'Mass that morning must have been a strange one in the eyes of God's angels.' The Transfiguration, Year A

Transfiguration (Cell 6)

Blessed Fra Angelico [Web Gallery of Art]

As the Feast of the Transfiguration is a feast of the Lord  it is celebrated today instead of the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Matthew 17:1-9 (English Standard Version Anglicised, India)

After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Fr William Doyle SJ 

(3 March 1874 - 16 August 1917) [Photo: Veritas]

'Transfiguration moments' can occur in the most unexpected situations. Fr Willie Doyle SJ, who was killed during the Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, during the Great War, later to be known as World War One, wrote about two Masses celebrated during the war that were very special for him. Though he didn't refer to them as such, I see them as 'Transfiguration moments' when the Lord Jesus truly revealed himself to Father Willie and, through him, to us. The accounts below are from the website of the Father Willie Doyle Association, the official site for the canonisation of the Servant of God Fr Willie Doyle SJ. His cause was officially launched last November. The editor of this is Patrick Kenny who also compiled and edited To Raise the Fallen, published by Veritas, Dublin, in 2017.

Fr Doyle's account of the Christmas Night Mass 1916 is taken from the website. Part of it appears in the book.

The following excerpt from O’Rahilly’s biography of Fr Doyle recalls Christmas Eve and Midnight Mass during the war in 1916…

Christmas itself Fr. Doyle had the good luck of spending in billets. He got permission from General Hickie to have Midnight Mass for his men in the Convent. The chapel was a fine large one, as in pre-war times over three hundred boarders and orphans were resident in the Convent; and by opening folding-doors the refectory was added to the chapel and thus doubled the available room. An hour before Mass every inch of space was filled, even inside the altar rails and in the corridor, while numbers had to remain in the open. Word had in fact gone round about the Mass, and men from other battalions came to hear it, some having walked several miles from another village. Before the Mass there was strenuous Confession-work. “We were kept hard at work hearing confessions all the evening till nine o’clock” writes Fr. Doyle, “the sort of Confessions you would like, the real serious business, no nonsense and no trimmings. As I was leaving the village church, a big soldier stopped me to know, like our Gardiner Street friend, ‘if the Fathers would be sittin’ any more that night.’ He was soon polished off, poor chap, and then insisted on escorting me home. He was one of my old boys, and having had a couple of glasses of beer — ‘It wouldn’t scratch the back of your throat, Father, that French stuff’ — was in the mood to be complimentary. ‘We miss you sorely, Father, in the battalion’, he said, ‘we do be always talking about you’. Then in a tone of great confidence: ‘Look, Father, there isn’t a man who wouldn’t give the whole of the world, if he had it, for your little toe! That’s the truth’. The poor fellow meant well, but ‘the stuff that would not scratch his throat’ certainly helped his imagination and eloquence. I reached the Convent a bit tired, intending to have a rest before Mass, but found a string of the boys awaiting my arrival, determined that they at least would not be left out in the cold. I was kept hard at it hearing Confessions till the stroke of twelve and seldom had a more fruitful or consoling couple of hours’ work, the love of the little Babe of Bethlehem softening hearts which all the terrors of war had failed to touch.”

The Mass itself was a great success and brought consolation and spiritual peace to many a war- weary exile. This is what Fr. Doyle says:

“I sang the Mass, the girls’ choir doing the needful. One of the Tommies [the nickname for enlisted men in the British army], from Dolphin’s Barn, sang the Adeste beautifully with just a touch of the sweet Dublin accent to remind us of home, sweet home, the whole congregation joining in the chorus. It was a curious contrast: the chapel packed with men and officers, almost strangely quiet and reverent (the nuns were particularly struck by this), praying .and singing most devoutly, while the big tears ran down many a rough cheek: outside the cannon boomed and the machine-guns spat out a hail of lead: peace and good will — hatred and bloodshed!

“It was a Midnight Mass none of us will ever forget. A good 500 men came to Holy Communion, so that I was more than rewarded for my work.”

Most of the soldiers were from Ireland, serving in Irish regiments in the British army. They were well aware of the chances of their being killed or seriously wounded. They understood the importance of Confession, the sacrament above all where we meet the Risen Merciful Lord, whom they also met in Holy Communion.

Stretcher bearers, Passchendaele, August 1917

[Wikimedia]

A great-uncle of mine, Lawrence Dowd, was killed near Ieper/Ypres on 6 August 1917. I located his grave in 2001, the first relative ever to visit it. I learned later that the British and German forces didn't go over-the-top in outright battle that day so he was probably killed by a sniper. He would have known Father Doyle, quite possibly gone to confession to him and attended some of his Masses. However, that particular day the Jesuit priest celebrated Mass on his own and described it in, I think, a letter to his father.

For once getting out of bed was an easy, in fact, delightful task, for I was stiff and sore from my night’s rest. My first task was to look round and see what were the possibilities for Mass. As all the dug-outs were occupied if not destroyed or flooded, I was delighted to discover a tiny ammunition store which I speedily converted into a chapel, building an altar with the boxes. The fact that it barely held myself did not signify as I had no server and had to be both priest and acolyte, and in a way I was not sorry I could not stand up, as I was able for once to offer the Holy Sacrifice on my knees.

It is strange that out here a desire I have long cherished should be gratified, viz. : to be able to celebrate alone, taking as much time as I wished without inconveniencing anyone. I read long ago in the Acts of the Martyrs of a captive priest, chained to the floor of the Coliseum, offering up the Mass on the altar of his own bare breast, but apart from that, Mass that morning must have been a strange one in the eyes of God's angels, and I trust not unacceptable to Him. 

Ten days later Father Willie died while trying to rescue a wounded soldier. His body was never found. Years earlier as a novice he had offered his life to Mary as a Jesuit martyr as Patrick Kenny tells in this short video.

In his celebration of those Masses and countless others, in hearing the confessions of the soldiers under his care, Father Willie surely met the One of whom the Father said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him. And through Father Willie countless soldiers met Him in the battlefield. 

May they all be with the Father's beloved Son in heaven for all eternity.

Traditional Latin Mass

The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 08-06-2023 if necessary).

Epistle: 2 Peter 1:16-19. Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9.

These are the same as the Second Reading and Gospel in the Mass in the Ordinary Form.

Transfiguration of Christ

Paolo Veronese [Web Gallery of Art]

For when he received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we heard this voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain (2 Peter 1:17-18; Epistle).