THOUGHTS OF A NUN

The Transfiguration 

Mark 9. 2-13
August 7, 2005

Last weekend three of us from New Skete attended a gathering of monastics in the OCA at St. Tikhon's Monastery. There were several conferences given and from the many good observations and incentives given, one idea or ideal, if you will, stood out for me. “What shows on the outside of a person is what is on the inside.”  Maria Skobtsova depicted on our Temple wall, is one who after her death, was described with these words. “What is on the outside, is what is on the inside"

 As we go through life some of us acquire false identities. For one reason or another, we take on certain personas. If we can shed these false identities, we become who we are meant to be. Being true to ourselves, we can be seen as who we really are.

At our Lord’s Transfiguration the three disciples saw Jesus transfixed-saw him in a different light- saw him as He really was. It was a transfiguration moment for the disciples also.  It changed their lives.

Surely there are transfiguration moments in each of our lives.  Take time to think about it, what these moments have been. I suspect maternity floors in hospitals are common sites for these moments. A parent holding their newborn must feel it is the biggest of miracles. Another possible moment; in a doctor’s office hearing the words “Your tumor is benign, not malignant”. Or perhaps, after years of hostility we hear or we say the words, “I’m sorry” or “ I forgive you”.

A transfiguration moment for Maria Skobtsova was the death of her youngest daughter after her flight from Russia to Paris in 1923. The impact of this loss initiated a profound conversion. She felt a firm determination to seek a more authentic and purified life. She determined to give new meaning to her life by becoming a mother to all; to all who needed maternal care, assistance or protection. Thus, in Paris she became deeply immersed in social work among the destitute, especially the Russian refugees. As the insight that each person is the very icon of the incarnate God became more real to her, she began emphasizing the religious dimension of her work.

Encouraged by her bishop to become a nun, she agreed only with the assurance that she would be free to develop a new type of monasticism. She needed to be engaged in the world, with no barrier separating her heart from the world and its wounds. Instead of a monastic enclosure, she leased a house in Paris large enough for a chapel, a soup kitchen and a shelter for the destitute. While her kitchen became crowded with the down and out, her drawing room was the scene of spirited discussions among  the leading emigre’ intellectuals of Paris. Out of these discussions a new movement was born, committed to realizing the social implications of the gospel. As Mother Maria explained, “ The meaning of the liturgy must be translated into life. It is why Christ came into the world..” Many of these ideas were pointed out in yesterday's talks.

That transfiguration moment changed Mother Maria’s whole life. The Apostles had numerous transfiguration moments that changed their lives. Can we not also recognize the need to accept this awesome revelation of God and come to venerate the image of God in all our brothers and sisters, with Mother Maria, and all those who have gone before us?