Transfiguration Sunday and

Ash Wednesday

 

 

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid." And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

 

Matthew 17:1-9

 

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The Transfiguration *

RAFFAELLO Sanzio

1518-20

Oil on wood, 405 x 278 cm

Pinacoteca, Vatican

 

Cardinal Giulio de' Medici commissioned the Transfiguration in 1517 to Raphael for the French Cathedral of Narbonne. Bad health prevented Raphael from finishing it. The painting, however, remained in Rome in San Pietro in Montorio after 1523. Taken to Paris 1797, it was brought back in its present location in 1815.

The composition of the Transfiguration is divided into two distinct parts: the Miracle of the Possessed Boy on a lower level; and the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor, in the background. The transfigured Christ floats in an aura of light and clouds above the hill, accompanied by Moses and Elijah. Below, on the ground, are his disciples. Some are dazzled by the light of glory, others are in prayer. The gestures of the crowd beholding at the miracle link the two parts together: the raised hands of the crowd converge toward the figure of Christ. In this very grand composition Raphael has summed up all the elements present in the best of contemporary painting, including references to classical antiquity, Leonardo da Vinci (without doubt based on his recall of impressions garnered during his stay in Florence) and - not without a certain narcissism - himself. The works set the stage (just as surely as Michelangelo's Doni Tondo) for Mannerism.

The numerous drawings (both by Raphael and pupils) for the characters in the painting, together with the number of variants of the first draft which were revealed by restoration work in 1977, show just exactly how carefully meditated a composition it is. The restoration also dispelled any doubts as to the authenticity of the attribution to Raphael; the retouching and corrections are proof that the painting (although unfinished) is actually entirely in his hand.

The Transfiguration is the last bequest of an artist whose brief life was rich in inspiration, where doubt or tension had no place. Raphael's life was spent in thoughts of great harmony and balance. This is one of the reasons why Raphael appears as the best interpreter of the art of his time and has been admired and studied in every century.

On 6 April 1520, precisely 37 years after he was born, Raphael died in Rome, the city that he had helped make the most important centre of art and culture that had ever existed. 

See also:   

 

 

 

 

The best way to be perceived as having character 

is to actually possess it.

~ J.W. Reed

 

 

 

 

God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity,

but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined

by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder,

the source of which is beyond all reason.

~ Dag Hammarskjold

 

 

 

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Meishi Sakakibara celebrated his 6th birthday by visiting the Tokyo Skytower with his mother, Reina, and brothers Shuto and Kaito.

 

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Oh, dear. I’m not sure I would enjoy that.

 

National Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.

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After cheering Kei here for so many years, 

Robin Sakamoto finally ran on the Olympic track herself! 

Relay Marathon 2026

 

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There were 13 members on her gym team.

Robin's team finished 93rd out of 146 teams in their division and 272nd out of 453 total teams with a time of 3 hours and 14 minutes. And Kei Sakamoto can run it under three minutes all by himself! WOW!

 

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Some of our PTS (Painted Toe Art Society) enjoyed the 

'Family Ties' art exhibit at the Arvada Center. 

Then we enjoyed lunch!

 

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Pat Foster, Dennis Kristensen, Carolyn Alexander, 

Carolyn Martyn, Nancy Priest, Johanna Morrell

 

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Congratulations, Ray Yoshioka!

 

 

 

 

Human kindness has never weakened the stamina 

or softened the fiber of a free people.

A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt **

 

 

 

 

February 15, 2026  Transfiguration Sunday - Year A 

                     Last Sunday after the Epiphany

Previous OPQs may be found at:

 

 

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* Composition of the upper part of Raphael's Transfiguration

 

** Thank you, CV!

 

Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein

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Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org

 

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The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Lyrics by

Julia Ward Howe

1861

 

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:

His truth is marching on.

 

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

 

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,

They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;

I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:

His day is marching on.

 

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His day is marching on.

 

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:

"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;

Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,

Since God is marching on."

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Since God is marching on.

 

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:

Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!

Our God is marching on.

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Our God is marching on.

 

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

While God is marching on.

 

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

While God is marching on.

 

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,

He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,

So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,

Our God is marching on.

 

(Chorus)

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Our God is marching on.

