On the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, August 6, 2026

Today is the great Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on Mount Thabor.

Dom Prosper Gueranger explained the meaning of this feast in The Liturgical Year and  how it, coming in a month replete with one feast after another (we have had already this month the Feast of Saint Peter's Chains and the Commemoration of the Holy Machabees, the Feast of Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, the Feast of the Finding of the Body of Saint Stephen, the Protomartyr, the Feast of Saint Dominic de Guzman, the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows), was instituted by Pope Calistus III in 1457:

“O God, who in the glorious transfiguration of thine only-begotten Son, didst confirm the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of the fathers: and who, in the voice which came from the bright cloud, didst in a wonderful manner fore-signify our adoption as sons: mercifully vouchsafe to make us fellow-heirs of that King of glory, and the sharers of his bliss.” Such is the formula which sums up the prayer of the Church and shows us her thoughts on this day of attestation and of hope.

We must first notice that the glorious transfiguration has already been twice brought before us on the sacred cycle, viz.: on the second Sunday of Lent, and on the preceding Saturday. What does this mean, but that the object of the present solemnity is not so much the historical fact already known, as the permanent mystery attached to it; not so much the personal favor bestowed on Simon Peter and the sons of Zebedee, as the accomplishment of the great message then entrusted to them for the Church? Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of man be risen from the dead. The Church, born from the open Side of the Man-God on the Cross, was not to behold him face to face on earth; after his Resurrection, when he had sealed his alliance with her in the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, it is on faith alone that her love was to be fed. But by the testimony which takes the place of sight, her lawful desires to know him were to be satisfied. Wherefore, for her sake, giving truce, one day of his mortal life, to the ordinary law of suffering and obscurity he had taken upon him for the world’s salvation, he allowed the glory which filled his blessed soul to transpire. The King of Jews and Gentiles revealed himself upon the mountain, where his calm splendor eclipsed forevermore the lightning of Sinai: the covenant of the eternal alliance was declared, not by the promulgation of a law of servitude engraven upon stone, but by the manifestation of the Lawgiver himself, coming as Bridegroom to reign in grace and beauty over hearts. Elias and Moses, representing the prophets and the Law whereby his coming was prepared, from their different starting points, met beside him, like faithful messengers reaching their destination; they did homage to the Masters of their now finished mission, and effaced themselves before Him at the voice of the Father: This is my beloved Son! Three witnesses the most trustworthy of all assisted at this solemn scene: the disciple of faith, the disciple of love, and that other son of thunder who was to be the first to seal with his blood both the faith and the love of an Apostle. By his order they kept religiously, as beseemed them, the secret of the King, until the day when the Church could be the first to receive it from their predestined lips.

But did this precious mystery take place on the 6th of August? More than one Doctor of sacred rites affirms that it did. At any rate, it was fitting to celebrate it in the month dedicated to eternal Wisdom. It is she the brightness of eternal light, the unspotted mirror and image of God’s goodness, who, shedding grace upon the Son of man, made him on this day the most beautiful amongst all his brethren, and dictated more melodiously than ever to the inspired singer the accents of the Epithalamium: My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the king.

Seven months ago, the mystery was first announced by the gentle light of the Epiphany; but by the virtue of the mystical seven here revealed once more, the “beginnings of blessed hope” which we then celebrated as children with the Child Jesus, have grown together with him and with the Church; and the latter, established in unspeakable peace by the full growth which gives her to her Souse, calls upon all her children to grow like her by the contemplation of the Son of God, even to the measure of the perfect age of Christ. We understand then why the Liturgy of today repeats the formulas and chants of the glorious Theophany: Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee: it is because on the mountain together with our Lord the Bride also is glorified, having the glory of God.

In 1453 Byzantium, the capital of the Eastern empire, fell before the Turkish janissaries, and three years later Mahomet II invaded Belgrade on the very outskirts of the Western empire. It might have been expected that all Europe would hasten to the aid of the besieged fortress, for it this last dyke were to fall, Hungary, Austria and Italy would be overwhelmed and the peoples of the North and West would share the fate of the East, that life in death, that irremediable sterility of soil and intelligence which still holds captive the once brilliant Greece. But this imminent danger only resulted in deepening the breach in Christian unity, and the Christian nations were at the mercy of a few thousand infidels. Only the Papacy was true to itself in the midst of all this egoism and perfidy. Truly Catholic in its thoughts, its labours, its sufferings, as in its joys and triumphs, it took up the common cause which had been basely betrayed by kings and princes. The powerful were deaf to the Pope's appeals, but he turned to the humble and, trusting more in prayer to the God of armies than in military tactics, he sought for the deliverers of Christendom among the poor.

It was then that John Capistran, the saint of to-day [March 28], attained the consummation of his glory and his sanctity. At the head of a few poor men of good-will, unknown peasants gathered together by the Franciscan Friars, this 'poor man of Christ' undertook to defeat the strongest and best organized army of the century. On July 14, 1456, he broke through the Ottoman lines with John Hunyades, the only one of the Hungarian nobles who would accompany him, and revictualled Belgrade; and on July 22, feeling that he could no longer elude the defensive, he threw himself, to the stupefaction of Hunyades, on the enemy entrenchments. His troops were armed only with flails and pitchforks, and their only strategy was the name of Jesus. John had inherited this victorious battle-cry from his master, Bernardine of Siena. the Psalmist said: 'Some trust in chariots and some in horses: but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God.' This name, so holy and so terrible, proved once more the salvation of the people. At the end of that memorable day twenty-four thousand Turks lay dead on the field of battle; three hundred cannon and all the spoils of the infidels were in the hands of the Christians and, and Mahomet II was seeking a distant hiding-place for his shame. The news of this victory, so like that of Gedeon, reached Rome on August 6, and Pope Callistus III decreed that henceforth the Universal Church should keep a solemn commemoration of the Transfiguration of Our Lord on that day, for it was with the soldiers of the Cross as with the heroes of Israel, 'they got not the possession of the land by their own sword: neither did their own arm save them, but thy right hand and thy arm and the light of thy countenance because thou wast pleased with them,' as with Thy beloved Son on Mount Thabor. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year.)

