Friday, August 6, 2010

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord












Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord! The Gospel account is Luke: 9: 28-36 (which is why I included the cloud photo!).



Mt Tabor is the site of the Basilica of the Transfiguration----the early Church Fathers believed that Tabor was the site, but others have suggested Mt Hermon or Mt Arbel. But this is where the church is and where pilgrims remember the event. I remembered all the times I've given talks on retreats and mission weeks and asked people not to build their tents on the high point of the experience, but to remember that the Transfiguration only happened once. The rest of the time, Jesus and his followers were going up the mountain, going down the mountain, and walking across valleys and plains.



It's easy to want to build tents on the mountain top---but in time, I think we'd become complacent and bored with the view. We would forget how good we have it, because we wouldn't have anything else to compare it to.



I spent time in the two side chapels---the ones for Moses and Elijah----praying for the strength to continue down the mountain and into the valleys, where most of our lives are spent.

2 comments:

Sanchez said...

An insightful article on the feast of Transfiguration focused on the transformation of the whole creation and our responsibility as the leaven of it. Worth giving it a look:
http://dstp.cba.pl/?p=2344

klford said...

Yes, the conversation is good. It is very good to see the depth and breadth of your faith and the way you see things. The maturity and the wonder of your faith are inspiring to me. I knew these were very real places, but your pictures and comments make them so much more real to me. Thanks for sharing!