conceived it: death and a disease that was regarded as possession by demons are overcome, a cloud of glory surrounds the apparitions, divine approval is heard in the same words uttered at Jesus' baptism, which marked the beginning of his ministry, and the presence of the same three apostles who were taken apart from the others in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus refers to the Baptist as a reincarnated Elijah, who was to return as precursor of the Messiah. Elijah also represents immortality, having, according to tradition, never experienced death, but rather ascended on high in a chariot of fire at the close of his earthly existence. Just as Elijah raised to life the son of the widow of Zarephath, so was Jesus to give life to the son of the widow of Naim.
The same faith and hope which Rafael found in his interpretation of the transfiguration can be ours too. The name Raphael means God heals; the painter died before completing his picture, but only in the flesh. He knew that the true healing concerns the spirit, and that the promise of immortality and the glory of the after-life were certainties guaranteed by the transfigured Jesus, who, like himself, was soon to undergo death in the body. The vision given to Peter, James and John, we too can share in the words of the evangelists as well as through what many consider to be Rafael's greatest paintings and his final act of faith made visible.
The prayer for the mass of the feast of the Transfiguration sums up perfectly how we should view this mystery, a means of reinforcing our faith during the here and now and deepening our hope in the life to come:
God, our Father, in the transfigured glory of Christ your Son,
You strengthen our faith by confirming the witness of your prophets,
and show us the splendor of your beloved sons and daughters.
As we listen to the voice of your Son, help us to become heirs to eternal life with Him
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Oblate Conferences: 2009 - 2010
October 12 Dom Damian Kearney: Saint Francis and the Franciscans
Commemoration of the Approval of Rule of St. Francis
by Pope Innocent III in 1209
November 22 Dom Paschal Scotti
January 31 Dom Matthew Stark, Abbot Emeritus
March 7 Dom Edmund Adams: Sacred Creation:
The World, the Flesh and the Love of God
April 25 Father John Neilson, Oblate
June 6 Dom Caedmon Holmes, Abbot
Liturgical Calendar for August
1 St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Bishop & Doctor
2 SUNDAY XVIII OF THE YEAR
4 St. John Vianney, Cure d'Ars
5 Dedication of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome
6 Transfiguration of the Lord
8 St. Dominic, Founder of Order of Preachers
9 SUNDAY XIX OF THE YEAR
10 St. Lawrence, Deacon & Martyr
11 St. Clare of Assisi, Foundress of Poor Clares
15 ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY
16 SUNDAY XX OF THE YEAR
20 St. Bernard, Abbot & Doctor
21 St. Pius X, Pope
23 SUNDAY XXI OF THE YEAR
24 St. Bartholomew, Apostle
25 St. Louis of France, King
27 St. Monica, Mother of St. Augustine
28 St. Augustine of Hippo, Bishop & Doctor
29 Beheading of St. John the Baptist
30 SUNDAY XXII OF THE YEAR
Portsmouth Institute: June 18 - 21, 2009
Veritas vos liberabit.
"A free spirit who believed in the Holy Spirit" was the way one of the speakers put it at the colloquium held at Portsmouth honoring the Catholic William F. Buckley. Approximately 120 people attended a series of lectures outlining the contribution made by the late William F. Buckley, author of more than 50 books, founder of the National Review Magazine and moderator of "Firing Line," a television program over which he presided for thirty-three years. Among those who spoke were Senator John Buckley, his brother, now Senior Judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who stressed the effect made by his parents in providing him with a strong Catholic faith that never wavered, a faith that he put into practice in his daily activity and publications. Other speakers included E. J. Dionne, a noted liberal and feature columnist of the Washington Post and graduate of Portsmouth in 1969, who acknowledged the influence Buckley had in shaping conservative opinion and the positive ways in which he expressed his faith. Editors of a number of Conservative periodicals attended as well as the editor-in-chief of the National Catholic Reporter. The event was organized by James MacGuire '70 who expressed the hope that similar conferences would be held at the Abbey in the future.
