Content area
Full Text
Prologue
On Monday, August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb dropped from the sky, obliterating the city and citizens of Hiroshima, Japan. According to Christian calendars, August 6 is the Day of Transfiguration, the day commemorating the exaltation of the Man from Galilee, when his face became 'glistering white.' My brother, a retired Episcopalian priest, tells me that the word 'transfiguration' in Japanese hen-yo-boalso means 'disfiguration.' The Day of Transfiguration became then, in 1945, the Day of Disfiguration.
In some Christian calendars, Transfiguration Sunday is followed three days later by Ash Wednesday, a day of repentance and fasting. Ashes made from burning the palm branches of Palm Sunday are mixed with oil, and the form of the cross is made with this paste on the foreheads of penitents while the priest...