The work of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is His work. We are but his foot-soldiers in the Army of Christ. Any victory in this life, including the victories that we win over the wiles of the tempter in our own lives, is the result of the graces that Our Lord won for us on the wood of the Holy Cross and that flow into our souls through the loving hands of Our Lady, she who is the Mediatrix of All Graces. We have been baptized and confirmed to bear witness to Him and His Holy Church, not to serve as reflexive and uncritical servants of the lords of this world.

Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ took three of His Apostles, Saints Peter, James and John, up to the top of Mount Thabor, where He was transfigured before them in glory, showing them the same glory He had from all eternity with the Father, Who said, "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him." Appearing with Our Lord were Moses and Elias. The three Apostles were permitted to experience the image of Our Lord's Transfiguration in order to provide them with a bit of consolation during His Passion and Death, that they might call to mind the vision of His radiant glory as all appeared in human terms to be have been lost with His Death on the wood of the Holy Cross. It is that very same transfigured glory that Our Lord showed forth as He manifested His Easter Victory over sin and death in the Resurrection.

It is no accident that Our Lord took the same three Apostles with Him as He suffered His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Just as Saints Peter, James and John fell down on the ground when they saw the image of Our Lord's transfigured glory on Mount Thabor, so would they fall fast asleep as the Divine Master demonstrated the depths of the horror afflicting His soul as He sweated droplets of His Most Precious Blood while contemplating all of the sins of all men until the end of time that would cause Him to undergo His fearful Passion and Death.

This incomparable feast day reminds us that Our Lord wants us to remember that there an empty tomb in Jerusalem because He got up and walked out of it, promising us that our own bodies will be transfigured in glory at the end of time if our souls persevere in states of Sanctifying Grace until the point of our dying breaths. And Our Lord wants us to remember that He will provide us a bit of consolation every now and then as we walk the rocky road that leads to the narrow gate of Life.

We must not look for the consolation. However, He will send us a bit of consolation in order to encourage us as we keep our hands on the plough in order to furrow the ground so as to bring forth a rich harvest of souls for the Catholic Church. Our daily crosses are ever with us. They are the means of our sanctification and salvation, given freely to His own Most Sacred Heart through His Most Blessed Mother's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. If some bit of transfiguring joy comes our way now and then, thank God for it, but be ever ready to look at the Cross, without which it is impossible to know the glory of an unending Easter Sunday of joy in Paradise.

We are asked to bear the cross of humiliation and calumny and rejection and wordily hardship during this era of apostasy and betrayal by clinging only to true shepherds in the Catholic catacombs who make no concessions to conciliarism or to the nonexistent legitimacy of its false shepherds.

The crosses of the present moment as the Church Militant on earth undergoes her Mystical Passion, Death and Burial have been perfectly fitted for her from all eternity by the very hand of God Himself, Who has willed from all eternity that we would be alive in the midst of this era of apostasy and betrayal. We must, therefore, lift high the Cross in our own daily lives, recognizing that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has work for us to do that only we can do as the consecrated slaves of His own Most Sacred Heart through the Immaculate Heart of His Most Blessed Mother. We do this work without seeking consolation, simply accepting that we will see the radiant glory of the Beatific Vision of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost for all eternity if we persevere in a state of Sanctifying Grace to the point of our dying breaths.

What is this work?

To sanctify our souls on a daily basis by assisting at the true offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered by true priests who are not "una cum" Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

To spend time on our knees in prayer before Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's Real Presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament if this at all possible in this time of apostasy and betrayal.

To pray as many Rosaries each day as our states-in-life permit as we attempt to fulfill Our Lady's Fatima Message in our own lives.

To be enrolled in the Brown Scapular and to keep its obligations faithfully.

To have our homes Enthroned to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

To keep the Nine First Fridays and the Five First Saturdays. To make a weekly Confession of our sins to a true bishop or a true priest.

To spend at least fifteen minutes a day reading a passage from Scripture and to make it a point to do some spiritual reading after making one's Nightly Examination of Conscience.

To pass out blessed Green Scapulars and Miraculous Medals and Rosaries (with Rosary instruction booklets) to those whom God's Holy Providence places into our lives each day.

To pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory (as many by name as possible) each day.

To pray for the eternal good of those with whom we are friendly and those who have rejected us and those who are the open enemies of the Catholic Faith.

To forgive all injuries readily as we hold no grudges at all against anyone for any reason whatsoever. (Why do so many traditional Catholics all across the vast spectrum of the eccleasiastical divide seem to have difficulty grapsing this concept and treating those they believe, perhaps erroneously, have "offended" them with contempt?)

To perform each of the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.

To defend the Social Reign of Christ the King and Mary our Immaculate Queen.

To accept whatever physical or emotional or spiritual sufferings that come our way as being perfectly fitted for us from all eternity, remembering that nothing we can endure in this life even comes close to equaling the horror that one of our least Venial Sins caused Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to suffer in His Sacred Humanity during His Passion and Death as such a "least" Venial Sin caused Our Lady's Immaculate Heart to be pierced through and through with Seven Swords of Sorrow.

To accept rejection and calumny and ostracism with equanimity and with joy as the price of discipleship, the price of fidelity in refusing to associate with the apostates and by refusing to concede for one moment that the counterfeit church of conciliarism is anything other than a diabolical ape of the Catholic Church.

