Stronger Than Dirt
No, still stonger...
^ I’m reaching waaaay back and giving away that I’m old.^
…and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. (Mark 9:3)
Ajax laundry detergent might have been stronger than dirt, but the way Jesus appeared at his mountaintop Transfiguration went beyond that.
What his Apostles Peter, James, and John saw on the mountain was supernatural. The radiance was such that no human effort or concoction — not even Ajax with ultramarine-plus — could produce it. St. Mark and several of his English translators lapse into adverbs (intensely, exceedingly, radiantly, ) to try to get at it, because earthbound language is inadequate to convey what was seen.
An engaging Substack called Carmelite Quotes invited discussion of parts of The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2581-2584) that included the Transfiguration. The host posed this question…
What does it mean for you to “seek the face of God” — and how is that longing fulfilled in the face of Christ at the Transfiguration?
… to which yours truly offered this thought:
We need supernatural grace to behold him. One of the Transfiguration accounts (Mark 9:3) tells us that the brightness was beyond anything humanly possible. So our life of prayer, making us available to supernatural grace, is essential.
Peter, James, and John went up the mountain because Jesus brought them along. They didn’t do much except show up. And they received the grace of a supernatural vision that would help them understand the resurrection of Christ, his fulfillment of Old Testament Law and Prophecy, and Jesus as fully human and fully divine.
Our prayer life is a “showing up” to receive supernatural grace. It won’t likely be in a vision of the magnitude of the Transfiguration. Supernatural grace doesn’t mean you’ll start levitating.
But you’ll be in place to receive from the supernatural giver of every good gift, giving faith that knows what your intellect cannot grasp, hope that heals and transcends the limitations imposed by experience and memory, and love that reaches graciously beyond the preoccupations of the self.*
God can give supernatural insight through the simplest of prayers, as he did for the boy Samuel who said nothing more than, Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to those who ask, seek and knock.
But as I said above, a big piece of prayer is showing up. Because one of the greatest supernatural discoveries is that the Lord of the universe is already there looking for you,
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)
Simple, but stronger than dirt. Or Ajax with ultramarine-plus.
* I mentioned Carmelite spirituality in this piece, and my expression of the supernatural power of faith, hope and love is owed to the Carmelite Order’s St. John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book II, Chapter 6.