The dome at Mount Tabor, Transfiguration – Holy Land – Photo taken by Ana Zarraga
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:2
In my RCIA class the other day we were speaking about the fact that most of us don’t think big enough of God. By that I mean we seem to put limitations on what He might be able to do in any given situation. We’re not the only generation who has done this, it is ancient. Sarah laughed at God when she was told she would have a child in old age. Zechariah questioned God when he was told Elizabeth would have a child. In both these cases there was an interior disposition that didn’t believe.
This is where Mary is different, when she questioned the angel, her disposition was one not of thinking God couldn’t do it, but of trying to understand how He would. It’s an interior disposition of awe at the greatness of God. Mary is our guide for these times.
We find ourselves in strange times where things are sometimes scary. Sometimes we may not feel safe. I was thinking, there are days that can feel like the Israelites who had been freed from slavery only to start complaining in the desert that they missed their slavery. Comfort zones have been stretched and we don’t like it. And I realized this kind of complaint can end up with seraph serpents biting you. That is, old sin that kept you in chains, starting to creep up and tempt you again, trying to take you backwards to comfort. A false comfort, born in chains that God brought you out into the desert to look at. He is asking for surrender and abandonment to His Divine Will. He wants to take you beyond your limits to show you just how big and how loving he really is. He wants you to realize how much His grace sustains you when it’s hard and how much healing He has in store. It’s a promised land. Don’t go backwards. Don’t complain. Be grateful. God’s glory awaits you.
And so, because I could see the desert devil, I decided to do what so many in scripture did. Bring praise to the God who is bigger than I can imagine. He is bigger than my suffering. He is bigger than my thoughts and ways. Have confidence and know He is bigger.
Canticle of Confidence
Blessed Be the Most Holy Trinity, the three in One.
You are Abba, the great I AM.
You created the universe and all within it.
You do not forget or abandon your people.
You parted the sea for Moses when there seemed no way out.
You closed the mouths of lions for Daniel.
You sent down fire from heaven when Elijah called upon you.
There are no other gods before you.
Your promises are true.
You came to dwell among us.
You healed the blind and the leper.
You raised Lazarus from the dead.
You cast out demons.
You forgive our sins.
For you are the God of mercy whose ways are not our ways.
You sent the Paraclete.
Greater works you promised.
Miracles abound from generation to generation.
You gave us your Mother, your perfection.
Magnanimous for us.
You set us upon a rock and foundation.
There is nothing you can’t overcome.
Your spirit is not timid.
We approach your throne with confidence in our time of need.
We were made for these times.
We repent of our sin.
Make us Holy Lord.
Your grace is sufficient for us.
We thank you all the days of our lives.
Blessed be the Most Holy Trinity.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Veil of Veronica 
Amen!
Thank you for this.
This is truly beautiful and profound, Susan. Elegantly simple and simply elegant.
Thank you Charlie. Hope you’re doing well.
Thank you so much for this powerful prayer & affirmation of faith.
Beautiful! Love it! Fiat!
Thank you all!!!
I had been thinking about how strange things are today and started feeling fearful. Then your email came, and I feel like it was God’s response to me. Thank you, so much!
God Bless you!
“He is bigger than my thoughts and ways. Have confidence and know He is bigger.”
This time, too, the illustration that opens your post, Susan, made me reflect. Several popes visited the Holy Land, but only Paul VI visited the Basilica of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. He was there on January 5, 1964, commemoration of St. Edward the Confessor (died January 5, 1066). King Edward had a special devotion to St. John the Evangelist, who made the royal sapphire ring into the hands of the Beloved Disciple and was returned by him to its rightful owner in London through English pilgrims returning from the Holy Land in 1065.
