Let us make three tents
I remember saying those words from this week’s Gospel Luke 9: 28-36 ‘it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents’. It was 1985 and Sandee and I were crossing the inner courtyard, of a convent, on the Sunday evening of our original Marriage Encounter weekend. I was caught up into heaven with intense feelings of love, reverence and a deep sense of God’s presence.
Since then there have been a few similar experiences but not as joy filled as that first encounter with the divine. The moment of my ordination was another transcendence moment but that was of a different nature and feelings.
Like me, I believe, that Peter, overwhelmed by the glory of the moment, desired to remain on the mountain. So it is with transcendence moments, experiencing divine illumination, we all desire to remain in that state permanently.
In that moment of transcendence, time seems to stand still. It is as if we are lifted beyond the constraints of the ordinary world and immersed in a presence so vast, so intimate, that words cannot describe it. Love, pure and unfiltered, flows through us, wrapping us in warmth and certainty. There is an overwhelming clarity—a deep knowing that we are seen, loved, and part of something far greater than ourselves.
I also reflect that the experience was the culmination of deep prayer and reflection, both from that weekend, and the days leading up to the weekend. We had made a Life in the Spirit weekly seminar for the 8 weeks prior to the weekend. It is as if the days and weeks leading up to that Sunday evening were the climb up our own mountain.
We cannot manufacture transcendence moments but we can prepare and make ourselves conducive to having the experience. I believe Lent is one such opportunity. Taken seriously by making quality time for silence, withdrawal, prayer and reflection opens us up to the state of being to experience the divine.
It also helps by immersing ourselves in nature, like a climb up a mountain or a walk among trees, where the stillness and beauty of creation quiet the mind and open the heart. In those moments, the distractions of daily life fade, and we become more attuned to God’s presence, much like the disciples on Mount Tabor.
Just as Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness to pray, we too can step away from the noise of the world, allowing space for God to speak to us in the depths of our being. These moments of preparation may not always lead to dramatic revelations, but they cultivate the soil of our souls, making us more receptive to grace when it does come.
I encourage you to make this Lent one such period. Please share this publication to encourage others to make this journey as well. I firmly believe, we, through the Holy Spirit, can only change this world, one person at a time.
And if you can afford to, I invite you to become a patron of this ‘Good Work’.