Just a word before we go...Second Sunday of Lent...March 13, 2022
How does a person who was referred to as being “a joke” as recently as a month ago become the shining star of the resistance against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine? Standing shoulder to shoulder with his soldiers, refusing to leave the country with a now famous phrase “send ammunition, not a ride,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been transformed from a laughable comedian who happened to win election, to a courageous and inspirational symbol of the fight for independence and democracy. Broadcasting to the Russian people in their language the hypocrisy of Putin’s “de-nazification” claim, this Jewish Ukrainian, the grandson of the only survivor of Nazi terror out of four brothers, President Zelenskyy has managed to capture the imagination of the world. In doing so, he has given flesh to the words of the Irish poet John O’Donohue: “the (circumstances of the world are) not decided by action alone, but... more by consciousness and spirit; they are the secret sources of all action and behavior.” Zelenskyy has tapped into what astronauts refer to as the “overview effect,” a shifting of perspectives yielding a new way of seeing that influences all that follows.
This idea of the “overview effect” could be applied to Peter, James and John, as they experienced the transfiguration of Jesus on that mountain. Jesus, in contemplative communion with his father, loving and being loved, revealed his glory and prefigured the resurrection with a sight that had to be both frightening and amazing. The apostles bore witness, but missed the meaning, at first. It would be later that they would finally understand what that visual and visceral experience had been teaching them, and that realization would rock their worlds, shifting their perspectives indelibly. Through their transformed consciousness and spirit, they would go on to preach the Good News that the Lord is our light and our salvation.
What about us? The Transfiguration was not ours to witness, but transformation is a possibility within the reach of each of us. We might not be called to lead a movement for freedom as Zelenskyy is doing, but we can take a lesson from Jesus on that mountain, where he was consumed with and by love. When a person knows that he or she is truly loved by God, it changes that person. In the words of Pope Francis: “Everything comes from this: from a heart that feels that it is looked on with love. Then reality is contemplated with different eyes.”
How can this happen? A start might be to spend more time with God...whether in prayer, or contemplation or reading. Perhaps a walk on the beach, a deep conversation with a trusted friend, or attending a Lenten Taizé Prayer Service. Lent abounds with opportunities to get to know God better and comprehend the love that God offers. Make a new beginning or continue on your current journey...God is waiting with open arms and eyes filled with love...for you.