This whole week is about Jesus being changed in the presence of Moses and Elijah. The Gospel records “his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.”
Each time I read it I think of Gandalf in “Two Towers” after he has returned from the shadow. It’s the equivalent of being reborn or baptized as in the mystery religions. He becomes someone new even though he can be recognized as his former self.
I realize the transfiguration is also about being “the” messiah as recognized in the return of Elijah. But I’ve never been sure why Moses is present in that case. Together, though, they symbolize the Law and the Prophets or the tradition giving approval to Jesus, which was needed for something “new” in the first century.
But I want to focus on the transfiguration available to us all through the rebirth and the aspect that Jesus was mentored by Moses and Elijah. This wasn’t the first time they met: Jesus read the Law and the Prophets extensively and lived as he did because he was shaped by them.
So, let’s put ourselves into the gospel. Begin with how you have been transformed or transfigured and depict how that felt to you. Did it make you glow? Did it make you raise your arms in praise? Did it make you weep for joy? Depict that.
Now, who are your mentors? The Gospel has two, but if there was only one or if there are more, include them beside you but smaller in scale.
The last part is the most important. What are the things they say to encourage you? Or the one thing they said that made everything make sense? You can add those in word bubbles like in a comic strip, along the bottom or top or even across the image. If it’s especially long or something you don’t want others to know, you might use an acronym or like you were texting. It’s not important that others understand it but you have it available to sustain you.
Spirit, Word, Art 