 

Howe's "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" was first published on the front page of The Atlantic Monthly of February 1862.

 Some modern performances and recordings of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" use the lyric "As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free" as opposed to the wartime lyric originally written by Julia Ward Howe: "let us die to make men free."

 

 

 

 

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📖 Exodus 24:12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments.jpeg

 

 

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LECTIONARY

February 15 (Transfiguration of the Lord)

Exodus 24:12-18

Psalm 2 or Psalm 99 

2 Peter 1:16-21 

Matthew 17:1-9

 

February 18 (Ash Wednesday) 

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12 

Psalm 51:1-17 

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

 

THE WORD:

On this Sunday before the beginning of Lent, we hear Matthew’s account of the extraordinary transformation of Jesus that Peter, James and John witness on Mount Tabor.

Matthew’s account of the “transfiguration” (which takes place six days after his first prediction of his passion and his first instructions on the call to discipleship) is filled with images from the First Testament: the voice which repeats Isaiah’s “Servant” proclamation, the appearance of Moses and Elijah, the dazzling white garments of Jesus.  Matthew’s primary interest is the disciples’ reaction to the event: their awe at this spectacular vision will soon wither into fear at the deeper meaning of the transfiguration -- a meaning that they do not yet grasp.  As the disciples will later understand, the transfiguration is a powerful sign that the events ahead of them in Jerusalem are indeed the Father's will.

The use of the Greek word “transfiguration” indicates that what the disciples saw in Jesus on Mount Tabor was a divinity that shone from within him.  This coming Lenten season (which begins on Wednesday) is a time for each of us to experience such a “transfiguration” within ourselves – that the life of God within us may shine forth in lives dedicated to compassion, justice and reconciliation.

Peter's reaction to the Christ of the Transfiguration contrasts sharply with his reaction to the Christ of Good Friday:  While totally taken with the transfigured Christ in today’s Gospel, Peter is afraid to even acknowledge knowing the condemned Christ.  Lent calls us to descend Mount Tabor with Jesus and journey with him to Jerusalem and take up our cross with him, so that the divinity we see in the transfigured Jesus may become in us the Easter life of the Risen Christ.

 

First Reading Exodus 24:12-18

12The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” 13So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”

15Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. 17Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

Psalm 2

1   Why do the nations conspire, 
          and the peoples plot in vain? 
2   The kings of the earth set themselves, 
          and the rulers take counsel together, 
          against the LORD and his anointed, saying, 
3   “Let us burst their bonds asunder, 
          and cast their cords from us.”

4   He who sits in the heavens laughs; 
          the LORD has them in derision. 
5   Then he will speak to them in his wrath, 
          and terrify them in his fury, saying, 
6   “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”

7   I will tell of the decree of the LORD: 
     He said to me, “You are my son; 
          today I have begotten you. 
8   Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, 
          and the ends of the earth your possession. 
9   You shall break them with a rod of iron, 
          and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”

10  Now therefore, O kings, be wise; 
          be warned, O rulers of the earth. 
11  Serve the LORD with fear, 
          with trembling 12 kiss his feet, 
     or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way; 
          for his wrath is quickly kindled. 

     Happy are all who take refuge in him.

Or alternate Psalm Psalm 99

1   The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble! 
          He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! 
2   The LORD is great in Zion; 
          he is exalted over all the peoples. 
3   Let them praise your great and awesome name. 
          Holy is he! 
4   Mighty King, lover of justice, 
          you have established equity; 
     you have executed justice 
          and righteousness in Jacob. 
5   Extol the LORD our God; 
          worship at his footstool. 
          Holy is he!

6   Moses and Aaron were among his priests, 
          Samuel also was among those who called on his name. 
          They cried to the LORD, and he answered them. 
7   He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; 
          they kept his decrees, 
          and the statutes that he gave them.

8   O LORD our God, you answered them; 
          you were a forgiving God to them, 
          but an avenger of their wrongdoings. 
9   Extol the LORD our God, 
          and worship at his holy mountain; 
          for the LORD our God is holy.

Second Reading 2 Peter 1:16-21

16For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” 18We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.

19So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Gospel Matthew 17:1-9

1Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” 6When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

9As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”