Today, on Tabor, the Light that has no night, breaks forth. And just as the disciples fell on their faces in its presence (Matt. 17:6), our eyes are opened wide to the source and summit of our hope. You see, Tabor (Transfiguration) and the Upper Room (Pentecost) are ultimately two parts of one movement. On the mountain, the mystical Light shines on, and through, the Body. In the upper room, the Fire descends within it. Moses and Elijah reveal themselves as the confluence of f

Five weeks from today, on August 6, we celebrate the great Feast of the Transfiguration, when Christ ascended Mount Tabor and shone before Peter, James, and John with a light not of this world. I have stood on that mountain. Tabor rises alone from the Jezreel Valley. The road to its summit climbs in tight switchbacks that force you to slow, to turn, to ascend in earnest. At the top, looking out over the green hills of Galilee, I felt my own calling to the contemplative life q

James and John asked Jesus an impertinent question: can we sit at your right and left hands? St. Mary of Egypt asked one too: can I enter the kingdom without changing who I am and what I do? This Sunday, we are challenged to ask ourselves the most pertinent questions of all: who am I ... really? Do I love and live for God? Do I know my vocation? Do I live it fully? We all have to learn to be more honest about ourselves and to follow God with our whole mind, our whole heart, a

The Holy Apostle James (son of Alphaeus and brother of the Holy Evangelist Matthew) made missionary journeys throughout Judea, Edessa, Gaza, and Eleutheropolis, proclaiming the Gospel, healing all sorts of sickness and disease, and converting many to the path of salvation. This feast offers us an opportunity to meditate (prayer of the mind) on the following: Do I proclaim the Gospel everywhere I go? Do I pray for the healing of all of my spiritual, mental, and physical illnes