In the Orthodox Church August 6th is the celebration day of the Transfiguration of Christ .
"On the Mountain You were Transfigured, O Christ God, And Your disciples beheld Your glory as far as they could see it;So that when they would behold You crucified, They would understand that Your suffering was voluntary, And would proclaim to the world, That You are truly the Radiance of the Father!" - Kontakion, Tone 7
One of the interesting things about Orthodox Christianity is how through the feasts and fasts of the Church we live our lives in "real-time" with Christ. Commemorating specific days so that we are aware of the presence of the Lord throughout the year. In "traditional" western Christianity it is easy to drift away from this awareness and fall into a habit of not thinking about spiritual matters until secular holidays or specific days of the week.
"Jesus Christ was transfigured on the Mount, not taking upon Himself something new nor being changed into something new, nor something which formerly He did not possess. Rather, it was to show His disciples that which He already was, opening their eyes and bringing them from blindness to sight. For do you not see that eyes that can perceive natural things would be blind to this Light?" - Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica
Today is also the commemoration of "the biggest man-made disaster in history." The 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed over 200,000 people in a matter of minutes!! The message of this event is "never again." To me, the lesson that we should never forget is that in war, it is always the innocent who suffer. Those who start wars, who wield the power, who call the "shots," remain safely out of danger, as if playing a video game, but with real people instead of computer generated characters. May we be mindful of those who died in this horrible tragedy and honor them by working toward peace in every way possible.
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