In the church calendar, today marks the Feast of the Transfiguration. 10 facts about this feast day:
The Transfiguration of Jesus is described in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and the Second Epistle of Peter.
It was when Jesus took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, up a mountain and showed Himself to them in all His heavenly glory. Moses and Elijah put in an appearance, as well.
Christians consider the transfiguration to fulfil an Old Testament prophecy that Elijah would return again after his ascension (Malachi 4:5–6).
According to tradition, the event took place on Mount Tabor, which is located in Lower Galilee, northern Israel.
While Christians have been celebrating the Transfiguration in some form since the 9th century, it didn’t have a fixed date until Pope Callixtus III decreed that it would be celebrated on 6 August. He was Pope from April 1455 to August 1458.
Callixtus chose this date as it coincided with the end of of the siege of Belgrade in 1453, when the Ottoman Empire was foiled in its attempts to expand into Europe.
In 2002 Pope John Paul II updated the meditations of the rosary with five “luminous mysteries,” of which the Transfiguration is one. The transfiguration is one of the five major milestones in the gospel narrative of the life of Jesus, the others being baptism, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
The significance of the event for Christians is that it was at this point that connected human nature and God; the Old and New Testaments; the temporal and the eternal; all with Jesus as the connecting point.
One tradition of this feast is to eat fruit and in particular, Grapes. This is because the harvest of grapes and other first fruits in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions where the tradition originated occurs at about this time.
Another way to celebrate which some people suggest, involves getting out in nature – going for a hike, ideally on a mountain trail or to a high point locally, and when you get to that point, reflect on the glory of God.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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