From Glory to Glory

“All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord,

are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,

as from the Lord who is the Spirit.” - 2 Corinthians 3:18

As Chair of the Math Department, one of my responsibilities is to observe many of our math classes in order to give feedback to our teachers on their instruction and to share an outside perspective on their classroom environment. Just as we ask our students to be reflective in their learning, we also desire our teachers to be reflective in their teaching. While I do my best to actively take notes that will inform my laters conversations with our math teachers, I often find myself in awe of my colleagues throughout those 55 minute classes. Not only am I privileged to witness their shining gifts and their glowing passion for teaching, but also their radiant and dynamic relationships with their students. In my mind’s eye, I take a mental snapshot of the wonder and amazement captured in these moments - the classroom transformed into a sacred space with the students and teacher transfigured before me.

In today’s Gospel, Peter has just witnessed one of the most incredible scenes in his life - Jesus transformed in appearance and transfigured with the glorious light of his coming resurrection, fulfilling the Old Testament revelation with Moses and Elijah, representing the law and the prophets, beside him. Not wanting this moment to end, Peter offers to build them tents to stay with them and hold onto this miraculous event as long as they can. Of course this moment cannot last forever. It remains just a glimpse of what it to come and the brilliance of what is promised to us: the paschal joy of Easter with the glorified Christ and his resurrection from the grave, the destruction of death, and all of creation made new in communion with God.

Like the Transfiguration, we have seen encounters with the glory of God before: Isaiah, Moses and the burning bush, and Jacob’s vision of angels. Maybe we have witnessed these encounters in our own lives or in the lives of others. But God never lets it stop at just an encounter because he then sends his transfigured people out to directly do something. God transforms us so we can take part in his transforming work of redemption and bring about God’s kingdom.

This reminds me of Thomas Merton’s remarkable story that also connects encounter, transformation, and mission. On March 18, 1958, he was standing at the corner of Fourth and Walnut in downtown Louisville, when his vision of an ordinary day and ordinary people going about their business ended up changing his life. As he looked at them, they suddenly changed. He wrote, “I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people ... I saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. To me they seemed to be walking around shining like the sun.”

How different would the world be if we could see ourselves and each other as God’s beloved, as precious and worthy of love, just as it was revealed to Merton in his shining moment. We would be in awe of one another and would love and reverence one another rather than easily discarding ourselves and our poor, our vulnerable, and our marginalized.

Merton had a rare moment of clarity as he saw ordinary people around him in an ordinary place transfigured, as Jesus was, ablaze with the glory of God. From Moses’ ordinary bush to Merton’s ordinary street corner, we see the sacramental nature of the world that surrounds us and acts as instruments for us to encounter God. In the sacraments, ordinary objects like bread and wine and water become charged with God’s transformative power. The more we spend time with God, the more we will learn to see as God sees. The more we aim to be transformed by the glory of God, the more we will be able to transform the world. And if we want to transform the world, then we have to allow ourselves to be transformed by God. Therefore, a life of discipleship is a constant movement between seeking the presence of God for renewal and transformation, and then going out to bring that transforming love to the world.

St. Ignatius often ended his letter to Jesuits going to the missions with the exhortation, ite inflammate omnia or “go set the world on fire.” Just as St. Ignatius wanted everyone to be set aflame with passion and zeal for the Kingdom of God, we will continually exhort our faculty, students, and alumni to be agents for change in the world, men and women for and with others and always for the Greater Glory of God.

Author: Joe Nava, Mathematics Department Chair