Novena to St Dominic - Day 8
Published by Dominican Nuns Ireland in Reflections (Dominican) · 6 August 2023
Tags: Dominic, Transfiguration
Tags: Dominic, Transfiguration
The feast of the Transfiguration is a celebration of God’s revelation. The glory of God that was veiled in the law and prophets - from Moses to Elijah - is now unveiled before the Church,to the apostles and us who receive their message.
‘Christ, during his earthly life, was always resplendent with the divine light, which remained invisible for most men.The Transfiguration was not a phenomenon circumscribed in time and space, no change took place in Christ at that moment, even in his human nature, but a change was produced in the consciousness of the apostles, who received for a moment the ability to see their Master as He was, resplendent in the eternal light of his divinity’. (V. Lossky)
St Gregory Palamas says in his homily on the Transfiguration: ’The light of the Lord’s Transfiguration had no beginning and no end.’
‘And we, with our unveiled faces reflecting like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect; this is the work of the Lord who is Spirit.’ (2 Cor 3,8)
And so St. Dominic is lumen ecclesiae because his entire life was oriented towards Christ, lumen gentium. "As light, Dominic is like the moon rather than the sun," says our Master of the Order fr. Gerard OP. "Jesus is the only true light of the word, and just like all of us who are baptized in Christ, Dominic merely reflects the light of Christ. This is what the fathers of the Church call as lunar ministry, to reflect the light of Christ, as the moon reflects the light of the sun. And we know that the brightness of moonshine depends on the moon’s position in relation to the sun. The brightness of the light we bear depends largely on our relation with Christ. Dominic is a brilliant lumen ecclesia because his entire life is oriented and “exposed” to Christ; there is nothing in him that blocks the light from Christ, and so Dominic reflected this light more fully and brilliantly."
The Divine light - the splendour of truth enlightens not only our intellect but also transforms all our being.
“Everybody was enfolded in the wide embrace of Dominic’s charity, and since he loved everyone, everyone loved him.” It was his personal law to be happy with other people. “Without difficulty as soon as they met him, everyone began to love him”. “His figure shone with a sweet, amiable being; he was no less respected for that, on the contrary, everyone’s heart was very easily captivated by him, and you need only look at him to feel attracted towards him. Whether travelling with his companions or in others’ homes, whether with the great, with princes, with prelates, everywhere he happened to be he abounded in talks and examples that led souls to despise the world and love God; always a man of the Gospel in words and deeds.”(Libellus nn103 )
Today St. Dominic communicates to us the passion of taking the Lord’s Gospel everywhere, to everyone, those far away, the poor, students, the little and the intelligent. He wanted the fire of the love of Christ to be kindled in people’s minds and hearts.
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