Dear Friends in Christ,
On this Second Sunday of Lent, the Church invites us to reflect upon the Transfiguration gospel. In it, Jesus invites His closest friends to travel up the mountain with Him so that they may experience a great revelation from God concerning Jesus’ true identity.
Jesus had just told His friends that to follow Him meant taking up one’s own cross and being willing to suffer and die like He would. This must have shocked them and they perhaps wondered if they should continue to follow the Lord. Probably, carrying their crosses was not something
they expected as part of discipleship.
Then, the Transfiguration happened! Unexpectedly, Jesus showed Peter, James and John that there was another part of discipleship that went along with suffering and dying. This was resurrection. In the Transfiguration, Jesus showed His friends that if they suffered and died with Him they would also share in His final victory over death itself. It is the promise of eternal life that makes Christian discipleship worth it.
At the Transfiguration, while showing the disciples the hope of eternal life, God also showed them that Jesus was the Second Person of The Blessed Trinity. As God, Jesus was worthy of the disciples’ faith and obedience.
It is through the Sacrament of Baptism that we share in Jesus’ sufferings and death and also receive from the Lord the promise of future resurrection. This Sacrament unites us with Christ, makes us members of the Church, washes away original and personal sin and makes us God’s adopted sons and daughters. As we seek to apply the lessons of the Transfiguration in our own faith-lives we remember that when we bring a family member to Baptism, we are giving them the greatest gift ever…the hope of eternal life and salvation.
In Christ,
Fr. Michael