Pope Francis describes Christ's face and the Transfiguration

'To see this face, so beautiful, so luminous...'

Pope Francis delivered a brief homily at the Roman parish of Santa Maddalena di Canossa this Sunday, focusing on the face of Jesus during the Transfiguration and Resurrection.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to CNA, the Pontiff added the faces of Christ during the Transfiguration and Resurrection offer hope and courage for the next face he would show - that of the Crucifixion.

His Holiness explained: "Between this beautiful transfiguration and that Resurrection there will be another face of Jesus. There will be a face that's not so beautiful.

"There will be an ugly face, disfigured, tortured, despised [and] bloodied. Jesus' entire body is like something to throw away."

He added there are "two transfigurations, and in the middle is Jesus Crucified, the Cross."

The Pope further explained the Cross is where Jesus was "annihilated" to save us all, so we must look to it often.

He quoted St. Paul to say Jesus "was made sin. Sin is the worst thing, sin is an offense against God, a slap in the face to God...And Jesus became sin, he was annihilated."

Pope Francis said Jesus was transfigured on the Cross to lead the way for others and to call us "to go forward."

The Pontiff added: "To see this face, so beautiful, so luminous, which is the same that we see in the transfiguration and it's the same one that we'll see in heaven," is necessary.

Still speaking of Jesus' face, the Pope explained there were two to contemplate: "the transfigured one and the one made sin, cursed."

By considering both, we are encouraged "to go forward on the path of life, the Christian journey. It also encourages us in the forgiveness of our sins, we've sinned a lot, [but above all, it] encourages us in trust.

"Because if he became sin because he took ours upon himself, he is always disposed to forgive us. We only have to ask him."

The homily was brief, as the Pontiff was thirty minutes late to Mass after meeting with several groups from the parish community.

The homily in full is as follows:

"Two times reference is made in this passage of the Gospel to the beauty of Jesus, of Jesus as God, of Jesus illuminated, of Jesus full of joy and life. First in the vision, he was transfigured in front of them, in front of the disciples.

"'His face shown like the sun and his garments became white as light.' Jesus is transformed, he is transfigured. The second time, while they were going down from the mountain, Jesus ordered them not so speak of this vision before he is risen from the dead. In the Resurrection, Jesus will have a face, luminous and bright, it will be like this. What can I tell you? Between this beautiful Transfiguration and that Resurrection there will be another face of Jesus.

"There will be a face that's not so beautiful. There will be an ugly face, disfigured, tortured, despised (and) bloodied. Jesus' entire body is like something to throw away. Two transfigurations, and in the middle is Jesus Crucified, the Cross. We must look at the Cross a lot. And Jesus-God; this is my Son, this is my Son, the beloved.

"Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is annihilated to save us. And to use a word that's too strong, perhaps it's one of the strongest words in the New Testament: he was made sin. Sin is the worst thing, sin is an offense against God, a slap in the face to God. It's to tell God 'I don't care about you, I prefer this.'

"And Jesus became sin, he was annihilated. And to prepare the disciples not to be scandalized by seeing him like this on the Cross, he did this transfiguration. We are used to speaking about sin. When we confess, 'I did this sin, I did this other one.' Even in confession, when we are forgiven, we feel that we are forgiven because he took this sin in the Passion.

"He was made sin. We are used to speaking about the sin of others. It's an ugly thing. Instead, to speak of (others), I don't say to sin, because we can't, but to look at our sins, it's he who became sin. This is the path toward Easter, toward the resurrection, with this assurance of the transfiguration to go forward.

"To see this face, so beautiful, so luminous, which is the same that we see in the transfiguration and it's the same one that we'll see in heaven. And also to see this other face, which became sin. He paid like this for all of us.

"Jesus became sin. He became the curse of God for us. The blessed Son of God became cursed because he took our sins upon himself. Let's think about this. How much love. Let's also think about the beauty of the transfigured face of God that we'll see in heaven.

"This contemplation of the two faces of Jesus, the transfigured one and the one made sin, cursed, encourages us to go forward on the path of life, the Christian journey. It also encourages us in the forgiveness of our sins, we've sinned a lot. It above all encourages in trust. Because if he became sin because he took ours upon himself, he is always disposed to forgive us. We only have to ask him."

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