Father Benedict Baur, O.S.B., provided us with this cogent commentary on today's great feast in The Light of the World, Volume II:

"The exalted King of Glory, come let us adore Him." With these words the Invitatory of the Divine Office introduces today's feast. The Transfiguration of Christ is a feast which celebrates the exaltation of Christ the Lord. The patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament, represented by Moses and Elias, give testimony on Tabor and confess Him to be the Messias predicted in the Old Testament. The voice of the Father is heard from heaving saying, "This is my beloved Son; . . . hear yet Him" (Gospel). Christ's transfiguration on Mount Tabor assures us of Hid divinity and confirms us in our faith and our hope.

We believe firmly in Jesus, the King of Glory, who will come again with power and glory to judge the living and the dead. "We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ (His second coming with great power]; but having been made eyewitnesses of His majesty [transfiguration]. For He received from god the Father honor and glory; this voice coming down to Him from the excellent glory: This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, her yet Him. And the voice we have heard brought from heaven when we were with Him in the holy mount" (Epistle). The glory in which Peter saw the transfigured Lord on the mountain, gives Peter and all of us the certainty that the Lord will later appear in His glory, and that even as man He is King of Glory. "Glory and wealth are in His house, and His justice remaineth forever and ever" (Offertory).

Although He was the Son of God, "He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted Him and hath given Him a name which is above all names. That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, . . . in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2: 8-11). The prophets of the Old Testament also give testimony of Him (Acts 10: 43). We who see Him in His glory on Tabor through Peter "have the more firm prophetical word, whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts" (Epistle). We believe; we adore the King of Glory. "I speak my words to the King" (Gradual). My thoughts, my wishes, my time, my strength, my love, my sacrifices, all center on Him.

Christ's divinity is the source of our hope. "We look for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of His glory" (Phil. 3: 20-21). We have confidence that our body will be made like the body of the Lord, which was transfigured on Tabor. The liturgy reminds us, "Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called and should be the sons of God.. . . . We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like to Him" (I John 3" 1 f.). In the transfiguration of the Lord on Tabor we possess a visible image as well as a guarantee of our eventual transfiguration in body and soul. Through the transfiguration on Tabor, O Father, "Thou didst wonderfully foreshow the perfect adoption of sons by a voice coming down in a shining cloud" (Collect). These words of the Father, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Gospel), are spoken also to us who are joined to Christ through baptism. Because we are children, we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ, "the King of Glory, and sharers in this same glory" (Collect).

"Thou art beautiful above the sons of men; grace is poured abroad in Thy lips. My heart hath uttered a good word. I speak my works to the King. Alleljua, alleljua. He is the brightness of eternal light, the unspotted mirror, and the image of His goodness" (Gradual).

"In this transfiguration it was indeed intended principally to take away from the hearts of the disciples the scandal of the cross, lest the degradation of His voluntary passion should shake the faith of those men to whom had been revealed the excellence of His hidden majesty" (St. Leo). In times when the kingdom of Satan displays its power and the kingdom of Christ is most hard pressed, the Church lifts up her eyes to Tabor to see the splendor of the hidden glory of God. "Thou alone are the Lord. Thou alone art most high," the King of Glory. (Father Benedict Baur, O.S.B., The Light of the World, Volume II, B. Herder Book Company, Saint Louis Missouri, 1954, pp. 430-431.)

We must remember to lift our own eyes up to Mount Thabor as well in the midst of the terrible sufferings afflicting the Church Militant on earth and the the thus of the world in which we live at a time when evil is "good," falsehoods are "truth," and the supposed "pope" and his "bishops" unmask themselves every as bold antitheses of Holy Mother Church's Apostles, Martyrs, Fathers, Doctors and Confessors and Virgins. The Church Militant on earth is undergoing her mystical burial now, which is why we need to look at Mount Thabor today, the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The readings for today's Matins in the Divine Office today include reflections by Pope Saint Saint Leo the Great and Saint John Chyrsostom:

The Lord taketh chosen witnesses, and in their presence, revealeth His glory. That form of body which He had in common with other men, He so transfigured with light, that His Face did shine as the sun, and His raiment became exceeding white as snow. Of this metamorphosis the chief work was to remove from the hearts of the disciples the stumbling at the Cross. Before their eyes was unveiled the splendour of His hidden majesty, that the lowliness of His freely-chosen suffering might not confound their faith. But none the less was there here laid by the Providence of God a solid foundation for the hope of the Holy Church, whereby the whole body of Christ should know with what a change it is yet to be honoured. The members of that body whose Head hath already been transfigured in light may promise themselves a share in His glory.

For the strengthening the Apostles and bringing them forward into all knowledge, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias that is, the Law and the Prophets talking with Him. Before five witnesses did His glorification take place, as though to fulfill that which is written: At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. Deut. xix. 15. What can be more certain, what can be better attested than this matter, which is proclaimed by the trumpets of both the Old and the New Testaments, and concerning which the witness of ancient testimony uniteth with the teaching of the Gospel The pages of either Covenant strengthen one another, and the brightness of open glory maketh manifest and distinct Him Whom the former prophecies had promised under the veil of mysteries.

The unveiling of such mysteries roused the mind of the Apostle Peter to an outburst of longing for the things eternal, which despised and disdained the things worldly and earthly overflowing with gladness at the vision, he yearned to dwell with Jesus there, where the revelation of His glory had rejoiced him. And so he said Master, it is good for us to be here if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. To this proposal the Lord answered nothing, this signifying, that what Peter wished was not wrong, but out of place, since the world could not be saved but by the death of Christ. And the Lord's example was to call the faith of believers to this, that albeit we are behoven to have no doubts concerning the promise of eternal blessedness, yet we are to understand that, amid the trials of this life, we are to seek for endurance before glory. (Pope Saint Leo Great, Matins, The Divine Office, August 6.)

This is pretty clear, is it not?

