Second Sunday of Lent

Transfigurations

The Gospel readings for the last three weeks have given us accounts of Jesus’s baptism, temptation, and now transfiguration. All of them reveal to us the meaning of Jesus being the beloved Son/Servant. The disciples witness the confirmation of that belovedness in God’s voice saying “listen to him.”

God’s glory is revealed in the light, the brilliance of Jesus’s transfiguration. This transfiguration is about our call to a blessed future. When we can trust God’s call to follow Jesus, we can let go of all that we hold onto for security (prestige, honors, money) and begin to see the various transfigurations all around us whenever women and men embrace honest, vulnerable, and authentic lives patterned on the Gospel way of life—the Way!

In Pope Francis’ Let Us Dream, he writes: “What saves us is not an idea but an encounter. Only the face of another is capable of awakening the best of ourselves.”

In what persons in your life have you seen God’s glory revealed to you? For whom have you been a revelation of God’s glory at work in our world? Which person brings you liberation and a sense of purpose when you listen to them? How is our St. Francis Church community—the people of God gathered here in various settings—good at revealing God’s glory? When do we experience transfiguration? And what do we still need to work on?

I am going to focus on seeing the light shining brilliantly in people that I don’t know—Yet! I will meet one new family at Mass and another during faith formation time. This just might be an encounter that awakens in me the best version of myself that God created me to be! Who will join me?