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Semi-Double Observation   Let the sight of the grandeur of Jesus transfigured prepare us for the contemplation shortly of the humiliation of His Passion. In St. John's Gospel (I: 51), our Lord applies the vision of Jacob's ladder to Himself, to show that in the midst of the persecutions of which He was the object, He was constantly under the protection of almighty God and His angels. So St. Hippolytus says: "As Esau planned his brother's death so the Jews plotted against Christ and the Church. Jacob must needs fly into a far country; in the same way Christ, thrust out by the unbelief of His Own nation, had to depart into Galilee where the Church sprung from the race of Gentiles, is given to Him as His Spouse. Moreover, at the end of time, these two peoples will be reconciled as were Esau and Jacob." Today's Mass, then, taken in connection with the breviary lessons for this week, acquires its full sense and helps us understand the true meaning for us of the Paschal mystery which we are about to celebrate. Jacob beheld the God of Glory; the apostles saw Jesus transfigured; soon the Church will show us the risen Savior. The venerated Abbot Dom Prosper Gueranger shares his reflections which we excerpt below from The Liturgical Year (pages 186-195 of Volume 5) for the Second Sunday of Lent:
After the Resurrection our three apostles made ample atonement for this cowardly and sinful conduct in the Garden of Olives, and acknowledged the mercy wherewith Jesus had sought to fortify them against temptation, by showing them His glory on Thabor a few days before His Passion. Let us not wait till we have betrayed Him; let us at once acknowledge that He is our Lord and our God. We are soon to be keeping the anniversary of His Sacrifice; like the apostles, we are to see Him humbled by His enemies and bearing, in our stead, the chastisements of divine justice. We must not allow our faith to be weakened, when we behold the fulfillment of those prophecies of David and Isaias, that the Messias is to be treated as a worm of the earth(1)-{Ps. xxi. 7} and be covered with wounds, so as to become like a leper, the most abject of men, and the Man of sorrows(2)-{Is. Liii. 3,4} We must remember the grand things of Thabor, and the adorations paid Him by Moses and Elias, and the bright cloud, and the voice of the eternal Father. The more we see Him humbled, the more must we proclaim His glory and divinity; we must join our acclamations with those of the angels and the four-and-twenty elders, whom St. John, one of the witnesses of the Transfiguration, heard crying out with a loud voice: 'The Lamb that was slain, is worthy to receive power and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and benediction!'(3)-{Apoc. v 12} Let us purify the soul by the confession of our sins, by compunction of heart, by the love of God; and let us give back its dignity to the body, by making it bear the yoke of penance, that so it may be, henceforth, subservient and docile to the soul, and, on the day of the general resurrection, may partake in her endless bliss. Let us go up the mountain with Jesus; there we shall not be disturbed by the noise of earthly things. Let us there spend our forty days with Moses and Elias, who long ago sanctified this number by their fasts. Thus, when the Son of Man shall have risen from the dead, we will proclaim the favors He has mercifully granted us on Thabor.
John was given the name "John of God" by his own bishop who saw in John, a true saint. John died saving others. After many close calls rescuing people from the streets and burning hospitals, he dove into the River Xenil to save a drowning lad and succumbed to pneumonia from the cold, icy waters at the age of 55.
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The ancient liturgist, the Abbot Rupert, interprets this Gospel in accord with the ordination of new priests. The Church would have us think upon the sublime dignity which has been conferred upon the newly ordained priests. They are represented the three apostles, who were taken by Jesus to the high mountain, and favored with the sight of His glory. …These priests, who have just been ordained, and for whom you have been offering up your prayers and fast, will enter into the cloud with the Lord. They will offer up the Sacrifice of your salvation in the silence of the sacred Canon. God will descend into their hands, for your sake; and though they are mortal and sinners, yet will they, each day, be in closest communication with the Divinity. The forgiveness of your sins, which you are now preparing to receive from your heavenly Father, is to come to you through their hands; their superhuman power will bring it down from heaven upon your souls. It is this that God has cured our pride. The serpent said to us, through our first parents: 'Eat of this fruit, and you shall be as gods.' We unfortunately believed the tempter, and the fruit of our transgression was death. God took pity on us, and resolved to save us; but it is by the hands of men that He would save us, and this in order to humble our haughtiness. His own eternal Son became Man, and He left other men after Him, to whom He said: 'As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you.'(1)- {St. John xx. 21} Let us then, show honor to these men, who have been raised to so high a dignity. One of the duties imposed on us by our holy religion is respect to the priesthood.
There is a commemoration today for Saint John of God, known for his work in the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. He lived in the 16th Century in Portugal and Spain. One day while traveling he came across a small child with no shoes. Because his own shoes would not fit the child he lifted Him upon his shoulders and carried him, offering solace and help. While stopping to drink, the child revealed Himself as the Infant Christ Child and presented John a pomagranate, the fruit of the region which is sweet and stood for charity. It was crowned with a cross, representing sacrifice, which Jesus said would be the "Cross of Granada" where John, at the age of 42, would establish the Brother Hospitallers of St. John of God in the year 1537.
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Oremus.
Commemoration of St. John of God Let us pray.
Commemoration of St. John of God In illo tempore: Assumpsit Jesus Petrum, et Jacobum, et Joannem fratrem ejus, et duxit illos in montem excelsum seorsum : et tranfiguratus est ante eos. Et resplenduit facies ejus sicut sol : vestimenta autem ejus facta sunt alba sicut nix. Et ecce apparuerunt illis Moyses et Elias cum eo loquentes. Respondens autem Petrus, dixit ad Jesum : "Domine, bonum est nos hic esse: si vis, faciamus hic tria tabernacula, tibi unum, Moysi unum, et Eliae unum." Adhuc eo loquente, ecce nubes lucida obumbravit eos. Et ecce vox de nube, dicens : "Hic est Filius neus dilectus, in Quo Mihi bene complacui : ipsum audite." Et audientes Discipuli, ceciderunt in faciam suaj, et timuerunt valde. Et accessit Jesus, et tetigit eos, dixitque eis : "Surgite, et Nolite timere." Levantes autem oculos suos, neminem viderunt, nisi solum Jesum. Et descendentibus illis de monte, praecepit eis Jesus, dicens : "Nemini dixeritis visionem, donec Filius hominis a mortuis resurgat."
At that time Jesus taketh Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart : and He was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun : and His garments became white as snow. And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with Him. And Peter answering, said to Jesus: "Lord, it is good for us to be here: If Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moss, and one for Elias." And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And lo, a voice out of the cloud, saying : "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him." And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face and were very much afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said to them : "Arise, and fear not." And they lifting up their eyes saw no one, but only Jesus. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: "Tell the vision to no man till the Son of Man be risen from the dead."
Secret for St. John of God
Secret for St. John of God
Postcommunion for St. John of God
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