The Epistle reading for Transfiguration Day yesterday is quite remarkable, an account from St. Peter himself about his having witnessed the Transfiguration of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels:

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:16-21)

Do you catch the magnitude of what this is saying? “We have something more sure” than personal experience, “more sure” than visions. “More sure” than Peter’s own life with Jesus. “More sure” than actually witnessing on that mountain Moses and Elijah with Christ in all His glory. Namely, THE WORD OF GOD!

Insurgents in Iraq made use of mentally handicapped women as suicide bombers. Indeed, they loaded up two women with Down’s Syndrome, those sweet-tempered children, and blew them up, killing nearly 80 other people.

How much more monstrous than the jihadists get? Can moral relativists rationalize THIS?

Movement conservatives are rallying behind Mitt Romney as the conservative alternative to John McCain. But here are reasons to think that Romney is alsonot really a conservative.

Huckabee has been accused of departing from the true political faith based largely on some things he did as governor, such as raising taxes. But what Romney did as governor–on abortion, stem cell research, gay marriage, gun restrictions, and a health care plan virtually identical to Hillary Clinton’s–does not get that kind of conservative scrutiny. Surely Huckabee was a far more conservative governor than Romney ever was.

Here is a rather amusing site in which two Washington Post staffers offer close readings of each “Lost” episode. It’s like theologians exegeting the Bible. But useful for us “Lost” fans, since they pick up all those details and hidden clues that most of us miss. (For example, the site links to an “screen caps and easter egg” site of “Lost” clues that gives us a clear stop-frame of the blurry Man in Jacob’s chair: and it is clearly Jack’s father!)

What a game. Though I was for the Giants, it’s a little sad to see perfection marred. As for the other aspects of the spectacle: I have always liked Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but I don’t see what their mini-concert had to do with the Superbowl. And commercials or other enterprises that try too hard lose their effect.