A REFLECTION FOR THE 2ND SUNDAY IN LENT
IT
IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE
What an amazing sight
at the top of this mountain of Transfiguration!
We can read about it in the Gospels, but if we want to see for ourselves
a dim glimpse of the living and true God, we must go with these three disciples,
Peter, James and John, and follow them.
Where else did our blessed Lord take these three disciples? Was it not up another mountain, to a garden
on the Mount of Olives, a garden called Gethsemane? Here he was transfigured a second time, not
in the glorified vision of the transfiguration, but into the “Man of Sorrows,
acquainted with grief” as the prophet Isaiah had foretold. A mountain on which his face and body were
covered with the sweat of blood, and his soul, as he told them, was “sorrowful
unto death.” This second vision by
Peter, James and John was no less powerful than the one they witnessed today at
the Transfiguration. And yet, their
reaction was to fall asleep. If we want
to see for ourselves that glimpse of God, we must follow them to Gethsemane,
yes, but we must not fall asleep when we get there. Behold instead this Man of Sorrows, and
behold in him the terrible consequence of our own weaknesses, imperfections,
and sins.
None of us like to
dwell on the somber facts of life and death.
We don’t mind thinking about the good things of our faith, the beautiful
Mass, the nice statues, our cute little rosary beads in their matching
boxes. We’re very content today to enjoy
the weekly Sunday suspension of the Lenten fast. We manage to “survive” Lent by thinking about
the goodies we’ll enjoy at Easter. We
would join St. Peter in a heartbeat on the Mount of Transfiguration when he
said “It’s good for us to be here.” But
when it comes to sorrow and suffering, it’s a different story. We would prefer to fall asleep and not have
to think about it. Where was St. Peter
as our Lord died on Mount Calvary? He
certainly wasn’t at the foot of the Cross, declaring that it was “good for us
to be here.” And yet we must be there. We must keep vigil with our Lord on the Mount
of Olives, we must comfort him on Mount Calvary, and yes, with him we must do
battle against Satan on our own Mountains of Temptation. It’s time to do the preparation now. We know what that involves—to spend a full
forty days and forty nights in fasting and penance, as we climb these mountains
with Christ and experience with him the hardship, pain and sorrow of his own
sacrifice. Today, we’re permitted to
enjoy with him for a short time the glory of his divinity and the promise of
our own ultimate reward in heaven. Let
today’s temporary indulgences be our encouragement to do better tomorrow and
the days after, reinforcing in us a determination to persevere in penance long
after we are transfigured today, hopefully not by any over-indulgence in the
food and drink permitted to us! Our
ultimate reward is of infinitely greater value than the transitory pleasures of
this life, and today’s oasis is just that—a chance to take a breath before we
plunge once more into the waters of strife.
Let’s not lose focus. If we are
to achieve that final reward in heaven, let’s remember that wherever the will
of God takes us, “It is good, Lord, for us to be here.”
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