There is no means to save the world other than through the death of Our Divine Redeemer, Christ the King. There is no salvation in politics. A country whose citizenry is distracted by bread and circuses and concerned principally about the money, the money, and the money, and that has been conditioned to accept relativism, religious indifferentism, and statism as irreversible facts of life must look to the Divine Redeemer as He has revealed Himself to us exclusively through His true Church, the Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation and without which there can be no true social order.

Moreover, we in a situation today that is made more evil by the fact that the "pope" of the counterfeit church of conciliaism and his "bishops" hare the willing stooges and enablers of the lords of Modernity, who are ever desirous of intimidating us into silence about First and Last Things and to accept a slavery to their edicts as the only acceptable definition of "good citizenship." This is why what Pope Leo the Great wrote in the middle of the Fifth Century applies especially to our times as we must seek for endurance amid the trials of this life before glory.

Saint John Chrysostom had written of these truths less than one hundred years before the tenure of Pope Saint Leo the Great:

Since the Lord had spoken much concerning dangers, much concerning His Own sufferings, much concerning death, and the killing of His disciples, and had laid upon them many hard and grievous things, and since all these were in this present life, and already hanging over them, whereas the good things were matter for hope and waiting as, for example, that whosoever should lose his life for His sake should find it, for that the Son of Man should come in the glory of His Father, and reward every man according to his works. Matth. xvi. 25, 27. Therefore, to assure them by their own eyes, and show them what the glory is wherein He will come, He manifested and unveiled it to them, as far as in this life they were able to grasp it, lest they and especially Peter should grieve over their own deaths, or the death of their Lord.

Behold what He doth, when He treateth of heaven and hell. Where He saith Whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. And again He shall reward every man according to his works in these words He pointeth at heaven and hell. But although He speaketh concerning both, He giveth a glimpse of heaven only and not of hell. To see hell would have profited the brutish and stupid, but His disciples were upright and clear-sighted, and therefore for them it was enough to be strengthened by the better things. This was what suited Him the best. Yet He left not the other altogether undone. Sometimes He set the horrors of hell, as it were, before the eyes, as for instance in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and that of him who was fain to wring the hundred pence from his fellow-servant.  (Saint John Chrysostom, Matins, The Divine Office.)

We desire to be transfigured in glory for all eternity in Heaven. There is only one way to get to the Heavenly Mount Thabor, and that is by climbing our way to Mount Calvary each day of our lives, especially by making sure that we make all sacrifices necessary to move our families to those safe shelters in the catacombs where true bishops and true priests who are not "una cum" apostasy and betrayal will feed our souls with the true Sacraments as they provide us with the perennial truths of the Catholic Faith that are never subject to negotiation with heretics and schismatics, never capable of being understood or expressed in any other way that they have been understood and expressed throughout the ages.

Our Lady desires to lead us to the Heavenly Mount Thabor. Are we willing to stand next to her each day at Mount Calvary in order to be in Heaven with her for all eternity?

Isn't it time to pray a Rosary now?

Viva Cristo Rey! Vivat Christus Rex!

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and the hour of our death.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

Saint James the Greater, pray for.

Pope Saint Sixtus, Saints Felicissimus and Agapitus, pray for us.

Appendix

From The New English Edition of The Mystical City of God

Book Six: The Transfixion

Chapter Six

Christ our Lord is Transfigured on Mount Tabor in the Presence of His Most Holy Mother; They Go from Galilee to Jerusalem for His Approaching Passion; and what Happened when the Savior was Anointed by Magdalen in Bethany.

388. Our Redeemer and Master Jesus had already consumed more than two and a half years in preaching and performing wonders, and He was approaching the time predestined by the eternal Wisdom for satisfying divine justice, redeeming the human race through his Passion and Death, and then returning to his eternal Father. Since all his works were ordered with the highest wisdom for our instruction and salvation, His Majesty resolved to prepare and strengthen some of his Apostles for the scandal of his Passion (Mt. 26:31) by manifesting to them beforehand in his glory that same body which they were later to see scourged and crucified; thus would they be reassured by the thought that they had seen Him transfigured in glory before they looked upon Him disfigured by his sufferings. This He had promised a short time before in the presence of all, although not to all, but only to some of his disciples, as is recorded by St. Matthew (Mt. 16:28). For his Transfiguration He selected a high mountain in the center of Galilee, two leagues east of Nazareth and called mount Tabor. Ascending to its highest summit with the three Apostles, Peter and the two brothers James and John, He was transfigured before them as related by St. Matthew (17:1-4), St. Mark (9:1ff.), and St. Luke (9:28ff.). The three Evangelists tell us that besides these Apostles were present also the two prophets Moses and Elias conversing with Jesus about his Passion, and while He was thus transfigured a voice resounded from heaven in the name of the eternal Father, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him (Mt. 17:5).

389. The Evangelists do not say most holy Mary was present at this Transfiguration, nor do they say She was not there, for this did not fall within their purpose, and they did not think it proper to speak of the hidden miracle by which She was enabled to be there. For the purpose of recording this event here I was given to understand that at the same time in which some of the holy Angels were commissioned to bring the souls of Moses and Elias from their abode, others of her own guard carried the heavenly Lady to mount Tabor so She could witness in person the Transfiguration of her divine Son, for without a doubt She saw it. There was no necessity of confirming the most holy Mother in her faith as was necessary with the Apostles, for She was invincibly confirmed in faith. Yet the Lord had many purposes in this wonder of the Transfiguration, and regarding his most holy Mother Christ our Redeemer had other particular reasons for not celebrating such a great mystery without her presence. What was a gratuitous favor for the Apostles was as it were due to the Queen and Mother, since She was his Companion and Coadjutrix in the works of the Redemption, and was to be so unto the cross. It was proper to fortify Her by this favor against the torments in store for her most holy soul, and moreover She was to remain on earth as the Teacher of the holy Church; hence it was proper for Her to be one of the eyewitnesses of this great mystery. To grant such a favor was easily within the power of her divine Son, since He was accustomed to lay open to Her all the workings of his divine soul, nor would the love of such a Son permit Him to withhold this favor from his Mother, for He otherwise omitted nothing whereby He could in any way demonstrate his tender love for Her, and this certainly would be a token of highest esteem for her excellence and dignity. I have therefore been informed that for these reasons, and for many others not necessary to mention here, most holy Mary assisted at the Transfiguration of her most holy Son and our Redeemer.

