TODAY is the Feast of the Transfiguration. A week ago we read the story of Jesus’ vision fast when he confronted the satan in the desert in preparation for his three years of ministry. It was a window into the humanity of Jesus. This week we have an icon and glimpse of the divinity of Jesus. Malcolm Guite’s lovely sonnet gives voice to this: “The Love that dances at the heart of things / Shone out upon us from a human face.” In a world and time when some insist on dehumanizing others, viewing children, youth, women, men, the elderly as nothing more than flesh standing in the way of a modern pharoah’s disgraceful, conscienceless grab for power, let’s be faces for others that reflect that radiant face of the Christ and draw each other’s awareness back to the dance of love “at the heart of things.” As Guite so poignantly puts it: “Nor can this blackened sky, this darkened scar / Eclipse that glimpse of how things really are.” ~ djm
NOTE: For an audio recording of this sonnet read by the author Malcolm Guite click on the word “Transfiguration” immediately above.
For that one moment, ‘in and out of time’,
On that one mountain where all moments meet,
The daily veil that covers the sublime
In darkling glass fell dazzled at his feet.
There were no angels full of eyes and wings
Just living glory full of truth and grace.
The Love that dances at the heart of things
Shone out upon us from a human face
And to that light the light in us leaped up,
We felt it quicken somewhere deep within,
A sudden blaze of long-extinguished hope
Trembled and tingled through the tender skin.
Nor can this blackened sky, this darkened scar
Eclipse that glimpse of how things really are.
by Malcolm Guite
This sonnet is drawn from Guite’s collection Sounding the Seasons, published by Canterbury Press.
Friends, Thank you for reading THE ALMOND TREE. Please feel free to send the link for The Sacred Braid to family or friends who might appreciate THE ALMOND TREE. Blessings. Here is the LINK.
ARTWORK: Transfiguration
♣ GOODPEOPLE ♣ HOW ABOUT YOU? ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SPIRITUAL DIRECTION ONLINE? Would you benefit from having a trustworthy companion to listen with you to your yearnings, hopes, struggles, burning questions? Someone who will pay attention with you to your quiet desire to cultivate a life of spiritual depth and meaning as well as to the One from whom all wonder, joy, and blessings flow? I am offering spiritual direction online. If you, or someone you know, are interested in beginning or returning to spiritual guidance CLICK HERE where you will find both practical information and explanations of spiritual direction. I’d be honored to hear and hold your unfolding story.