Franciscan Fractal
Contemplating Today’s Culture through the Eyes of St. Francis & the Life of Christ
“Cloud of Unknowing"
Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” … And they (the disciples) kept silent and, in those days, told no one any of the things they had seen. Luke 9:32-35
The “Transfiguration of Jesus” occurs on the last Sunday of Epiphany, which precedes Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent in the Episcopal, Lutheran, United Methodist, Presbyterian (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ (UCC), and Reformed (RCA) churches. Transfiguration Sunday celebrates Jesus’ radical change in appearance, while in the presence of Peter, James, and John on a “high mountain” (Mt 17:1-8; Mk 9:2-8; Lk 9:28-36).
In the gospel of Luke, the three disciples are described as being very sleepy, but they stay awake long enough to watch what was happening. The “appearance of Jesus’ face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.” Moses and Elijah then arrived and began talking with Jesus. Peter, overwhelmed by what he saw, blurted out, “Let us make three dwellings, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (and he really did not know what he was saying).”
A cloud overtook the scene, the three disciples became terrified, and a voice spoke from the cloud saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.” The cloud then dissipated, and Jesus stood alone. Following the event, the “disciples kept silent and . . . told no one any of the things they had seen.”
It is easy to dismiss this story as simply an oddity toward the end of the life of Christ. There have been many interpretations as to what actually happened and what this event meant. Some have suggested this was Jesus showing his divinity in the dazzling light, and the fulfilment of the law and prophets by meeting with Moses and Elijah. Those are frequent traditional interpretations. Yet, is there another angle, a deeper meaning, to this story?
Though mystical encounters, as often exemplified by clouds, are found throughout Scripture, interpretations of such events are rare. Clouds may be an everyday occurrence. Nevertheless, clouds in Scripture have pointed to mystical or difficult-to-explain events (Exodus 13:21-22; Numbers 9:15-23).
Clouds suggest things beyond our control – thin spaces between heaven and earth. We typically relegate these Biblical stories simply to footnotes on a page, which have little significance in our minds. However, we may be missing a deeper meaning. The Transfiguration and its shrouded cloud cover may be such an event – one aimed more at us than Jesus.
Cloud events that can transfigure you and I have been occurring for eons. One of the first writings from a non-scriptural source that reported an occurrence of mystical transfiguration occurred in the 14th century. It was in a book entitled, “The Cloud of Unknowing,” 1 written by an unidentified author. The cloud of unknowing is a cloud that allows us to perceive God in a way that we have not been taught, and allows us to dispense our preconceived ideas about God. We begin to experience God directly in God’s true form. In a cloud, we must touch things since we cannot see clearly. Centering Prayer is one way of entering a cloud of unknowing, and having God touch us instead of us thinking about God.
If we are honest, our dreams while we are sleeping are more akin to “cloud-covered” events than other phenomena. Like the disciples with Jesus, when awakening from a dream, we are not certain of what is and is not real. We sometimes like to tell others about what we have dreamt, since the dream still seems so real. Moreover, like the disciples, we learn to cautiously share our dreams, and we stay silent lest others see us as a bit “crazy.”
It is not a stretch to realize that God is no more present in many of our daily lives than in our dreams. Yet, regardless of our inattentiveness, God continually comes to us anew, each and every day. Entering the cloud of unknowing is a way to begin experiencing God in a new way. What is transfigured each time we encounter Jesus (even if it is in a dream) is us. We change. We are broadened in our understanding of a God who is unknowable. We are also offered an opportunity to enter into God’s mystery since transfiguration occurs, not only in dreams, but in everyday life.
Thomas Merton, a contemplative and contemporary mystic, relates this experience in his biography about an event that occurred on March 18, 1958, as he was running errands in downtown Louisville, KY. He had an experience that would change his life and influence countless others. The spot is marked with an historical marker – the only marker in the United States that lifts up a mystical (cloud-like) experience.
Thomas Merton wrote:
“In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness…
“And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time.”2
All of us need mystical “cloud-like” experiences. While theological studies continue to be an immense gift to the world, a person can easily get trapped inside endless discussions about abstract ideas with little emphasis on direct experience or practice. In contrast, mystics honor the experience of the essential mystery and unknowability of God, and invite us to do the same.
Prayers and Blessings,
Fr. John
1 The Cloud of Unknowing Kindle Edition by Evelyn Underhill (Author, Translator)
Grapevine (February 6, 2025).
2 Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (Doubleday: 1966), 140-142.
