The Beauty of His Divinity

The following is a reflection from Soon-to-be Blessed Fulton J. Sheen. Sheen is known for his award-winning show Life is Worth Living and author of 66 books. 

He took with him to a high mountain Peter, James, and John—Peter the Rock; James, destined to be the first apostle-martyr; and John, the visionary of the future glory of the Apocalypse. These three were present when he raised from the dead the daughter of Jairus.

All three needed to learn the lesson of the cross and to rectify their false conceptions of the Messiah. Peter had vehemently protested against the cross, while James and John had been throne-seekers. All three would later on sleep in the Garden of Gethsemane during his agony. To believe in his Calvary, they must see the glory that shone beyond the scandal of the cross.

On the mountaintop, after praying, he became trans figured before them as the glory of his divinity flashed through the threads of his earthly raiment. It was not so much a light that was shining from without as the beauty of the Godhead that shone from within. It was not the full manifestation of divinity which no man of earth could see; nor was his body glorified, for he had not risen from the dead, but it possessed a quality of glory….

The wonder was not this momentary radiance around him; it was rather that at all other times it was repressed. As Moses, after communing with God, put a veil over his face to hide it from the people of Israel, so Christ had veiled his glory in humanity. But for this brief moment, he turned it aside so that men might see it; the outgoing of these rays was the transitory proclamation to every human eye of the Son of Righteousness. As the cross came nearer, his glory became greater.