390. During this Transfiguration most holy Mary saw not only the humanity of Christ our Lord transformed in glory, but She was favored by an intuitive and clear vision of the Divinity itself, for the Lord desired Her to partake of the privilege implied in being present at this event in a more abundant and distinguished manner than the Apostles. Moreover there was a great difference between her insight and that of the Apostles into the glory of his transfigured body, for the Apostles, as St. Luke tells us (Lk. 9:32), were not only asleep when Christ our Lord retired to pray at the beginning of this mysterious glorification, but they were also seized with such fear at the voice resounding from heaven that they fell with their faces to the earth and did not rise until the Lord himself spoke to them and raised them up (Mt. 17:6). The divine Mother, on the other hand, witnessed and heard all these events without undue excitement, for besides being accustomed to such great manifestations of glory She was divinely fortified and enlightened for looking upon the Divinity. Hence She was enabled to look fixedly upon his glorified body without experiencing the terror and weakness of the senses which overtook the Apostles. The most blessed Mother had already on other occasions seen the body of her divine Son glorified, as was related in other parts of this History (Inc. 695; Tran. 140), but on this occasion She looked upon Him with much greater enlightenment and with a mind much more alert to all the wonders hidden therein; thus also the effects caused in Her by this vision were such that She was totally renewed and inflamed by this communication with the Divinity. As long as She lived She never lost the impression caused by the sight of such glory manifested in the humanity of Christ. The memory of it greatly consoled Her in the absence of her divine Son whenever his glorious presence was not otherwise felt by Her, as we shall see in the third Part of this History; however, this also caused Her to feel more deeply the affronts of his Passion, having seen the Lord in his glory as here related.

391. The effects caused in the most holy soul of Mary by this vision of Christ all glorious cannot be explained by any human deliberation, for not only did She see filled with such refulgence that substance which the Word had taken from her own blood, and which She carried in her virginal womb and nourished at her breast, but She also heard the voice of the eternal Father acknowledge her natural Son as his Son, giving Him as the Master of men. All these mysteries She penetrated, gratefully pondered, and worthily praised as the most prudent Mother of the Omnipotent. With her holy Angels She composed new canticles to celebrate an event so full of festive joy for her soul and for the most sacred humanity of her Son. I will not expatiate upon this mystery, nor discuss in what the Transfiguration of the sacred body of Jesus really consisted; it is enough to know his countenance began to shine like the sun and his garments became whiter than snow (Mt. 17:2). This glory which overflowed into his body was that which the Savior always possessed in his divinized and glorious soul, for at his Incarnation the glory which would naturally have been communicated permanently to his sacred body was miraculously suspended for the time of his natural life; however, now this suspension of his divine glory ceased, and the body for a short time was allowed to share the glory of his soul. This is the splendor which became visible to those who were present. Immediately after the miraculous suspense the divine glory was again confined only to his soul, and since his soul was always beatified it was also a marvel that the body would receive in passing that which according to the common order should have been its perpetual state like the soul.

392. Having celebrated the Transfiguration the Blessed Mother was transported back to her house in Nazareth. Her divine Son descended the mountain and immediately came to visit Her in order to take final leave of his parental province and set out for Jerusalem; there, on the following Pasch, which was to be his last upon earth, He would enter upon his Passion. Having spent only a few days at Nazareth, He departed with his Mother, his Apostles and disciples, and some of the holy women, traveling about through Galilee and Samaria before entering Judea and Jerusalem. The Evangelist St. Luke writes of this journey when he says the Lord steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem (Lk. 9:51), for He journeyed to Jerusalem with a joyous countenance and full of desire to enter upon his sufferings in order to sacrifice Himself for the human race according to his own most ardent and generous desire. He was not to return to Galilee where He had wrought so many miracles. Knowing this at his departure from Nazareth He glorified his eternal Father, and in the name of his sacred humanity He gave thanks for having in that house and neighborhood received the human form and existence which He was now to deliver over to suffering and death. Of the prayers of Christ our Lord on this occasion I shall record as far as I can the following one:

393. “My eternal Father, in fulfillment of the obedience I owe Thee I willingly go with joy to satisfy thy justice by suffering unto death in order to reconcile to Thee all the children of Adam (Rom. 5:10), paying the debt of their sins and opening to them the gates of heaven which by them have been closed. I go to seek those who have lost themselves (Lk. 19:10) by abandoning Me, who must be restored by the force of my love. I go to seek and gather together the lost of the house of Jacob (Is. 56:8), to raise up the fallen, enrich the poor, refresh the thirsty, cast down the proud, and exalt the humble. I desire to vanquish hell and magnify the glory of thy triumph over Lucifer and the vices which he has sown in the world (I Jn. 3:8). I desire to raise up the standard of the Cross, beneath which those who follow Me must fight for all the virtues (Mt. 16:24). I desire to satiate my thirsty Heart with insults and affronts (Lam. 3:30), which are so estimable in thy eyes. I desire to humble Myself even unto death (Philip. 2:8) at the hands of my enemies, so our friends and chosen ones may be honored and consoled in their tribulations and be exalted with eminent and copious rewards when according to my example they humble themselves in suffering persecutions. O desired Cross, when shalt thou receive Me in thy arms? O sweet opprobrium and sorrowful affronts, when shalt thou carry Me to death in order to leave it vanquished by my entirely sinless flesh (Heb. 2:14)? Ye pains, affronts and ignominies, scourges, thorns, passion and death, come, come to Me who seeks thee; allow thyselves to be found by One who loves thee and knows thy value. If the world abhors thee, I earnestly desire thee; if in its ignorance it despises thee, I, who am truth and wisdom, shall procure thee because I love thee. Come then to Me, for if as man I receive thee, as the true God I shall bestow upon thee the honor of which sin and those who commit it deprived thee. Come to Me, and do not hinder my desires, for if due to my omnipotence thou dost hesitate, I give thee permission to exert all thy forces upon my humanity. Thou shalt not be rejected and abhorred by Me as thou art by mortals. Now shall be banished the deceitful and lying enthrallment of the children of Adam, who serve vanity and lying (Ps. 4:3), judging as unhappy the poor, afflicted and affronted of this world; for if they see it is their true God, their Creator, Master and Father, who suffers infamous affronts, scourges, ignominies, torments, destitution, and death upon the Cross, this error shall cease and they shall consider it an honor to follow their crucified God.”

