Today’s find: Awake, again.

On this, the Feast of the Transfiguration, thought I might re-post a reflection I wrote a bit earlier this year…when we were blessed to visit the very spot where Jesus dazzled…even as some key disciples dithered. Here’s what I wrote back in mid-Lent:

Perhaps Peter should have traveled by taxi up to the top of Mount Tabor. That experience certainly would have kept him from falling asleep.

Hang on, Dear, for the death-defying shuttle-taxi ride of your life…

All the same – having recently returned from the Holy Land – I find myself empathizing just a bit with the sleepy saint. Jet lag has been beating me to a pulp all this past week. And try as I might, I just can’t seem to convince my heart and mind that we’ve now come full-bore into the season of Lent.

So yeah, when I read Luke’s version of the Transfiguration this morning, I found myself judging Peter a little bit less…and understanding him and the other boys just a little bit more…as I reflected on this little nugget:

Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw [Jesus’] glory and the two men standing with him.

I myself was standing atop Mount Tabor only a couple of weeks ago (having survived the death-defying high-speed ascent provided by our taxi shuttle). Our time at the Church of the Transfiguration came early-on in the pilgrimage, however. So already, I realized, the memory had begun to fade just a bit.

Church of the Transfiguration

It’s a beautiful church – among the most appealing we encountered during our two weeks in Israel. And we celebrated a soul-stirring liturgy there. I remember, especially, the wonderful acoustics in the lower chapel – how they amplified our 40 voices, to make them seem like 400.

A close encounter…

…with the Real Presence, here…

In a word, there was glory to be found atop Mount Tabor.

Two weeks hence, it’s a bit startling to realize how the glory has dimmed a bit in my memory. And this insight, back home: How “sleepy” I can often become, even when I’m blessed to be in close contact with the Real Presence.

So I resolved, today, as part of my Lenten practice…to try to act more fully awake during the remainder of our 40 days in the spiritual desert.

And in making this resolution, I am delighted to discover the God-wink I received in return…

A photo, taken atop Mount Tabor, that provides a glimpse of the dazzling white light we encountered there in February.

“…dazzling white…”

Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.

IHS