The transfigured gaze is properly that of lovers or a woman who has recently given birth towards her newborn … it is an ability to see beyond until you grasp what others cannot even imagine. If this is the wonderful side of love, we must never forget that entering into this way of looking that reflects the habitual way in which the Most High looks at us and transfigures us continuously, we must not forget that there is connected to the need for an essential immolation. For Abram on the night of God’s passage as Lord of his life as for the disciples on the night of sharing their Master’s prayer there is a step to take that requires a willingness to sacrifice one’s own way of thinking and even to be afraid. Abram’s terror best expresses our struggle to let God pass through our lives like a steaming brazier that consumes our every need for control. The apostle Paul does not hold back tears in reminding us that our citizenship is in heaven and that our whole life is waiting to be transfigured because we do not have the power to do for ourselves what we can only receive as a gift. The evangelist Luke carefully avoids terms that might be ambiguous and too enchanting for the ears of his readers and prefers to say that while he prayed his face changed in appearance, it became something else. Of Peter and companions he says that they were oppressed by sleep. Only when we lose control can we see the kingdom of God which means recognizing the paschal lordship of the risen Jesus who fulfills the Law and the Prophets in a totally different way: at night and always in exodus from ourselves.

Commentary by b. Michael David, osb Community of the Koinonia de la Visitation

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey