Blaise Paschal wrote in his Pensees, “In difficult times you should always carry something beautiful in your mind.” Jesus might have had something like that wisdom in mind when he invited his closest apostles and best friends, Peter, James and John, to join him for a morning of prayer on the summit of Mount Tabor. The mission of Jesus was about to take a turn towards Jerusalem and Mount Calvary where Jesus would offer himself up as a sacrificial oblation of love for the salvation of the world. Jesus is preparing to introduce to his apostles the moment of destiny that he has with the cross. On Mount Calvary, Jesus will take upon himself all the ugliness of the sin and evil in the world and suffer death to redeem humanity. When faced with the utter horror of the ugliness of sin and evil that is thrust upon Jesus in the crucifixion, the apostles will have to carry in their minds “something beautiful.”

In his Letter to Artists, Pope St. John Paul II wrote: “”In becoming man, the Son of God has introduced into human history all the evangelical wealth of the true and the good, and with this he has also unveiled a new dimension of beauty, of which the Gospel message is filled to the brim.” (n.5) This unique and particular beauty of the “Son of Man” reveals itself in the face of the “Beautiful Shepherd”, and also in the transfigured Christ of Tabor, and in Christ crucified devoid of corporal beauty, the “Man of Sorrows”. The Christian sees in the deformity of the suffering servant, despoiled of all exterior beauty, the manifestation of the infinite love of God, who even clothes himself with the ugliness of sin to raise us up, beyond the senses, to the divine beauty which is above all other beauty and never alters. For those who wish to contemplate it, the icon of the Crucified with disfigured face contains the mysterious beauty of God. This beauty is fulfilled in pain and sorrow, in the gift of self without personal gain. It is the beauty of love which is stronger than evil or death.”

Pope Benedict XVI takes up this theme again in Via Pulchritudinus, “It is Jesus himself who is beauty. He manifests Himself from Tabor to the Cross, shedding light on the mystery of man, disfigured by sin, but purified and recreated by Redeeming Love…The summit, the archetype of beauty manifests itself in the face of the Son of Man crucified on the Cross of sorrows, Revelation of infinite love of God who, in His mercy for His creatures, restores beauty lost with original sin. “Beauty will save the world,” because this beauty is Christ, the only beauty that defies evil, and triumphs over death. By love, the “most beautiful of the children of men” became “the man of sorrows”, “without beauty, without majesty no looks to attract our eyes” (Is, 53, 2) and so he rendered to man, to each and every man the fullness of His beauty, His dignity and His true grandeur.”

Jesus takes the apostles along on the ascent of Mount Tabor so that he might manifest his glory to them in the Transfiguration. While he is in prayer he is transfigured before them and manifests the full light and beauty of his glory as the Son of God. He is joined there by two of his eternal collaborators in his eternal mission of redemption and salvation. The Eternal Incarnate Word is joined by Moses, who represents the beauty of the Word manifest in the Law, and Elijah, who represents the beauty of the Word as spoken through the Prophets. Jesus fulfills and transcends both the law and the prophets through the oblation of love that he offers on the cross. This trio of revelation is now joined by God, the Father, shining brilliantly in the shekinah cloud of Divine Presence, who testifies for the Son in words of revelation, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” For a moment, Mount Tabor is transformed into the beautiful, heavenly home of Jesus and the apostles are given a glimpse of the eternal truth.

Jesus instructs the apostles not to speak of this encounter with the Divine Presence until after the resurrection. Only in the shadow of his suffering and the light of his resurrection will the apostles fully understand the beauty, light and truth that was revealed to them on Mount Tabor. Peter will write of this later in his letter to the Church, “We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain.” (2Pt 1,16-18) When Pilate declares, “Behold, the man,” we are struck by the ugliness of sin in the suffering and humiliated face of Jesus, but we also see the beauty of his Divine Love shining through and transforming the ugliness of sin and manifesting the “glory to be revealed.” It is this “something beautiful” that we must keep always in our minds