2nd Sunday of Lent

Lent is a season of change; a season of transforming our spiritual lives. There seems a natural correlation since the very word “Lent” is rooted in a word that meant “spring” and we are all familiar with the changes that take place in springtime as the earth bursts forth with new life that has been dormant during the winter season. Unfortunately, while nature seems quite incapable of resisting the changes common to springtime, we human beings seem all too capable and willing to resist changes in our lives. Transformation requires energetic effort. It challenges and disturbs our comfortable patterns of behavior, even when those patterns may be harmful to us, either physically or spiritually.

Today we heard Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration of Jesus (Mt 17:1-9). It takes place after Jesus has already made the first of three predictions of his own Passion, Death, and Resurrection, and shortly before he enters Jerusalem where those very events will take place. Jesus understands very well that his Passion and Crucifixion could be immense stumbling blocks for the faith of his Apostles, and so through the Transfiguration, he seeks to give them a vision of what will come after his Passion and Death. So many times throughout Jesus’ public ministry, the Apostles seemed to want to look beyond the suffering that the Lord had foretold and go directly to the glory of the Lord coming into his Kingdom. They anticipated positions of power and authority. Jesus tried to restrain their enthusiasm with a dose of reality, once saying to James and John, “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” (Mt 20:22). Through the Transfiguration, Jesus reveals himself as the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets as evidenced by the appearance of Moses and Elijah, and Jesus prepares them for the bitter anguish of his approaching Passion by reassuring them of the glories to follow. It is, again, a matter of transformation based in faith.    

One of the greatest scientists of all time – Sir Isaac Newton – proposed the first universal law of motion. It states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. What is true in the world of physics is no less true in the world of psychology as we all experience periods of procrastination, laziness, and resistance to change. During the season of Lent, the Church challenges us to move, to change and get out of our comfort zones. At the Transfiguration, Peter resisted change – he wanted to erect three tents so that the glorified Jesus, Moses, and Elijah would stick around for a while. Perhaps we all know at least a little bit about procrastination and resistance. That is why we need this season of Lent. And that is also why we need to keep in mind Easter and the resurrection toward which we are journeying.