4th or 5th February Trinity
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| Fra Angelico |
(5th Sunday before Easter)
Matthew 17: 1-13
After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother
of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.
There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright
as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And
behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit
with Jesus.
And
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish,
I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for
Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and
suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love.
In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”
When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in
awe and terror.
And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not
fear.”
And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no
one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”
And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First
Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares
everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come,
and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they
pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”
Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John
the Baptist.
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| Archangel Raphael, Woloschina |
5th February
Trinity
Matthew 17: 1-13
The sun sings. Most of us do
not hear the song; it is what the ancients called the harmonious music of the
spheres. The poet Goethe, in Faust, has the archangel Raphael say:
The
sun-orb sings, in emulation,
Mid
brother spheres, in his ancient round:
His
path predestined through Creation
He
ends with step of thunder-sound.[1]
Today’s Gospel reading
enables us to see the sun orb
singing. Christ descended from the Cosmos. He is the great out-pouring Spirit
of the Sun, which creates life. He now shines in radiance from within Jesus.
Two others, like planets circling, are with Him; one is Moses, the great leader
of his people down into spheres of earth. The other is Elijah, the prophet,
half angel, who works in sun, wind and air. They are singing together with
Christ, singing past, present and future into existence. A fourth voice joins
them from a cloud, the voice of the Father. ‘This is the son of my love; My
love is visible in Him. Hear Him; take him in.’ Matthew 17: 5 . Goethe continues:
He
ends with step of thunder-sound.
The
angels from his visage splendid
Draw
power, whose measure none can say;
The
lofty worlds, uncomprehended,
Are
bright as on the earliest day.
We have come to a time in
human history when we must begin to hear, to see, and to understand what
happens next, long ago, and now. Next Sunday Passiontide begins. Today’s
reading is a wake-up call—keep your eyes and ears and hearts open. Watch what
happens next. Christ sings to us: ‘Rise, and do not be afraid.’ Matthew 17:7 Christ
comes down the mountain, down from the heights, and walks the path toward his
own transformation.
Goethe’s poem goes on; and
now it is the archangel Michael who speaks:
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| Archangel Michael, Woloschina |
And
rival storms abroad are surging
From
seas to land, and land to sea.
A
chain of deepest action forging
Round
all, in wrathful energy.
There
flames a desolation, blazing
Before
the Thunder's crashing way:
Yet,
Lord, thy messengers are praising
The
gentle movement of Thy day.
Around us there is desolation
and frantic action. On Good Friday the sun’s light will go out. All will be
wrapped in the silence of the tomb. But on Easter Sunday, the joyful singing
light of a thousand suns will burst forth. The light will scatter and each
human being will receive a spark of new life. Will we see it? Hear it? Will we
understand? Will the archangels sing:
Though
still by them uncomprehended,
From
these the angels draw their power,
And
all Thy works, sublime and splendid,
Are
bright as in Creation's hour.
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