Second Sunday of Lent (Year A)
We all seek greatness, but to achieve greatness demands heroic effort on our part. Heroism is not merely being at the right place at the right time. It is a lifelong commitment to excellence. It is a commitment to discipline, which builds character, which in turn, disposes us for greatness. Heroes are not born they are made, made from the stuff that sets them apart from the common and conventional attitudes of mediocre minded persons. Fearless and dauntless they face life full of confidence. They look to explore the unknown, and though they experience the agony of defeat, they rise and glory in victory.
Many think the luck of the draw makes heroes. For those who have succeeded, however, they reveal that it was not luck, but influence. Great leaders are not lucky, they are trained. Men and women who succeed in life experience the power, passion, and productivity of another individual. This relationship empowers them; influences them to be more than they ever thought they could be. Not only is this true in military, political, and business leaders but more so with true in religious figures. Saints inspire saints.
Saints convert. They have a change of heart, a metanoia. Conversion does not take place in a person without a heartfelt, earnest, and attentive relationship, as Drs. Cloud and Townsend tell.
Our deepest need is to belong, to be in a relationship, to have a spiritual and emotional ‘home.’ The very nature of God is to be in relationship: ‘God is love,’ says 1 John 4:16. Love means relationship – caring, committed connection of one individual to another.
Boundaries Dr. Henry Cloud, Dr. John Townsend p. 64
Saints are in love with Jesus. More so than in anyone else in this world, God is their priority. Seeing their example, we are moved to seek the same bond that they have with God.
The beginning of this process to create saintliness begins with Jesus who invites us into his inner circle. This inner circle is the call of Christ. He called twelve men and out of those twelve he chose three to be always at his side especially at the most critical and crucial times. When Jesus raised the little girl He took with him Peter, James, and John (Mk 5:36 – 43). When Jesus suffered his agony in the garden Peter, James, and John were with Him. When Jesus went up to Mount Tabor, Peter, James, and John witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus. Jesus always chooses these three to be part of his inner circle.
The inner circle of Jesus was not exclusion but empowerment. Jesus did not exclude the others, but were training the three so that they could imitate him. It was Peter who witnessed the resurrection of the little girl and it was Peter who raised the little girl, Tabitha, from the dead (Act 9: 39 – 41). It was Peter who received the key because Jesus empowered Peter:
Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.
Lk 22:3- 32
Empowered by his relationship with Christ, Peter becomes the leader. As leader, Peter does what Jesus did. He preaches, prophesies, and leads as the Good Shepherd did. Anything less is self-righteousness.
Today, we are privileged to read the secret of the Transfiguration. On the Mount, Peter, James, and John see, hear, and feel the glory of God manifested in Christ. This is not merely a secret tale that we are privileged to read, but we are called to be a part of the inner circle. Through their experience, we undergo the same encounter. Jesus wants to empower us with the same power that He gave Peter. “The transfiguration,” as St. John Paul tells us, “is precisely a sign of this divine power, which entered human history with Christ's coming. It has the power to transform humanity into God's likeness, the power to divinize mankind. The Lord's transfiguration is a sign and symbol of this power of God” (John Paul II March 12, 1995). Jesus calls us to our own transfiguration.
God’s power is ours if we allow ourselves to be transfigured. God creates us to be in his image and likeness. To be like God, we allow grace to transfigure us. In so doing, we become divine. God bonds his glory with our humanity. This is our transfiguration. This is our rebirth.
Satan, however, wishes to corrupt our transfiguration. He wants disfiguration of our bodies, minds, hearts, and wills. He tempts us as he tempted Adam and Eve. We, as St. John Paul teaches, must be “alert faithful against temptations, which cloud the mind and subject it to the dominion of the senses” (John Paul II Aug 6 1989).
To be free from the lust of life and false prophets who promote disfiguration of our divine dignity we must,
Inculcate in (our) souls love for the Church, the image of God on earth, the power of the truth which makes us free, and the enjoyment of the beauty of one who redeems his body from the corruption of sin with the help of the grace of the sacraments, one who restores his own dignity in order to acquire a tide to the supernatural immortality of the resurrection and eternal life.
John Paul II Aug 6 1989
Unless we become part of the inner circle of Christ, we cannot partake in the transfiguration. Without being transfigured, we are without the resurrection. Hopeless, our lives enter the darkness of evil.
To be resurrected from the evil that surrounds us, the Transfiguration first shields us from temptation and evil. Yet, the true wonder and awe of the transfiguration divinizes us. Restored by grace, the Glory of the Lord cloths us with his majesty. Seeing our beauty and dignity, evil becomes abhorrent. Temptations become foolish. Satan becomes the fool because Jesus humiliated Satan upon the cross. Satan, thinking he conquered God at Golgotha, was conquered. Crushed, all his temptations and evils become our steppingstones to righteousness for we belong to Jesus.
Supported by his presence, Jesus bonds with us in a covenant. In this intimate and bonded covenant, an exchange of his heart for our heart, the Transfiguration cements us into a relationship that images marriage. We become one with Him as husband and wife become one with each other.
United with Jesus, the Transfiguration is our ultimate desire. We want nothing less than total, complete, free, and faithful communion with our God. This free and faithful union is forever, yet as any relationship, Jesus does not leave us as we are. He, at our side, corrects our faults, lifts us up when we fall, and strengthens our commitment to be forever bonded with Him in all his glory.