On that day, a Monday, at 8.15 a.m., an American B-29 bomber, Enola Gay, dropped its bomb “Little Boy”, which fell to a predetermined detonation height of about 1,900 feet above the city. Its purpose was to prepare them for the reality of the crucifixion, so that having once seen – in some sense – his divinity, they would be strengthened in their faith.Īugust 6 is also an important date in world history: the fateful day on which the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in Japan. So the Transfiguration was a complete and stunning change in the appearance of Jesus, as his divinity shone through his humanity, in a way which completely overwhelmed the awestricken disciples. The Greek word for transfiguration is metemorphothe, from which we get the word “metamorphosis”. It commemorates the occasion when Christ, accompanied by Peter, James, and John, went up a high mountain – traditionally identified with Mount Tabor in Galilee – and was there “transfigured” before them, so that “his face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light” (Mt 17:2). Today, 6th August is the Feast of the Transfiguration celebrated in the Church.
Transfiguration, 1594-95 (oil on canvas) by Carracci, Lodovico (1555-1619)
