Posts
A Feast of Light
We experienced a splendid celebration of the Feast of the Transfiguration yesterday evening. There were many faithful parishioners present, though I wish we had more of our children and young adults also present. The purpose of the Vesperal Liturgy is to make that possible. Be that as it may, we have entered into a "feast of light" a light meant to dispel some of the darkness of the world around us, and perhaps in our minds and hearts "from time to time."
There is a splendid new book on the Transfiguration recently published: This is My Beloved Son, by Andreas Andreopoulos (I think he is Greek Orthodox). From the preface of that book, Archbishop Kallistos Ware writes the following:
Who is Christ? What am I? For an answer we may turn to one of the most mysterious events in the Gospels: the Transfiguration of Christ on the mountain in the presence of his three chosen disciples - Peter, James and John. The dazzling light that shone from the face of Jesus reveals to us his true stature as the eternal Son of God. It reveals to us also the highest potentiality of our created nature, our ultimate vocation as human beings.
In the light of Christ's face that was so strangely and so strikingly altered upon the mountaintop, in his garments that became dazzling white, all human faces have acquired a new brightness, all common things have been transformed. For those who believe in Christ's Transfiguration, no one is despicable, nothing is trivial and mean...