394. These are some of the sentiments which I have been made to perceive in the Heart of the Master of life, our Savior. The sufferings of his death on the Cross show (as my words cannot express) how great was the love with which He sought and underwent them. Notwithstanding all this, our hearts are weighed down by sin and entangled in vanities (Ib.). Though we have life and truth before our eyes, we are nevertheless carried away by our pride and repelled by humility, ravished by what is pleasurable and full of abhorrence for what is painful. O lamentable error! To labor much in order to avoid laboring a little, to entirely exhaust ourselves merely in order to avoid a small inconvenience, to foolishly resolve on suffering eternal shame and confusion just in order to evade a slight dishonor, or in order not to give up one hour of vain and apparent honor! Who that claims the use of his reason can say he loves himself by following such a course? No mortal enemy of his can ever do him a greater harm than he does to himself by doing what is displeasing to God. We hold those as our enemies who flatter and entertain us while they have treason in their hearts, and we would call those foolish who would allow themselves to be betrayed by an insignificant pleasure and delight. If we judge correctly in this, as we truly do, what shall we say of the judgment of those who are devotees of the world? Who has intoxicated them? Who has thus deprived them of their reason? O how great is the number of fools (Eccles. 1:15)!

395. Most holy Mary alone, as the living image of her Onlybegotten among the children of Adam, adjusted her whole life according to the will and conduct of her Son, without departing in the least from the closest imitation of his life and fulfillment of his doctrine. She was most prudent and knowledgeable, full of wisdom, who could recompense the wanings of our ignorance and foolishness, and gain for us the light of truth in the midst of our heavy darkness. This happened also on the occasion of which I have spoken, for the heavenly Lady saw in the mirror of the most holy soul of her Son all the actions and affections wrought in his interior. Since this was also the guide of her actions, conforming Herself to Him She prayed in conjunction with Him his prayer to the eternal Father, and in her interior said: “Most high God and Father of mercies, I confess thy infinite and immutable essence. Eternally do I praise and glorify Thee, for in this place, after Thou didst create me, Thou didst deign to magnify the power of thy arm, for by raising me to be the Mother of thy Onlybegotten by the plenitude of thy Spirit and ancient mercies Thou hast magnified Thyself in me, thy humble slave; and because afterward, without my merit, thy and my Onlybegotten, in the humanity which He received from my substance, has condescended to retain me in his most desirable company for thirty-three years, in which I have enjoyed the influences of his grace and the instruction of his doctrine which have illuminated the heart of thy handmaid. Today, Lord and eternal Father, I leave my country, and according to thy divine pleasure accompany my Son and Master in order to assist Him at the sacrifice of his life and humanity for mankind. There is no sorrow like unto my sorrow (Lam. 1:12), since I must see the Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world delivered to bloodthirsty wolves (Jer. 11:19); see Him, who is the living image and figure of thy substance (Heb. 1:3), who is engendered of Thee ab aeterno, equal to Thee and shall be for all the eternities, to whom I gave human existence in my womb, delivered to opprobrium and the death of the cross; see his countenance, which is the light of my eyes and the joy of the angels, effaced by the ugliness of the torments He is to endure (Is. 53:2). O if it was possible that I receive the pains and sorrows which await Him, and suffer death myself in order to save his life! Receive, most high Father, the sacrifice which my Beloved offers Thee, along with my sorrowful affection, so thy most holy will and pleasure may be fulfilled. O how quickly flee the days and hours which shall end in the night of my sorrow and bitterness! It shall be a fortunate day for the human race, yet a night of affliction for my heart so aggrieved by the absence of the Sun which illumines it. O children of Adam, deceived and forgetful of yourselves! Awaken now from such heavy sleep and recognize the weight of your sins in the effect they are about to cause in your God and Creator himself. See it in my anguish, sorrow and bitterness. Begin now to ponder the damage wrought by sin.”

396. I cannot worthily express all the thoughts and affections of the Lady of the world in this her departure from Nazareth, her prayers and petitions to the eternal Father, her most sweet and sorrowful colloquies with her most holy Son, the greatness of her bitterness, and the incomparable merits She acquired; for between the holy and natural love of a true Mother by which She desired to preserve the life of Jesus and release Him from the torments He was about to suffer, and the conformity of her will with his and that of his eternal Father, her Heart was pierced by the sword of sorrow prophesied by Simeon (Lk. 2:35). In her affliction She spoke to her divine Son in words of deepest prudence and wisdom, yet also most sweet and sorrowful, lamenting that She would be unable to prevent his sufferings, or at least die with Him. These sorrows of the Mother of God exceeded the sufferings of all the martyrs who have died or will die for the love of God to the end of the world. In such a state of mind and affection the Sovereigns of heaven and earth pursued their way from Nazareth toward Jerusalem through Galilee, which the Savior was not to revisit in this life. And just as time was already running out for Him to labor for the salvation of men, so also the wonders He worked were greater in these last months before his Passion and Death, as narrated by the Sacred Evangelists (Mt. 14 and 15; Mk. 10:46-52; Lk. 9:12-17; Jn. 8:59, 9:1-7), from this departure from Galilee until the day He entered triumphantly into Jerusalem, which I shall narrate below (410). Until that day, after having celebrated the feast of Tabernacles, the Savior traveled about and labored in Judea, awaiting the appointed time when according to his will He was to offer Himself in sacrifice.

