Time To Transfigure

There comes a time in every man’s life when he feels the need to take a step back and examine his life.  He looks to the ever-diminishing future with a correspondingly increasing interest in what comes next, asking himself the big question that has been so often relegated to some vague future consideration.  Now he finally wonders… Where will I go when I die?

The disturbing choice between the only two possibilities of heaven and hell are at last contemplated not as some vaguely interesting intellectual exercise, but now as a reality, and a grim one at that!  There then follows the second question: Where do I deserve to go?

Immediately, a torrent pours forth from his conscience, inundating him with questions of morality, thoughts of regret, and the fine line between God’s justice and mercy.  If he is honest with himself, he will come to the right conclusion, namely, that he could most certainly have done better.  For wherever we are on the ladder of perfection, one thing is sure, that we have not reached the top of it.  Perfection beckons us, but like the mirage in the desert we never seem to be able to reach it.  Unlike the mirage, however, it is not a mere illusion.  For it is God himself who calls us to perfection, knowing full well we can never be truly perfect.  This is not a cruel trick on his part, but simply his way of making sure we at least try to reach the goal.

If we do not try, not only will we never reach perfection, but we will probably not even make slight improvements to our behavior and character.  It is in the striving to make these efforts to be a better man that define our character—and ultimately determine our Last Judgment.  It is important to remember this when we feel discouraged, when our fallen human nature sometimes gets the better of us, when the devil wins a battle here or there.  At such times, we need to immediately resume following in the path of Christ, the path to Calvary on which he fell three times.  We must do as he did and force ourselves to rise and continue our way forward.

Have we had our sobering midlife moment yet and pondered seriously on our last end and judgment?  If not, then pray at least to be spared a sudden and unprovided death in the meantime.  We need that moment of Transfiguration, that realization that we must change our shiftless lifestyle and become warriors in Christ’s army, doing battle against the devil, the world and ourselves.  When that happens, our faces may not  shine as the sun like our blessed Lord’s.  Our raiment will not become white as the snow.  But internally, deep within us, our soul will most certainly begin to take on a new glow of sanctity, and the dark attachments to our material world will start to transform into the bright flame of a new burning love of God.

Don’t put it off much longer—it’s time to Transfigure!