A Short Reflection drawn from Divine Intimacy
This year I have begun praying with a book that has nourished generations of Catholics: Divine Intimacy by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, a Discalced Carmelite. Its daily meditations do not merely speak about prayer; they gently lead the soul into prayer. The meditation for the Transfiguration speaks with particular clarity to our work of Eucharistic reparation.
On this feast we recall that the soul of Jesus, personally united to the Word, enjoyed the Beatific Vision. Yet during the years of His earthly life He concealed that glory, appearing “in the likeness of sinful flesh.”¹ Only for a few brief moments on Tabor did He allow some rays of His blessed soul to shine forth, so that Peter, James, and John might be strengthened for the Passion that was to come. His face shone as the sun, His garments became white as snow, and then the vision disappeared.
Father Gabriel writes: “The Apostles raised their eyes and saw nothing save Jesus alone.”²
Jesus alone.
The same Jesus who once revealed His glory on the mountain now remains with us in the Eucharist, but the glory is completely veiled. On Tabor He hid His majesty most of the time. In the tabernacle He hides it always. Faith alone sees what the eyes cannot. The Heart whose glory shone forth on Tabor is the same Heart present in every consecrated Host, often surrounded by the forgetfulness, indifference, and outrages of which He Himself complained: “Behold this Heart which has so loved men, and in return finds only ingratitude.”³
We are invited, then, to make reparation. Not merely to expiate our own sins, but to console that wounded Heart and to offer, in the name of the whole Church, acts of love and reverence before every tabernacle in the world.⁴ Spiritual consolations are never an end in themselves. When the vision fades, we are called to come down the mountain with Jesus alone and to follow Him, even to Calvary.⁵
On Tabor they saw Jesus alone. Before the tabernacle we seek Jesus alone. In the Holy Eucharist we adore Jesus alone. And one day, by His grace, we hope to see Him no longer hidden by faith, but face to face.
O Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, you who saw both the glory of Tabor and the desolation of the Cross, teach us to remain faithful when the light is hidden. Obtain for us the grace to repair, by our love and our reverence, the coldness and the sacrileges that wound the Heart of your Son. Make our hearts pure dwelling places for Him who remains with us, Jesus alone, until the day we see Him face to face. Amen.
Endnotes
- Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., Divine Intimacy, Meditation 105, “The Transfiguration” (citing Rom8:3).
- Ibid. (drawing on Mt 17:1-9 and the disappearance of the vision: “The Apostles raised their eyes and saw nothingsave Jesus alone”).
- Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., Divine Intimacy, meditation “Reparation” (quoting the words of theSacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque).
- Ibid., together with Pius XI, Miserentissimus Redemptor, on the dual motive of justice and of love in the work ofreparation.
- Divine Intimacy, Meditation 105 (the call to descend from Tabor with “Jesus alone” and follow Him to Calvary).
- A relic from Mount Tabor, received by Terelyn Santos in February 1998, was later shared with our prayer group.