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 Cor 3:18)
What is it about Beauty that draws us in?
It is healing. It offers a balm to soothe all that not right in the world, in our lives, and in our hearts.
By its very nature Beauty deepens our ease and trust in God.
It is hopeful. Beauty fills us with the knowledge that there is something deep, lasting, and more wonderful than anything we could imagine...
And the more that we let Beauty into our lives, the more we find that our lives change; we change. We cannot contemplate and participate in Beauty without being changed somehow by that which is beautiful.
Beauty transforms us.
This is seen in Scripture:
As Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands, he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while he conversed with the Lord. (Exodus 34:29)
I always loved to contemplate being a reflection of God's love to others, but how utterly more radical to move even deeper than reflecting His love -- to live in Him, to be transfigured more deeply in each moment by our response to His presence in our very hearts and bodies!
"As we gaze in the dark faith of prayer upon the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ, we are transformed into His likeness. As we leave the work of prayer for the work of charity in our world, we live in His likeness."
How beautiful is it then, that today is the Feast of the Transfiguration!
The following reflection (no pun intended!) is taken from August's issue of Magnificat - the Meditation of the Day:
Christ's Tabor radiance is a kind of mirror in which we glimpse the glory that God wills to give His friends. The resplendence of the Transfiguration reveals the fulness of life destined to be ours. The Transfiguration invites us to configuration. As we peer into the glory that pours from every pore of the transfigured Christ, we cast off everything unworthy of our personal relationship with the Infinite, and we take on the luster of the Son of God. Jesus gazes back at us with a luminous look of love that makes us desire to live His transparent beauty - to be luminaries. Silently from Tabor's splendor, the Savior begs: "Become what you behold!"
We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (1 Jn 3:2)
