Transfiguration And Glory

Primum ergo constitue montem illum, in quem ascendit cum Petro et Jacobo et Joanne, ubi et transfiguratus est ante eos. Refulsit facies ejus ut sol, et vestimenta ejus facta sunt alba sicut nix. Resurrectionis gloria ista est, quam in monte spei contemplamur. Utquid enim ascendit ut transfiguraretur, nisi ut doceret nos cogitatione ascendere ad futuram illam gloriam, quae revelabitur in nobis? Felix cujus meditatio in conspectu Domini est semper, qui in corde suo delectationes dexterae Domini usque in finem sedula cogitatione revolvit! Quid enim grave illi poterit videri, qui semper mente tractat quod non sint condignae passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam? Quid concupiscere poterit in saeculo nequam, cujus oculus semper videt bona Domini in terra viventium, semper videt aeterna praemia? Tibi dixit cor meum, Propheta loquitur Domino; tibi dixit cor meum: Exquisivit te facies mea: faciem tuam, Domine, requiram. Quis mihi tribuat, ut omnes surgentes stetis in excelso, et videatis exsultationem, quae ventura est vobis a Domino. Non sit molestum vobis, obsecro, quod in monte hoc aliquando diutius immoramur: poterimus enim caeteros festinantius pertransire. Verumtamen in isto quem non detineat sententia illa sancti Petri, quam in eo protulit, et de eo: Domine, inquiens, bonum est nos hic esse? Quid enim tam bonum est, imo quid aliud videtur bonum, quam in bonis animam demorari, quandoquidem adhuc corpus non potest? Puto quod ejus qui ingrediebatur in locum tabernaculi admirabilis usque ad domum Dei, in voce exsultationis et confessionis, sonus epulantis fuerit: Bonum est nos hic esse. Quis enim ex vobis secum cogitans futuram illam vitam, sed laetitiam, sed jucunditatem, sed beatitudinem, sed gloriam filiorum Dei: quis, inquam, talia tranquilla secum conscientia volvens, non continuo de plenitudine intimae suavitatis eructat, Domine, bonum nos est hic esse? Non sane in hac aerumnosa peregrinatione, ubi corpore detinetur, sed in suavi ac salubri illa cogitatione, in qua corde versatur: Quis mihi dabit pennas sicut columbae, et volabo, et requiescam? Vos autem, filii hominum, filii hominis qui descendit de Jerusalem in Jericho, filii hominum, usquequo gravi corde? Ascendite ad cor altum, et exaltabitur Deus. Hic est enim mens, in quo transfiguratur Christus. Ascendite, et scietis quoniam Dominus Sanctum suum mirificavit. Sanctus Bernardus Clarae Vallensis, In Ascensione Domini, Sermo IV Source: Migne PL 183.312d-313d

First set before you that mount which He went up onto with Peter and James and John, where He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and His vestments were made as white as snow. 1 This is the glory of the resurrection, which is contemplated on the mount of hope. For why does He ascend to be transfigured, unless to teach us to ascend in thought to that future glory which shall be revealed in us? Happy the one whose meditation is in the sight of the Lord always, he who in his own heart diligently thinks on the delights of the right hand of the Lord. For then how burdened can one seem, who in his heart is always thinking on that future glory to which the sufferings of this time are not worthy? 2 How is it possible to desire anything in this wicked world, if one's eyes are always looking at the good things of God in the land of the living, always gazing at the eternal reward? 'My heart said to you,' the prophet says to the Lord, 'my heart said to you: my face has sought you, your face, Lord, I need.' 3 That it were given to me that with you all rising you stand on the height and see the exaltation which is coming to you from the Lord. May it not trouble you, I beg, that on this mount we tarry for some time, though we are able to pass onto others more swiftly. However, on this one, who is not detained by the speech of Saint Peter, which he offered to Him and concerned Him. 'Lord,' he said, 'it is good that we are here.' 4 For why is it so good, when there seems to be another good beyond the soul lingering in good things while the body is not yet able to do so? I think of him who entered into the place of the tabernacle, even to the house of God, in a voice of exaltation and confession, with the sound of feasting. 5 'It is good that we are here.' Who of us thinking of the future life thinks but of joy, of happiness, of blessedness, of the glory of the sons of God? Who, I say, turning over such things of peace in his mind, does not burst forth with the fullness of deepest sweetness: 'O Lord, it is good that we are here?' It is certainly not found in this troublesome pilgrimage where the body detains one, but in the sweet and wholesome thought in which the heart contemplates: 'Who shall give me the wings of the dove, that I might fly away and rest.' 6 But you sons of men, sons of men who come down from Jerusalem to Jericho, 'Sons of men, how long shall you have heavy hearts?' 'Rise up to a high heart, and God shall be exalted.' For this is the mind in which Christ is transfigured. Go up and you shall know that 'The Lord magnifies His holy one.' 7 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, from Sermon 4, On The Ascension Of The Lord 1 Mt 17.1-2 2 Rom 8.18 3 Ps 26.8,13 4 Mt 17.4 5 Ps 41.5 6 Ps 54.7 7 Ps 4.3, Ps 63.7-8, Ps 4.4