Second Sunday of Lent —- Transfiguration

The Church always seems to give us signs and symbols along our journey of faith to help and encourage us. With only 10 days into the Lenten Season, we already get a glimpse of the final outcome, the Resurrection, in the transfigured Jesus on Mount of Tabor on the 2nd Sunday of Lent.

Many of us monks at Mount Michael have encountered the transfiguration in the literary works of Flannery O’Connor. Flannery loved to use “flagrant, bright-hued symbols, designed to leave a lasting image in her readers’ minds.”

She does exactly this in her story: The Displaced Person. One of the central symbols in this story is a peacock. The priest in this story points to the peacock, which has spread its magnificent colored tail and says: “Christ will come like that … the Transfiguration!”

Years ago, when we still used banners in chapel, Br. Jerome designed a flagrant, bright- hued peacock for Easter Sunday. We still have it! However, now he uses real peacock feathers.

Again, this symbol is a type of assistance for us on journey through Lent, a preview of how wonderful the brightness and colors will be at Easter.

Continue your journey through the wilderness and colorlessness of Lent. Soon it will all change.