With Moses and Elijah in the dazzling presence of Jesus, the voice of God is heard from the cloud, pleading with the chosen apostles: Peter, James, and John: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him!” Indeed, the feast of the Transfiguration is a beautiful reminder of who Jesus is and how much he loves us.
In his transfigured glory, Jesus confirmed the Law and the Prophets, and he also strengthened the Apostles for what was about to come. The Exodus prepares for the Transfiguration. The liturgical readings of the weeks immediately preceding the Transfiguration relate how Moses and the Israelites were led by God in a cloud and pillar of fire. Fleeing from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 13:21), they were reassured that they were not alone in the dangerous wilderness journey ahead. God, who had spoken ‘man to man’ with Moses, was protecting and guiding them into freedom. This impossible and awesome friendship between the triune God and the meekest of men, Moses, made it possible many generations later for Mary to become Mother of Jesus, the Word God incarnate.
St John Henry Newman understood the fair love of all friendship as reflecting God’s friendship with his adopted children. In his own spiritual wilderness, twelve years before converting in 1845 to the Catholic faith, the young Newman surrendered himself to God, acknowledging the Light of Christ as leading the way before him. In 1833, John Henry Newman was near death in a foreign land. Suffering alienation, extreme anxiety, and terrible physical illness, Newman understood that God had saved him from physical and spiritual death. He was strengthened, even as the first apostles were strengthened and the Israelites before them. The beautiful poem Newman wrote upon his recovery is better known as the hymn ‘Lead, Kindly Light’; however, he titled the poem ‘Pillar of the Cloud’ from Exodus 13:20-21:
Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead thou me on!
Ruth D. Lasseter
SDC Associate
Indiana, USA
