Cameos of the Cloud

Learning to see the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit

08/06/2024

Mk 9:2-10 Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them. As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.

Even though the focus of the feast of the Transfiguration is Jesus and his dazzlingly white appearance, I want to draw your attention to the rather non-descript, although highly significant, cloud that was also present in that marvelous moment. To put it succinctly, the Cloud is the presence of the Holy Spirit because the Transfiguration is a deeply Trinitarian event. What does that mean?

Well, all three divine Persons of the Holy Trinity were powerfully present even though only the Father and the Son are directly indicated in the gospels. It seems the Holy Spirit gets short-shrift, but that is only because we do not know how to look for him. In other words, just like we need “Eucharistic eyes” to see how the inspired authors of the Bible talk about the Eucharist in hidden but holy ways, so we need special eyes to see the power and presence of the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture.

For example, when Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt they follow a cloudy pillar of smoke and fire. That was the Holy Spirit. When Elijah is taken up into heaven in a fiery, cloudy whirlwind, it was the action of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus says he will return in glory at the end of time riding on the clouds, we should understand him to mean he will be seated on and surrounded by the Holy Spirit.

That is, when the Bible talks about a cloud – especially in pivotal events of salvation history – it really means the third Person of the Holy Spirit, not some fluffy, white cumulous cloud floating in the sky! So, too, today, when we read, “Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, ‘This is my beloved Son. Listen to him,” we are meant to understand that Cloud was the presence of the third Person, the Holy Spirit.

Is it any surprise then that it was Moses and Elijah who appeared with Jesus at the Transfiguration? After all, they had two of the most profound experiences of the Holy Spirit in the form of a cloud! Train your eyes of faith to see more than meets the eyes when you read the Bible. Otherwise, you will simply skim the surface of the text and miss the deeper theological truths the Holy Spirit himself is trying to teach us.

As you know, the primary Author of the Bible is not human but divine, namely, the Holy Spirit who inspired the human author. Think of the Holy Spirit writing about himself in the Bible and describing himself in a somewhat clandestine manner like how Alfred Hitchcock made cameo appearances in his movies.

You have to look hard not to miss Hitchcock, Likewise, you have to learn to look hard not to miss the Holy Spirit, who makes his own cameo as a Cloud called in Hebrew the Shekinah glory Cloud, or as St. Peter called it, “the majestic glory” (2 Pt 1:17).

One last point about the Holy Spirit as the glory Cloud as he appears and acts in the liturgy. Every time we use incense at Mass that should evoke the scriptural symbolism of the Shekinah glory Cloud. Even though some people only complain and cough when we use incense, to the eyes of faith, we should see the Cloud of the Holy Spirit envelope the sanctuary. We should understand that our salvation is wrought not only by the power and working of the Father and the Son, but also by the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit.

At a funeral Mass, the last liturgical gesture is to incense the casket containing our loved one. And I remind people, “As the incense rises to heaven, our eyes of faith tell us our loved one also goes to heaven." In scriptural language, we might say that they are transported in a fiery, cloudy whirlwind like Elijah, and one day will be transfigured into glory like our Lord today. Pay attention to the cameos of the Cloud of the Holy Spirit.

Praised be Jesus Christ!