Novena to the Transforming Light (Day 9, Aug 14)
August 14, 2025
Day 9 (August 14)
On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him (Lk. 9:37).
For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, (1 Cor 15:53-54)
Ordinarily we refer to the deification and rebirth of man during this life as sanctification rather than transfiguration. We do not call it transfiguration because here the divine fire poured forth upon us gives only a hint of its brightness in a few faint rays, displaying for the most part the warmth of its love. A further reason is that, for the present, the divine splendor of God’s children lies dormant in them as in a bud or seed, to burst forth into full magnificence only on the other side of the grave. But the luster of this faint glow, the loveliness of this bud, is an earnest of the immensity of that glory which God will shower upon us in the future life. The splendor of grace, the lumen grate, which imparts so breath-taking a beauty and attractiveness to our souls in the eyes of God and makes them temples of the Holy Spirit, is the dawn of the light of glory that, like a crystal globe illuminated by the sun, we shall reflect it in ourselves.
Such a transfiguration, such a charging of the creature with divine glory, is obviously a most wonderful and supernatural work, a mystery that is beyond the reach of the intellect, and that remains in- conceivable and unfathomable even after it has been revealed. It is a mystery that passes all comprehension: the mystery of a new creation, which we can grasp only by believing in God’s word, and adhere to only by trusting in God’s inexhaustible power and love.
If the transfiguration of the body is to be proportionate to the glorification of the soul, God must confer on the body a corporeal radiance suitable to its nature, just as He confers spiritual illumination on the soul. This corporeal radiance must excel the nature of the body and all natural light as much as the light of glory in the soul is above its nature and all natural spiritual illumination. And like the light of glory, it must glorify both the substance and the life of the body, imparting a higher beauty to the former, a higher energy and strength to the latter. It must do all this in so exquisite a way that the beauty, although in the body, is not itself visible to the bodily eye, and the energy enables the body to concur in vital acts in which, as far as its nature goes, it could not concur.
Despite their intrinsic difference, these two lights are so closely related that one can be regarded as a consequence of the other; the two can even be regarded as one. The lumen corporis, although not ignited at the lumen animae, and though certainly not identical with it, is naturally connected with it, on account of the union of the body with the soul. It should even make the body, as far as is consistent with its nature, conformable to the glorified soul, and should cause it to reflect the soul’s glory. Besides, both are effects of the same divine fire of the Holy Spirit, who extends the influence He exerts on the soul over to the body, and glorifies the body only with reference to the soul. In this sense the glory of the body can be understood as a redundance of the glory of the soul, and both together as an outpouring of divine power and glory flooding the entire man. (Matthias Scheeben)
Alleluia! O branch and mediatrix, your sacred flesh has conquered death, your womb all creatures illumined in beauty’s bloom from that exquisite purity of your enclosèd modesty sprung forth. Hail, nobly born, hail, honored and inviolate, you Maiden are the piercing gaze of chastity, you the material of holiness— the one who pleasèd God. For heaven’s flood poured into you as heaven’s Word was clothed in flesh in you. You are the lily, gleaming white, upon which God has fixed his gaze before all else created. O beautiful, O sweet! How deep is that delight that God received in you, when ‘round you he enwrapped his warm embrace, so that his Son was suckled at your breast. Your womb rejoiced as from you sounded forth the whole celestial symphony. For as a virgin you have borne the Son of God— in God your chastity shone bright. Your flesh rejoiced just as a blade of grass on which the dew has fall’n, viridity within it to infuse—just so it happened unto you, O mother of all joy! So now in joy gleams all the Church like dawn, resounds in symphony because of you, the Virgin sweet and worthy of all praise, Maria, God’s mother. Amen. (St. Hildegard of Bingen)
Musical Selection
Prayers
O Lord, today, on Mount Tabor,
You have revealed the glory of Your divine image
to your chosen disciples, Peter, James and John.
For they looked upon Your garments that gleamed as the Light,
and at Your face that shone more than the sun!
Unable to endure the vision of Your brightness which none can bear,
they fell to the earth, powerless to lift up their gaze,
for they heard a voice that spoke from above:
“This is My beloved Son
Who has come into the world to save mankind! (Orthodox Vespers of the Transfiguration)
O pure and most holy Virgin,
the multitude of angels in heaven and mankind on earth
extol and venerate your falling asleep,
for you are the mother of Christ our God and Creator of all.
Never cease to intercede with Him on our behalf
for next to God we have put our hope in you,
O greatly-honored, unwedded Theotokos! (Orthodox Vespers of the Dormition)
Litany of the Transforming Light
V. Lord, have mercy on us. R. Christ have mercy on us.
V. Lord, have mercy on us, Christ, hear us. R. Christ, graciously hear us.
V. God the Father of heaven, R. Have mercy on us.
V. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, R. Have mercy on us.
V. God the Holy Spirit, R. Have mercy on us.
V. Holy Trinity, one God, R. Have mercy on us.
Lord Jesus, Word through whom God spoke and there was light, enlighten us.
Lord Jesus, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, “
Lord Jesus, whose face shone like the sun in the Transfiguration,
Lord Jesus, whose clothes became white as light on the holy mountain,
Lord Jesus, Dayspring who gives light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
Lord Jesus, light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel,
Lord Jesus, in whom was life that was the light of the human race,
Lord Jesus, light shining in the darkness,
Lord Jesus, light whom the darkness has not overcome,
Lord Jesus, true light who enlightens everyone,
Lord, Jesus, light of the world,
Lord Jesus, who give the light of life to those who follow you,
Lord Jesus, whose face radiates the light of the knowledge of the glory of God,
Lord Jesus, whom we behold with unveiled face,
Lord Jesus, who transforms us into your likeness from one degree of glory to another,
Lord Jesus, in whom we are light and walk as children of the light,
Lord Jesus, who give light to those who sleep in death,
Lord Jesus, who enables us to share the inheritance of the saints in light,
Lord Jesus, radiance of God’s glory,
Lord Jesus, who calls us out of darkness into your marvelous light,
Lord Jesus, Morning Star rising in our hearts,
Lord Jesus, Lamb who are the lamp giving light to the city of God,
Our Lady of the Transfiguration, enlighten our path
Our Lady of Light, “
Mother of the Light,
Mother of the Star which never sets,
Dawn of our salvation,
Beacon of hope,
Radiant mirror of justice,
Seat and light of wisdom,
Untarnished image of the Church,
Woman clothed with the sun,
Woman with the moon under her feet,
Woman crowned with twelve stars,
Woman assumed into glory,
V. Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, R. Spare us, O Lord.
V. Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, R. Graciously hear us, O Lord.
V. Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, R. Have mercy on us.
V. Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, R. Graciously hear us, O Lord.
V. Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, R. Have mercy on us.
V. You were transfigured on the mountain, O Christ our God.
R. Let your everlasting Light shine upon us through the prayers of the Theotokos.
Let us pray
God and Father of Jesus, you transfigured your Chosen One and in heavenly light revealed him as your Son. Open our ears to the living Word and our eyes to his glorious presence, that we may be strengthened in time of fear and uncertainty, and one day pass over to share your glory.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever. Amen. (ICEL; 1998)
Gracious God, you chose the Virgin Mary to bear your incarnate Word, and at her life’s end
you brought her in body and spirit to heavenly glory.
Grant that like Mary we may hear your word and keep it and one day share with her
the risen life of Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever. Amen. (ICEL; 1998)