Following the death of Cardinal Schuster in 1954, Giovanni Battista Montini was consecrated Archbishop of Milan. The motto bishop Montini undertook for his episcopal life and ministry was “Cum Ipso in monte”, “with him on the mount”, thus a clear reference to the Transfiguration account. Archbishop Montini took over the bishopric of Milan, the see of St. Barnabas of the Apostle, on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, January 6, 1955.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was elected Pope on June 21, 1963 on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and, as Paul VI, was crowned with the tiara on June 30, 1963, the day of the commemoration of St. Paul the Apostle. It was the last coronation in the Vatican. Paul VI renounced the tiara and put it up for sale to distribute money to the poor. The tiara was purchased by Cardinal Spellman and is on display in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
Paul VI died on August 6, 1978, the day of the Lord’s Transfiguration! The connection with the Transfiguration is evident in Pope Montini’s biography, but what is this spiritual significance for the Church? Look at his coat of arms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_VI#/media/File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Pope_Paul_VI_(G._Montini).svg
Three lilies on Mount Tabor! In iconography, the lily flower is not an attribute of God, but above all of Saint Joseph as the consort of the Blessed Virgin, that is, her head. In the scene of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor (see illustration), the symbol of the lily can be attributed to St. Peter as the head of Sancta Ecclesia, to St. John as head of the house church in Ephesus and to St. Jacob as head of the Church in Iberia. And we come to the conclusion of my entry – on January 5, 1964, there were three of the Lord’s disciples on Mount Tabor: King Edward the Confessor living in a virginal marriage, Paul VI Pontifex Maximus and John the Apostle (because of this story with St Edward’s ring). Pope Paul represents Peter the Apostle here, John represents himself, so consistently King Edward represents James the Apostle. But there is one sapphire ring, so John and Edward represent one character: some unknown priest and king. However, on Mount Tabor on that 1964′ winter day, only one prominent Catholic was seen, Paul VI, but through his coat of arms he was a figure of all three and the anticipation of some yet unknown king and priest, vicar of Jesus Christ, the visible head of the Church on earth. And now the most important thing, the truthfulness of St. Malachi: according to his prophecy of the popes, Paul VI is “Flos florum”, and “Flower of flowers” is the real spouse of the Blessed Virgin, her head and at the same time the head of the visible Church. But who is it? Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini was consecrated bishop to Milan, the Episcopal See founded by St. The Barnabas of the Apostle, that is, the Son of Consolation. Barnabas is a type of the second Comforter, Paraclete, and He will be given to the Church on earth only now at the end of time because Giovanni Montini was consecrated on December 12, 1954, the day of commemoration of the Perfect Virgin of Guadelupe, the Apocalyptic Woman. It was Gaudete Sunday: The Church of Rome was looking forward to the coming of … the Paraclete, the real consort of the Blessed Virgin.
Nov. 11, the 134th anniversary of the coronation of the image Mary, Mother of Divine Providence, venerated by the Order of Barnabits founded in Milan.
P.S.
The last book of the Holy Bible, ‘Revelation to John’, deals with the birth and role of the Paraclete in the history of the salvation of mankind. If we come to the conclusion that God is great, He really is even greater!
“He is bigger than my thoughts and ways. Have confidence and know He is bigger. ”
Now I understand why, in this dark time, Susan, you gave your article the title ‘Canticle of Confidence’: Paraclete will renew everything!
A new Pentecost
The second Pentecost is the revelation of the second Comforter. The Paraclete is not the Holy Spirit, but someone full of the Holy Spirit.
I stared at ‘Veil of Veronica’ and started to publish intensively in the Polish gloria.tv, nickname Geminiano Secundo, I follow the situation on the Eastern Front (on May 15, a radioactive cloud from Khmielnitsky reached Poland, where the Russians destroyed a large depot of British and American munitions with depleted uranium on May 13 ), sometimes I listen to Russian and Serbian church music and devote a lot of time to prayer.
God bless you, Susan
https://gloria.tv/post/yWrpfL8emuwt2t2TZe7dXi7zW
P.S.
I don’t have time to write comments in English, because I can’t write short.
Amen! Amen! Amen!
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