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SCRIPTURE
READINGS
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Genesis |
22:1-2,
9-13. 15-18 |
| Psalm |
115 |
| Romans |
8:31-34 |
| Mark |
9:2-10 |
When
visiting a foreign city we sometimes go to great
lengths to get a good view of its panorama. In our
own city, for example, there's no shortage of visitors
to the London Eye or indeed to the wonderful campanile
of Westminster Cathedral. And hopefully it's not
just snapshot tourism as a good view can have great
spiritual value. It can transform our perspective
and move us aesthetically.
Something
like this goes on in this Sunday's Gospel. The disciples
are led up the mountain to see the Transfigured
Lord. Peter is very impressed with what he sees.
So much so he wants to capture the image, to build
a tent for Jesus alongside Moses and Elijah. But
the full spiritual value of this experience was
not yet evident to him. He had not yet appreciated
what a transforming experience the Lord's Transfiguration
could be.
So
the disciples are challenged to change their perspective
on the Messiah. God the Father, in words which recall
the Lord's baptism, invites them to see in Jesus
the divine Son, the Son of Man, and to listen to
Him. As such the Transfiguration is a snapshot of
the panorama of the mission of the God made man.
To gaze on that panorama is to be inwardly moved
by its radiant beauty and to be opened to inner
transformation as disciples of the Lord.
So
why does the Church invite us to reflect on the
Transfiguration in the second Sunday of Lent? As
were Peter, James and John, we too are being challenged
to look beyond the beautiful, to see the meaning
and the shape of the gift of the incarnation. In
the gift of the Son we see revealed a God who will
not be accommodated in a tent but whom we must follow
down the mountain to walk with us to Jerusalem,
to Good Friday, and through to Easter Sunday.
In
Lent we are invited to reflect on who this God is
for us but not just as spiritual tourists. Rather
we are being challenged to listen and look for glimpses
of Transfiguration, of the presence of the Lord
in our lives – in our relationships, our communities,
in our prayer; to always have one eye on the downward
path from the mountain; to respond to the call to
be His disciples on His mission.
Fr
Dominic Robinson SJ
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