Reflection for the Second Sunday of Lent 2022

Divine Dialogue of God with the Soul

 

 

In today’s gospel we are on the mountain with Peter, James and John (Luke 9, 28-36) following Jesus to a place where He begins to pray and suddenly Moses and Elijah appear and Jesus is transfigured. That’s not a word we use very often. The dictionary says it means transformed into something more beautiful or elevated, and so it is, as Luke tells us Jesus’ face changed in appearance and His clothes became dazzling white. Jesus was transfigured, transformed in such a way that the three apostles, who had fallen asleep and awoke to this miracle, were overcome and hardly knew what to say.  When Peter finally found his voice (barely) he begged Jesus to let them build a kind of permanent shelter so Jesus, Moses and Elijah could remain there, and perhaps hidden in the plan, the apostles could remain there with them. After all, who would want to go down the mountain into the valley when you’ve just seen Jesus more beautiful and elevated?

 

There’s more. After the Transfiguration, a voice came from a cloud that had enveloped them, saying, ‘This is my chosen Son; listen to Him.’  Imagine hearing a voice from a cloud speaking those words! They must have been shaken to the core. Really, they didn’t know what to make of it all. I daresay these three men, Peter, James and John, probably never came to terms with this incident in their lives with Jesus, but it must surely have transformed them as well.

 

And at the end, having seen Moses and Elijah, pillars of their Jewish faith and heritage, “Jesus was found alone.”  What an interesting expression.  Moses and Elijah were gone. Only Jesus. And He was found. Alone. They came out of a cloud to find the Jesus they had always known, but now more beautiful than ever.

 

That gives us hope. We’ve all been in a dark cloud, maybe for a long time, unable to make sense of what God is doing in our life, and then we hear a voice way deep inside that tells us we are not lost after all. God knows exactly where we are.

 

The cloud was only His way of holding us for the moment of transfiguration that would make all the difference in our life. It’s a moment when everything may still be confusing, even incomprehensible, but God shows us that He has this, and we only have to listen to Jesus to find the way.

 

Lent is a perfect opportunity to spend more time on a mountain, that is, away from the hurry of life, to wait for Jesus to come. He will. More beautiful than ever, more elevated. We have only to cling to him in the darkness, and He will reveal Himself. He will let Himself be found.

 

May that moment come for you this Lent in a way you never expected.

Love the cloud. Love the darkness. Love the lonely mountain away from the city of happening.

And be ready for Jesus Who will be found more beautiful than ever, all alone, waiting for you.

God bless you.

 

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“With Mary, our lives continually proclaim the greatness of the Lord and the joy experienced in rendering service to Him.”

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