Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent: Transfiguration

Transfiguration by James Janknegt, used with permission of the artist

(Scriptures for today's liturgy)


The Lord takes us outside, up and beyond...

The Lord God took Abram outside his tent
to look up at the heavens…

And Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain
to see something beyond their usual experience...

Outside, up and beyond…

There are times, aren't there,
when we find ourselves captive in the “tents”
of our problems and concerns;
times when looking up, looking ahead,
looking beyond our troubles seems impossible.

But as he did with Abram, the Lord invites us
outside our day-to-day
to get a different perspective on our burdens,
to see them as God sees them.

The Lord invites us to leave the small world of our own tent,
to look up into the reaches of the night skies,
to wonder at and to learn again to trust
in the expanse of God’s loving care for us.

And there are times, aren't there,
when we can’t see beyond the difficulties that surround us:
when we see only what’s wrong, what’s painful,
what’s hurtful and discouraging.

And as he did with Peter, James and John, Jesus invites us
to ascend, to come up out of our problems,
to climb above what keeps us down
and to bask in the light that shines from his face,
the truth that radiates from his heart.

The Lord invites us outside, up and beyond
but we often choose to stay inside, down
and isolated in our troubles.

The Lord invites, he doesn’t force us.

He invites and he promises to walk with us,
to be our companion, as we move
from darkness to light,
from inside to outside,
from despair to hope,
from down to up, from here to beyond,
from problems to peace.

When the Lord invites us to walk with him this Lent,
will we let him lead us beyond
the burdens of the day-to-day?

Will we allow ourselves to leave behind
the burdens we cling to,
that we find so hard to let go of?

Will we go outside and beyond our difficulties
trusting that the Lord will lead us to healing and peace?

As the Lord walked with Abram
between the parts of the sacrificed animals,
will we trust that the Lord will walk every step of the way with us
through the broken, wounded pieces of our lives?

The Lord invites us out of our huddled corners of fears and tears.

The Lord invites us to heights we’ve not yet climbed,
up and above whatever holds us back and holds us down.

The Lord always invites us to draw close and follow him
and this time of Lent is a special time
for letting him take us outside our selves
through prayer, fasting and caring for the poor.

Prayer gathers us up in God.
Fasting leads us beyond our dulled satiety.
Caring for the poor leads us outside our tents of comfort.

The Lord gathers us today from out of our own tents
to this tent of meeting,
this tabernacle of God’s people at prayer.

He beckons us up out of our fears
to trust in his care for us.

He invites us beyond what the eye sees
to feast on what the heart knows:
the Eucharist of his presence at this table.

In thanksgiving,
let us pray as Peter did on the top of the mountain:
“Lord, it is good for us to be here…”