God takes us, a mere piece of impure metal, and throws us into the fire; the impurities are burned away, and the metal takes on the colour of the indwelling Fire itself. That’s transfiguration.
There is something that is, if not a problem, at least a practical situation involved in this: people might notice!
This can, of course, be good or bad. It can also be good and bad. How one deals with the visibility of transfiguration depends on the time, the circumstance, and especially the lead of the Spirit. For example, Little Văn, as noted repeatedly in his novitiate-year notes and conversations with Jesus, was discreet and hid any too-visible effects and joys from others. But on the other hand, Saint Teresa suffered embarrassing and humiliating ecstasies in public. It is the same Holy Spirit leading. But the effect was clearly different for Marcel Văn and Teresa of Jesus!
Let’s say we wanted to do more than say it’s “up to the Spirit” and say something about the “problems” or “issues”. We could break down the “problems” or “issues” into at least the following points:
- Praise is not simple to receive, because the soul has only been thrown into the Divine Fire. It is not fire itself and knows it! Something “should” be hidden. This is probably the more commonly emphasized side of the coin; for example, in colourful language Saint Hildegard says that “a person will naturally hide the beauty of her soul, lest, on account of her pride, the hawk carry it off.”
- On the other hand, praise is not simple to refute, because a single careless word might deny the reality of transfiguration. And this would be a very grave evil. People must not doubt that a life of love and transfiguration in Christ is possible. If they doubt, what is the Gospel at all?
Truth seems to pull both ways, and it is difficult to resolve the “conflict” on paper.
Saint Teresa, in the Interior Castle, VI, ch 1, #4, discusses her own experience with the praise of others. She, too, acknowledges that, at the beginning, it is hard. What is the soul to do? Humility says two things at once. It is intolerable to be praised for God’s work. But it is also intolerable to let someone think that God will not come and transfigure lives in this world. She mentions things about the beginning. Then she says,
Later on, for certain reasons, praise is not so intolerable. First, because experience makes the soul see clearly that people are as quick to say good things as bad. Second, because it has been more enlightened by the Lord that no good thing comes from itself but is given by His Majesty; and it turns to praise God, forgetful that it has had any part to play, just as if it had seen the gift in another person. Third, if it sees that some souls have benefited from seeing the favours God grants it, it thinks that His Majesty used this means, of its being falsely esteemed as for good, so that some blessings might come to those souls…
Even praise is for God and for others. Everything about the transfigured soul-and-body itself is disappearing, even its position in the triangular relationship of praise (accepted or rejected).
Maybe, “later on,” the soul can simply smile and, by its gestures, refer the praise to the Divine Fire itself. Maybe, “later on,” the soul can offer a simple word appropriate to the context that lightly turns the truth to God, without praising its own state of transfiguration aloud. Maybe, “later on,” simplified more by the Divine Fire, the situation itself becomes more tolerable and, indeed, simpler.
As always, the only answer to every difficulty is just to go farther.
Some related posts:
Contemplative in the Mud 