Armodoxy for Today: Transfigured Life

Part 5 – On the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ

Today we look at the practical application of the Transfiguration in our lives. Yes, that’s right, the Transfiguration is a moment in history, but it touches us today, two-thousand years after the event.

Reviewing, during the Transfiguration, Jesus radiates Light giving us a glimpse of his Divinity. On day two, we found the reaction that Peter had is no different than ours when in the presence of the Eternal. We are grounded in the secular and opt for the profane rather than the sacred, and so the challenge is to rise from the confines that bind us. The Call is from God to “Listen to him,” was the focus of day three, which is an alignment with Love, unconditional and pure. The Call transcends our ethnicity, nationality and our religious preferences, as we learned from the Vartavar connection. The invitation is to humanity and humankind. On day four, we learned that Jesus transfers the Light from himself to us – to everyone – giving an opportunity to participate in the Divine Nature.

On this final day, we bring together all that we have learned and understand that the Divine Nature is accessible to us all – young and old, rich and poor – so that the Kingdom of God is at hand. If each of us has within us the Graces and Love of God, our first and foremost obligation is to one another – to love, to respect, to honor, to understand, appreciate this gift of God in our fellow human being.

St. John, explains this:
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world… Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God… Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us… If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

And therefore, peace is possible, because the obstacles to peace have been removed. Seeing God not without us but within us. The Greek saint Nektarios beautifully proclaims, Seek God daily. But seek Him in your heart, not outside it. And when you find Him, stand with fear and trembling, like the Cherubim and the Seraphim, for your heart has become a throne of God.

Not only is peace possible but peace is at hand. The Transfiguration is a reminder that we are of God and our return to God is through the Love we express to one another. Once again, hear the voice saying loud and clear: Listen to Him!

We pray, Lord, I open my receptors, my ears, my eyes and all my senses to receive the Light of the Transfiguration. May I share that Light and see it in my brothers and sisters in this world. Amen.