17 February 2026

The drama of the transfiguration is enfolded in a cloud. Historically, God’s presence was to be found in the cloud which led the people of Israel across the desert by day. It was a bright cloud but it both revealed and concealed the living God.

‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased.’ said the voice confirming the identity of Jesus in a word, resonating in the memory of  his baptism in the Jordan. The cloud enfolds the voice in mystery. We cannot see who speaks and we only hear a fragment. It is as tantalising as that!

Towards the end of the fourteenth century, an anonymous text appeared for the benefit of those who wanted to become contemplatives. Instead of focusing on the humanity of God, it focuses  on the divine nature of God through a process of unknowing.

The teaching is austere. When the student asks how  he is to achieve this work of contemplation, the teacher beseeches God to teach the student himself. ‘For,’ as the teacher says to the student, ‘I would have you know well that I cannot tell you; and that is no surprise, because it is the work of God alone…’

In ‘The Cloud of Unknowing’, the teacher makes it clear that their initial experience will be of darkness. It is ‘an absence of knowing’ which is like a cloud between the student and God. And so, for most of the time, we are trying to penetrate this bright cloud in our search for the living but infinite God. How do we do it?

‘Listen to him.’ says the voice from this cloud of knowing and unknowing. Listen to Jesus and his  Holy Spirit who alone is able to make things plain. Listening is a discipline. It is not easy. It is not immediate. It requires our concentration, yes, but more. It requires our faith. But faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains!