Christ Transfiguration - An Image Of His Glory

by St. Teresa of Avila

One year, on St. Paul's Day, when I was at Mass, I saw a complete representation of this most sacred Humanity, as it were a picture of His resurrected Body, in very great beauty and majesty …. I will only say that, if there were nothing else in Heaven to delight the eyes but the extreme beauty of the glorified bodies there, that alone would be the greatest happiness. A most special happiness will be to see the Humanity of Jesus Christ; for if it is so even on Earth, where His Majesty reveals Himself according to what we, in our wretchedness, can bear, what will it be like when the fruition of that joy is complete?

Description of the glorious beauty of Christ:

It is not a radiance which dazzles, but an infused glow and soft brightness which, without wearying the eyes, causes them the greatest delight; nor are they wearied with the brightness they see in this Divine beauty. So different from any earthly light is the brightness and light now revealed to the eyes that, by comparison with it, the brightness of our sun seems dim, so much so that we would never want to open our eyes to see it …. For if what I see is an image, it is a living image - not a dead man, but the living Christ. And He shows me that He is both Man and God - not as He was in the tomb, but as He was when He came out from it, risen from the dead. Sometimes He comes with such majesty that no one can doubt that it is the Lord Himself. He reveals himself so completely as the Lord of that dwelling place, the soul, that it feels as though it were wholly dissolved and consumed in Christ.

The effects of this beauty on the soul:

(a) The fear of God: Here is a clear picture of what the Day of Judgment will be, when we shall behold the Majesty of the King and see His judgment in its rigour against evil men.

(b) Humility: Here we find true humility, giving the soul the power to behold its own wretchedness, of which it cannot be ignorant.

(c) Repentance: Here is shame and genuine repentance for sin; for, though it may see God revealing his love for it, still the soul can find no place wherein to hide itself and it is utterly confounded.

(d) Intense love: The soul is now a new creature; it is continuously absorbed in God; it seems to me that a new and living love of God is beginning to work within it to a very high degree; for, though the former type of vision, which as I have said, reveals God without presenting any image of Him, is of a higher kind, yet, if the memory of it is to last, despite our weakness, and if the thoughts are to be well occupied, it is a great thing that so divine a presence should be presented to the imagination … and in the other way which has been described it is revealed to us how He is God, and that He is powerful and can do all things and commands all things, and rules all things, and fills all things with His love.

Life, Ch. 28.