Catherine drove this early morning to the Father David’s eight o’clock Mass. And there it was on the front of the church bulletin, an icon with Jesus beaming, Elijah, Moses standing and Peter James and John flattened again the side of the mountain. I was ill prepared. The transfiguration has really been speaking to me this year, giving me the business.
So maybe we should talk about it again here and now, a kind of review. It all started out in Lent when I was asked if I would give a little two minute speech about one of the topics on the list. It was part of a program where different parishioners would contribute something each week of Lenten period. I don’t remember all that was on the list but the transfiguration was there looking at me like a lonely puppy at the animal shelter. I had just identified it as the one event on the rosary that I had the most trouble remembering or perhaps identifing with. So, it was the idea that I would learn about something by picking it that drove me on.
What was this extraordinary event all about? So, I prayed about it and made a plan. I was going to attend a weekend retreat with a group of bible study guys and I would corral one of them to get the hot scoop. Well, it didn’t really happen exactly as planned although I did have a breakthrough there on the trip.
I had a dream on the first night. And that gave me an experiential knowledge of the transfiguration that was so much more valuable than reading about it or talking about it. The dream was that I had met and was traveling with a woman who was extremely captivating. I was so taken with her that I never wanted to leave her side. But here is the deal half of her face was beautiful and totally normal but the other half was badly disfigured. You couldn’t get around the disfigurement, it was there to stay. But she was so alive, so aglow from the inside out that I was unaware of the “problem”. How could that be?
She obviously was transfigured. So much of the Spirit was shining through her that that was her reality. Everything else was secondary. Jesus shows us the way on this. We have to die to things before we can really have a chance to be alive.
OK, time for lunch, haven’t eaten all morning. Love again, Felipe.
Hey there Felipe, I am having a quiet day so I came by and binge read a lot of your posts. That is one of the blessings of a sore back, a quiet day. I get to reconnect with you on a worldly plane. So, since I am a true word nerd, I find that I am most interested in this word, transfiguration. I went to the dictionary, then the children’s dictionary because sometimes I just like to Break. It. Down. Here is what I found: “a great change of form or appearance; especially : a change that beautifies, glorifies, or makes more spiritual.” A change that beautifies, glorifies or MAKES MORE SPIRITUAL. There it is. The Camino for me was a change that made me more spiritual. So many gifts from the Camino keep showing up since I first walked out of St. Jean Pied de Port in April of 2009. Still! I guess that makes me a Caminohead through and through. Love you so dear sweet Felipe!
Annie ~ if anyone is a Caminohead you are one my dear. Father David said that the Transfiguration was a time when God revealed himself. Just doesn’t happen everyday. But when people let God shine through them no matter what they have experienced that has the same feel to me and that can happen everyday. Ripe blackberry loves, Felipe.
This was a blessing to me! Thank you…
Michelle ~ I’m happy, I’m happy. Felipe.x
Hola Amigo Peregrino Felipe!
Another in a long, long, LONG line of dry good mornings! When you were baking last week, we were looking for the long lost blankets to cover up with at night with lows in the 50s! The pictures of your sweet corn looked, well, sweet. The neighbors invited us to pick the remaining corn in their patch as they have harvested all they want for freezing and canning. My Sweet Cathy is away all week visiting her dear sister Beverly in Denver, so that invite will go unheeded as I pick only what I and the grands can eat daily. The corn will have passed its proverbial “prime” by the time she gets back. When the daughters return from Denver today, maybe they will want to gather some to freeze. We’ll see.
As for your Transfiguration, I have this to offer.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free*,[14]
While God is marching on.
This is the way Julia Ward Howe originally composed the hymn; i.e. “let us die to make men free”. We modern folk think that’s a bit extreme, so the lyrics have been “modified” to “Let us live to make men free”.
We’re just not comfortable with that “die” thing, thus missing that chance for “transfiguration”. Your dream version is just short of Biblical, and I love it. You choose to focus on the beautiful side, when so many would not be able to get past the ugly side. You inspire, mi amigo, you truly inspire.
SF,
PFJ
Hi PFJ ~ so you all are eating sweet corn already! We are just days away. Yes, the Battle Hymn of the Republic, one of my all time favorites. This whole Transfiguration thing is a great topic. PFF