On the Transfiguration

Forgive me for saying this, but I never really got the whole Transfiguration thing. Seriously.

Until tonight. (liturgically tomorrow)

And God bless Father David, because he made it even make more sense than the hymns were making it make on its own. I know, that's a TERRIBLE sentence, but bear with me.

Here's what I finally understood. Well, two things actually.

First, if it wasn't clear to the disciples, particularly those three, who Christ was, what with all the water-into-wine, voice-of-God-from-the-Heavens, water walking and whatnot, He TRANSFIGURES. He changed. The radiance of His divinity shot out of Him, through His clothes. And just in case any doubts remained, Moses and Elijah showed up and said PAY ATTENTION. This is the ONE. And Christ, in His great love for mankind, said keep this to yourselves, kids, until after I resurrect. You're going to have the world's biggest AHA moment, and I want you to remember this. Remember this when I'm on the Cross and you can't, for the life of you, figure out what is happening. Remember this. I AM GOD.

Second, He is showing us what we are to become, what we should be, what we were supposed to be. If we are in Him and He is in us, we too will be TRANSFIGURED, with the radiance of God's divine light shooting out of us. I am to be this. When I partook of Holy Communion, I took Him in. He entered into me. He will transform me. I will be LIKE HIM. He wants us to be that, to quote Fr. David, to shine brighter than the stars in the heavens, to be higher than the angels.

So, on this day, this day of great change, great revealing, I pray. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Who shone with great light on Mt. Tabor, change me. Make me into that which is a radiant reflection of who and what You created me to be. Through the prayers of Sts. Peter, James and John who stood with You that day, through the prayers of Moses and Elijah who pointed to You, have mercy upon me and save me.

Amen.

Memory Eternal

Alexander Solzhenitsyn--Dec. 11, 1918 to Aug. 4, 2008

He saw the constructs of man for what they were. We shall miss him for we still need him.

Of rough weeks and cable access

In my job I bump up against actual evil quite often, "actual evil" being quite different from the casual way we (humans) normally identify someone or something as evil. Actual evil is a murdered infant. That is what I'm talking about.

Anyway...this week, evil. So I'm kind of tired. In spite of sleeping pills, in spite of martial arts, in spite of whatever else I can think of...I have not been sleeping well. And I'm actually worried about going to church tomorrow, because what if this is the kind of stuff that sticks in my head. What if while I'm supposed to be thinking of the Body and Blood of Christ, I'm worrying about what to do about actual evil.

A couple posts ago I wrote about feeling like a dirty little urchin or blood-covered soldier sneaking into the back of the church. This has been one of those weeks that aged me. I understand wrinkles around the eyes and gray hairs. I'm so grateful for my church home because without it I know I'd slide beyond sinful into actual evil myself. It's the human condition. So pray for me, if you could, that tomorrow, as I stand before the chalice I will see only the icon of Christ behind my priest, for He's the One who can take care of that whole evil thing anyway.

On a lighter note, I now have, for the first time in a long time, high speed internet in my home. Expect more posts. Hold me to it.