Day 10
The Transfiguration
A glimpse of what is coming
c. 1609
Grace to ask for
Lord, let me see You as You truly are — so that I can follow You even when You are hard to see.
"There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light."
Matthew 17:2
Composition of Place
Go up the mountain with Peter, James, and John. You are tired from the climb. Then: light.
Points for Meditation
Why before the Passion
The Transfiguration happens just before Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem. The disciples needed to see this before Gethsemane — to know what the suffering servant truly is, behind the suffering. God gives us glimpses of glory before the descents into darkness. They are meant to sustain us there.
Moses and Elijah
The Law and the Prophets appear with Jesus — not as competitors, but as witnesses. Everything in the Old Testament was pointing here. The whole story of God's faithfulness to Israel finds its fulfillment in this person on this mountain. History is not random. It has been moving toward something.
"Listen to him"
The Father's only instruction: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." Not: admire him. Not: write about him. Listen. The whole of the Exercises is a school in listening — learning to hear beneath the noise of the world and the noise of our own desires the quiet voice of the one who knows the way.
Colloquy
Ask for the grace of remembering your own glimpses of glory — the moments when the reality behind ordinary life became visible. Ask for the faith to carry those glimpses into the darkness that may lie ahead.
Remain in silence for a few minutes.
Do not rush to the next exercise.