397. During these journeys his most holy Mother accompanied Him, except on a few occasions when they separated in order to attend to the welfare of souls in different localities. On such occasions St. John remained with Her to assist and serve Her, and from then on the sacred Evangelist observed great mysteries and secrets of the most pure Virgin and Mother, and was illumined with most exalted light in order to understand them. Among the wonders wrought by the most prudent and powerful Queen were those by which She obtained the justification of souls by affections and petitions most signalized with greater urgency of charity, for like her most holy Son She also now worked greater benefits for mankind, converting many to the path of life, curing the sick, visiting the poor and the afflicted, the destitute and the infirm, and assisting the dying with her own hands, especially those who were most forsaken and afflicted with greater suffering and pain. In his special office of attending upon Her the beloved disciple was a witness of all these works. Yet since the force of the love which most pure Mary had for her Son and eternal God had grown so much, and having taken notice of his approaching departure from her presence in order to return to the Father, the Blessed Mother suffered such continuous flights of her Heart and such desires to see Him that She began to feel numerous loving ecstasies whenever He was absent and his return to Her was delayed for a long time. And since the Lord as her God and Son saw what passed in the Heart of his most loving Mother, He was obliged by Her and corresponded with reciprocal fidelity, responding to Her in those secret words which were here fulfilled to the letter (Cant. 4:9): Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast wounded my heart with one of thy eyes, for as if wounded and overcome by his own love He was drawn again to her presence. According to what has been made known to me, Christ our Lord, insofar as He was man, could never have left the presence of his Mother if He had given full sway to his love for a Mother who loved Him so much, so naturally He would relieve and console Her by his sight and presence. The beauty of the most pure soul of his Mother refreshed Him and made all his labors and hardships appear sweet to Him. He looked upon Her as the choice and only fruit of all his exertions, and the most sweet sight of her person was a great alleviation of the sensible sufferings of His Majesty.

398. Our Savior continued to perform his miracles in Judea. Among them was also the resurrection of Lazarus in Bethany (Jn. 11:17ff.), where He had been called by the two sisters Martha and Mary. Since this miracle took place so near to Jerusalem the report of it was soon spread throughout the city. The priests and Pharisees, being irritated by this miracle, held a council (Ib. 47) in which they resolved upon the death of the Redeemer, and commanded all those who had any knowledge of his whereabouts to make it known, for His Divine Majesty after the resurrection of Lazarus retired to the town of Ephrem (Ib. 54) until the feast of the Pasch would arrive, which was soon to come. Since the time of celebrating it by his own death drew nigh He showed Himself more openly with his twelve disciples, who were the Apostles, and He told them privately they should now get themselves ready to go to Jerusalem, where the Son of man, He himself, would be delivered over to the princes of the Pharisees, bound as a prisoner, scourged and affronted unto the death of crucifixion (Mt. 20:17-18). In the meanwhile the priests kept a sharp watch to find Him among those who came to celebrate the Pasch. Six days before this feast He again visited Bethania (Jn. 12:1), where He had called Lazarus to life and where He was given hospitality by the two sisters. They arranged a banquet for the Lord, his Mother, and all of his company. Among those who were at table with them was also Lazarus, whom He had brought back to life a few days before.

399. While the Savior of the world (according to the custom of the Jews) was reclining at this banquet Mary Magdalen entered the banquet hall filled with divine light and the highest and most noble thoughts. As an outward token of her ardent love for Christ, her divine Master, she anointed his feet and poured out over them and over his head an alabaster vase filled with a most fragrant and precious extract, composed of spikenard and other aromatic ingredients (Ib. 3). Then she wiped his feet with her hair just as she had done on another occasion in the house of the Pharisee, related by St. Luke (Lk. 7:38). Although the other three Evangelists in relating this second anointment apparently differ as to some of the circumstances (Mt. 26:6; Mk. 14:3; Jn. 12:3), yet I was not informed that they refer to different anointments or speak of more than one woman, but that they refer only to Magdalen, who was moved to these acts of devotion by inspiration of the Holy Ghost and by her own burning love for Christ our Savior. The fragrance of this ointment filled the whole house, for she had procured a large quantity of the most precious kind, nor did she skimp in any way, but broke the vessel in token of her generous love and devotion to the Master. The avaricious Apostle Judas, who wished to get possession of the ointment in order to sell it for the increase of his purse, began to criticize this mysterious anointing of his Master and to stir up some of the other Apostles under the pretext of poverty and charity toward the poor (Jn. 12:5). These, he said, are defrauded of their alms by this lavish expense and waste of so costly an article; however, all this had been ordained by divine Providence, while Judas acted only as an avaricious and disgruntled hypocrite.

