From Season to Season

Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. —Luke 9:28-31 In her Revelations of Divine Love , the medieval mystic Blessed Julian of Norwich wrote:      I saw him and still sought him,         For we are now so blind and so unwise that we never seek God         until he of his goodness shows himself to us;      and when we see anything of him by grace, then are we moved by         the same grace to try with great desire to see him more perfectly.      And thus I saw him and I sought him,         and I possessed ...

This past week I began teaching a Lenten series at a local parish. While the 6-week program is ostensibly a study of the Ten Commandments, the series is really about how we—as believers—engage difficult moral issues. So, I suppose, it could be called “Moral Theology 101.” But, when all is said and done, the classes really come back to the basic theme of discipleship: how are we living out the faith we profess in our daily lives? We began our time together by reflecting on the importance of the season of Lent and how Lent is really a model for the Christian life because (when it is celebrated properly) Lent is always leading us somewhere—to the Cross and Empty Tomb. This is the season when we reflect on the quality of our discipleship and work on developing those virtues and habits that will enrich our faith and commitment so that, on Easter Sunday, we will be truer, holier disciples than we were on Ash Wednesday. Ideally, that forward momentum will continue through the Easter Se...

And Jesus was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light… Behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”     The Transfiguration of Jesus is one of those moments in the Gospels when the veil between Heaven and Earth all but vanishes and we are given a glimpse of realities that transcend the limits of our language, intellects, and even our imaginations. Found in all three of the Synoptic Gospels ( Matthew 17:1-8 , Mark 9:2-9 , and Luke 9:28b-36 ), this is one of those events that Scripture scholars and theologians struggle to explain. Even the traditional name we’ve given to this moment of revelation—“Transfiguration”—is nearly impossible to translate into a simple, concise definition. But the Transfiguration isn’t a puzzle to be solved. While we do well to ask if this was originally...