For the Second Sunday of Lent…
But Jesus came and touched them, saying,
“Rise, and do not be afraid.”
And when the disciples raised their eyes,
they saw no one else but Jesus alone.
Matthew 17:7-8
My friend Judi loved this story of Jesus’ Transfiguration. She was one of my mentors. Judi came alongside me when I first began my fight against breast cancer, decades ago. We were both Catholics and we were both writers. I knew her for ten years. And she was a true encouragement to me in the writing, and in the real art of living and dying.
Whenever I come across this dramatic account of Jesus’ Transfiguration I think of her. And I think of the apostles of Jesus getting a glimpse of heaven as Jesus’ divinity is revealed by the Father for Peter, James and John to see.
After the vision took place, Jesus asked the disciples to keep it all a secret, until after his resurrection. What an amazing secret to hold! And as I look back at the ten years I knew Judi, this Scripture reminds me of the few months I made communion calls to her, as her life ebbed away from another cancer. I was glad Judi knew “the secret” of life on earth… She knew Jesus. She knew that on that final day when she closed her eyes the last time in this life, when she opened them again, she would see “no one else but Jesus alone.”
Lord, give me eyes to know your truth, and to see you as goal and destiny of my life.