400. The Master of truth and life vindicated Magdalen, whom Judas had reprehended for prodigality and insufficient deliberation. The Lord commanded Judas and the others not to molest her (Mt. 26:10), since her action had not been useless or without a good cause; that the poor would not by this action lose the alms they desire every day; that the opportunity of showing such kindness to his Person would not always present itself; that this anointing was for his burial, which that generous and loving woman had anticipated by the inspiration of heaven, testifying to the mysterious unction which the Lord was now about to undergo in suffering for the human race; and that his death and burial were close at hand. Yet nothing of all this did the perfidious disciple understand; on the contrary, he was furiously outraged against his Master because He justified the action of Magdalen. And Lucifer, seeing the disposition of that depraved heart, shot into it new arrows of avarice, indignation, and mortal hatred against the Author of life. From that time Judas schemed to bring about his death, and he resolved as soon as Christ would come to Jerusalem to betray Him to the Pharisees and help to discredit Him in their eyes, as he afterwards did. After this banquet he went secretly to Jerusalem and told them that his Master taught new laws contrary to those of Moses and the emperors; that He was a friend of banqueters and of depraved and profane people, and had brought and admitted many of a wicked life into his company, both men and women; and that they should seek to remedy the situation lest certain ruin overtake them from which they afterward could not recover. Since the Pharisees were already of the same mind, and were instigated by the same prince of darkness, they accepted his advice, and from this came the agreement on a price for the sale of Christ our Savior.

401. All the thoughts of Judas lay open not only to the divine Master but also to his Blessed Mother. The Lord said nothing to Judas in regard to this matter, but continued to deal with him as a kind Father and enlighten his obstinate heart. His Mother, however, redoubled her admonitions and gentle endeavors to withdraw Judas from the precipice, and on this night of the banquet, which was that preceding Palm Sunday, She called him aside to speak to him alone, representing to him amid a flood of tears, and with most sweet and persuasive words, what terrible danger threatened him if he persisted in his intentions. She asked him to give up his designs, and if he was offended at his Master to take vengeance on Her, for this was a smaller evil since She was only a creature, while He was his Master and the true God. In order to satisfy the avarice of his insatiable heart She offered him some presents which She had received for this purpose from Magdalen; however, none of her efforts were of any avail with this hardened soul, nor did any of these sweet and living words soften this more than adamantine heart. On the contrary, since he could not come up with an answer, and the exhortations of the most prudent Queen were so urgent, he lashed himself into greater fury, showing his wrath by a sullen silence. He was, however, not ashamed to take what She offered to him, for his avarice was equal to his perfidy. With this most holy Mary left him and went to her Son and Master. Full of the most bitter sorrow She cast Herself weeping at his feet. In her exquisite grief and compassion She desired to bring some consolation to the sacred humanity of Christ her Son, whom She now beheld suffering the sorrow unto death which He afterwards manifested in the presence of his disciples (Mt. 26:38). All these pains were due to the sins of men who were to waste his Passion and Death, as I shall relate farther on (499, 504, 684).

TEACHING OF THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN, MARY MOST HOLY.

402. My daughter, since in the discourse of my life which thou writest thou dost each day more fully understand and declare the most ardent love with which my Lord and thy Spouse, and I with Him, embraced the way of the cross and suffering, and that we chose only this in mortal life, it shall be reasonable that as thou receivest this knowledge, and I repeat to thee this doctrine, thou walk in imitation of it. This debt has been growing in thee since the day He chose thee for his spouse, and is always increasing, and thou cannot fulfill it if thou dost not embrace labors, and love them with such affection that greatest suffering for thee shall be not to suffer them. Renew each day this desire in thy heart, for I desire thee to be very wise in this science which the world ignores and abhors. Yet I likewise give thee notice that God does not desire to afflict the creature merely for the sake of afflicting it, but to make it capable and worthy of the benefits and treasures which by this means He has prepared for it beyond all human thought (I Cor. 2:9). And in testimony of this truth, and as a pledge of this promise, He desired to be transfigured on Tabor in my presence and that of some of his disciples. In the prayer which He then made to the Father, and which I alone knew and understood, He humbled Himself in his sacred humanity, confessing Him (as He always did when He desired to make a petition) as true God, infinite in perfections and attributes, and supplicated Him that all those in their mortal bodies who for love of Him would afflict themselves and labor in imitation of Him in the new law of grace would afterwards participate in the glory of his own body; and in order to rejoice in it to the degree corresponding to each one, He desired to resurrect them in the same body united with their own souls at the final judgment on the last day. And since the eternal Father granted this petition, He desired it to be ratified as a contract between God and man by the glory which the body of their Master and Savior received, offering it to Him as a pledge of the possession of that which He was asking for all his followers. Of such weight as this is the momentary hardship (II Cor. 4:17) which mortals undergo in depriving themselves of the base earthly gratifications, and in mortifying their flesh and suffering for Christ my Son and Lord.

403. By the infinite merits which He interposed in this petition, this glory which belonged to Him is a crown of justice (II Tim. 4:8) for the creature as a member of Christ their Head, who merited it for them. Yet this union must be by grace and the imitation of his suffering, to which corresponds the reward. And if suffering any corporal hardships has its crown, much greater shall it be to suffer, endure and pardon injuries, and return benefits for them, as we did with Judas; for not only did the Lord not send him away from the apostolate, or show Himself indignant against him, but waited for him until the end, when by his malice he made himself incapable of good by delivering himself to the demon. During mortal life the Lord walks with very slow steps toward vengeance; yet afterward He shall make up for his slowness by the severity of the punishment. And if God endures and waits so much, how much should one vile worm bear with another who is of the same nature and condition? By this truth, and by the zeal of the charity of thy Lord and Spouse, thou must regulate thy patience, thy perseverance, and the care for the salvation of souls. I do not tell thee by this thou must suffer what is against the honor of God, for thou would not be a true guardian of the good of thy neighbor; rather thou must love the handiwork of the Lord, and abhor sin. Thou must suffer and conceal injuries against thee, and labor for the salvation of all as far as possible. Do not be discouraged when thou dost not see fruit, but present to the eternal Father the merits of my most holy Son, and my intercession, and that of the angels and saints; for since God is charity (I Jn. 4:16), and the Blessed are in His Majesty, they shall exercise it for those on their pilgrimage. (As found at: 6TransfixionChVI_nee.pdf.)