MEDITATION TIPS (Episode 293)
Second Sunday of Lent
March 1, 2026

“Jesus’ appearance changed before their eyes. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.” (Matthew 17:1)

　The event of the Lord’s Transfiguration, recounted in today’s Gospel, took place as Jesus was preparing to face His Passion. He revealed his radiant form before a few disciples, demonstrating that he was the true Savior and strengthening them. Regarding this super-natural experience of the disciples—the Lord’s Transfiguration—I would like to consider one example for reference. In her book On Death and Dying, Swiss psychologist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross compiled findings from her investigation into the “near-death experiences” of hundreds of people who had lost consciousness due to illness or accidents and later regained it. According to her findings, these individuals shared several common elements, though the intensity varied. First, they spoke of walking along a path in a dream-like state, a brilliant light, and the presence of a gate. As they approached that gate, a person dressed in white would invariably be standing there, telling them, “You don’t need to come here yet,” at which point they would wake up.

　I have also heard accounts from several parishioners who collapsed due to illness, lost consciousness, and later regained awareness. They too described similar experiences. One person in particular spoke of the light seen in their dream as an indescribably white and beautiful radiance. Listening to these accounts from people who had experienced death, I began to wonder if the event of the Lord’s transfiguration experienced by the disciples was not, in fact, a supernatural experience akin to a near-death experience. And through the experiences of so many people, the imagery behind Jesus’ words — “I am the way” (John 14:6), “the light of the world” (John 8:12), and “I am the gate for the sheep” (John 10:7) — become vividly clear.

　Kübler-Ross specifically notes that every person who has experienced death in this way has, without a shred of doubt, become convinced of life after death. They commonly report feeling their soul separate from their body, being enveloped in profound stillness and peace, and reuniting with those who had already passed away. Most remarkably, those who experienced death and returned to life uniformly lost their fear of death.

　The Austrian psychoanalyst Viktor Frankl, being Jewish, was sent to Auschwitz. There, he witnessed Jews who had lost their reason and intellect instinctively and unconsciously betray their fellow Jews, eating bread calmly while watching their comrades die. Conversely, he also saw those who sacrificed their own precious lives for their fellow Jews. From this, Frankl discovered that beneath the unconscious that governs instinct lies an even deeper layer of the unconscious (the religious unconscious). He found that those who answered the call from this layer could sacrifice their own lives for the happiness of many. He stated: “Human beings are capable of such cruelty as to send his fellow man to the gas chambers. Yet they are also capable of such nobility as to walk toward the gas chambers reciting the Lord’s Prayer.” From these words of his, the reason Jesus, after his Transfiguration, faced his Passion and approached death becomes clear.　　　

 　　　　　(Contributed by Father Yutaka Akabae)