Transfiguration Amidst the Shadow
In today’s Gospel, the Transfiguration, we meet Jesus on a mountaintop where “his face shone like the sun and clothes became white as light.” Like Peter, I’ve known the desperate desire to savor such a light.
Recently, my husband and I hosted a party to celebrate our anniversary and my remission from breast cancer. After a long journey of repetitive suffering, we needed to actively choose hope, gratitude, and joy. Like the Transfiguration, it was a moment of pure radiance.
But as the Gospel tells us, a cloud soon cast a shadow, making the disciples afraid. My cloud arrived quickly: the harsh realities of survivorship and hospitalization of my mom. She missed our celebration and passed away three weeks later. Fear came to swallow my joy.
Yet, God chose that terrifying, cloudy moment to declare: “This is my beloved Son... listen to him.” To me, this is the real transfiguration—a claiming of belovedness in the midst of fear, not despite it.
At my mom’s bedside when I shared how much I loved her and thanked her for how well she loved me, I felt Jesus reminding me that fear is not the end. Love wins. It was as if he whispered the same words he gave to the disciples, “Rise and do not be afraid.” His gentle touch let me trust Him more deeply. I realized the woman who loved me best on earth was meeting the Divine who loves me best in heaven. In imagining them together, my heart is transfigured. Peace now abides alongside my grief.
This Lent, we may find ourselves in the shadow of a cloud. But it is there, in the darkness, where God claims us as His own Beloved.
What might Jesus be transfiguring in your life this Lent - not despite darkness, but in the very midst of it?
God, help us hear that you claim us as your beloved children. May we listen to Jesus and trust in Him more than in our own fear. Amen.
Jaclyn Guerrero