The Transfiguration: Awakening to a Cosmic Transformation
By Sister Estela Gómez
Transfiguration, transformation. (Mark 9:2–10)
They went up into a mountain to pray, contemplate; Jesus goes up into the mountain; he invites Peter, James and John and talks with them. There the transfiguration takes place, the Glory of God is shown, the fullness of being is shown. “Glory” means God’s transparency in the human reality.
Life is transformed permanently, the evolutionary cosmos transforms itself.
In the experiences of this time of lockdown, losses, departures, pain—and awakenings—we discover transcendence. Our actions, attitudes, contacts, absences, illness. Can we only express the resulting pain? Can we discover and perceive the deepest learning to which life invites us today?
In this time, the close experience of death challenges us, opens us to other transcendental realities. In the face of the death of a loved one, if we transcend the pain of the absence, we can flow and perceive the presence of the loved one in another way. The body is transformed. We connect with the cosmos that presents us the diversity of expressions of its life, what is transcendental in every life. This changes us and invites us to live in permanent awakening. We feel ONE with all. We come to realize the interconnection of all life. It invites to a change of attitude and conscience.
Jesus’ experience of connecting with Elijah and Moses transformed him. He surprised his disciples; they listened to the expression of love that showed the essence of the message. They started AWAKENING. We come to realize the transcendence of life and the interconnection we can experience if we are open to the diverse. The surprise comes about in the perceptions and the expression of the Love of God that transforms us.
Contemplate, perceive, feel, think—in the midst of the chaos—of the transformations that are taking place, centering us in the message of a GOD who LOVES. Learn to listen and look without fear. God is present in the attraction that every being has in the cosmos. We are invited to AWAKEN to see the transfiguration, the “Glory” that is God’s transparency in all. Descend the mountain and find the conflicting realities of our land, our everyday life. We need to see from this new perspective and proceed from there. Listen attentively to love in the midst of what we are living.
This time of pandemic has been and still is a favorable time to AWAKEN to the transformation into a cosmic conscience and connect with all the living beings in a new way. This unbalanced time invites us to feel and think of the transformations we need to make in everyday life, in the structures we have, in the systems we create. It invites us to go up to the mountain to contemplate. As it happens, when the caterpillar turns into a butterfly, the imaginal cells come together but there is a struggle; the other cells want to destroy them. Transformations are not always harmonious. Sometimes they are traumatic until many imaginal cells are produced; when they come together, they become a butterfly. This image of transformation shows us the importance of coming together as Jesus did with Peter, James and John and recognizing that Glory of God, that LOVE, that transparency in everything; that is the glory of God. Descend to every reality to challenge ourselves together in action.