Transfigured--Afire with God

I love mountains—the long love affair God has with humanity is manifested through many biblical stories that feature mountains: at Mt. Horeb, Elijah encounters God in sheer silence; at Mt. Sinai, Moses receives the Torah from God; at Mt. Olive, Jesus prays and sweats blood before being arrested; and in the transfiguration, Jesus takes some disciples to Tabor to pray.  In all these places, God bestows a gift on the one who has successfully completed the arduous task of climbing a mountain.  

Biblical mountains are not simply a feature of the landscape, but also a suggestion of our inner life.  Coming down from Tabor, the apostles experience a literal and figurative “high.” It becomes a “transformation of consciousness that results from their experience on the mountain” (Keating, The Thomas Keating Reader 21).  The disciples are “gifted” with new vision resulting from their elevated encounter—they are changed.

Sometimes the tallest and most formidable mountains can be transfigured in unexpected ways.  

The 2005 president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Sr. Christine Vladimiroff, tells the story of one mountain’s transfiguration:

Once upon a time, in a remote, unfriendly village that clung to the side of a mountain lived an old woman whose habits seemed strange to her neighbors. Since the harsh winters kept most villagers huddled near their fireplaces, they did not cultivate the art of hospitality, and rarely spoke to anyone outside their immediate families. The mountainside, itself bleak and barren, beckoned no one toward its slopes, even in the less harsh seasons of the year. Only the children ventured to climb up its side; a daring feat that they were cautioned not to do by their parents.
      The children always met the old woman. Most of the time she was bending over, digging a little hole in the ground, and dropping a tiny something into it. The braver children asked: "What are you doing, old woman?" Her reply was always the same: "I am changing the face of the mountain."
        The children grew into adulthood, and most left the village to the world of cities. After several decades, one grown child returned to show her husband and children the harsh environment of her youth that she had often described for them. When she arrived, she did not recognize it. The mountainside was ablaze with a dazzling array of colorful flowers gently swaying in the breeze. Clusters of bushes and young trees lent their foliage as shade to the groups of children and adults who gathered along the base of the mountain. All spoke to each other, laughed, and played games.
        The visiting woman stopped one of the villagers to ask: "When did this happen? What happened to the bleak and barren mountainside of my childhood?" The villager replied: "Do you remember the strange old woman who lived here, the one who would wander up and down the mountainside? It was she who planted all these seeds. She went out every day, intent on her sowing; believing all the while the results would bear fruit."
          The visiting woman did recall the image of this old and bent figure from her childhood. At last, she understood the meaning of those words: "I am changing the face of the mountain (Vladimiroff 2005)

Our legacy, as individuals and communities, is this—we are about changing the face of the mountain – that’s why we show up each day—offering kindness to others, seeking what is ours to do.  We, like the old lady, plant seeds in a dark world believing that we, and the world, can be transformed. That is our solid hope. The fruit of our work is to see the Holy in the world around us.

We need grace to open our eyes to what’s there:  mountains ablaze with light and flowers…and burning bushes.  Elizabeth Barret Browning celebrates life lit with the love of God when she writes. 

Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries.

Today and every day, 

May we not only behold, but become part of the transfiguration, allowing ourselves to be turned into light. 

May we, by noticing, take off our shoes and see life “afire with God.” 

May we trust that God’s love for us is as solid and beautiful as the blooming mountain that we have faith in, even though we can’t always see it.

--------

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Aurora Leigh (New York: C. S. Francis & Co, 1857) p. 275-276 http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/barrett/aurora/aurora.html#7.

Keating, Thomas. The Thomas Keating Reader. 1st ed., Brooklyn, NY: Lantern Books, 2012. p. 21.

Christine Vladimiroff, OSB.  Leadership Conference of Women Religious. LCWR Presidential Speech: OAKS OF JUSTICE. Retrieved 1 March 2025. https://www.lcwr.org/lcwr-presidential-speech-oaks-justice.

~Dr. Robbie Pinter, Supervision Facilitator and Mentor