- 1st Reading – Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
- 2nd Reading – Philippians 3:17-4:1
- Gospel – Luke 9:28b-36
Last Sunday we heard about Jesus’ suffering and temptations in the desert. Today he’s up on a mountain. As Jesus is coming towards the close of his ministry, about to face torture and death on a cross, his spirit is lifted and encouraged by the same voice, and in almost the same manner, as he heard at his baptism: “This is my Son, my chosen one. Listen to him”.
Deserts and mountaintops, peaks and valleys, ups and downs, they seem to go together in life. Sometimes, like Jesus, we’re on a mountain top, other times we’re in a desert. Life can often be like a roller coaster. When we’re on top, we’re happy and full of excitement. But then we come down and hit bottom, thankfully we eventually come up and stay on the level most of time before going down or up again.
I’d like you to think back on those moments in your life when you were at the lowest, when you were in the desert of your life, when you felt like you had no hope. Where did you turn when you hit bottom? Were you listening for God’s voice? Now think of the times when you were on top, when all was well, you felt loved, and felt like nothing could stop you. Could you feel the presence of God and hear his voice in these times?
Today, some people may be on the mountaintop, and there may be some in the desert of their life. We may not like being in the desert, but yet we need those times to appreciate more fully the mountaintops when they come. And we can’t be at the top all the time either. The roller coaster has to come down eventually. But whether we’re at the top or in a desert, we need to listen for God’s voice. His voice gives us a sense of direction.
In today’s Gospel we hear God say: “This is my chosen Son. Listen to Him”. It sounds so simple. Listen to him. Of course, we want to listen to Jesus. We wouldn’t be sitting here today, and week after week if we didn’t want to listen to Jesus; if we didn’t want to please God and follow where he leads us. If God wants us to listen to his Son, it must mean that Jesus, in some way or another is speaking to us; and not just through the Holy Scripture that we come to listen to here on Sundays. Lent is that special time for us to pray, to reflect and to listen, it’s a time to ask ourselves, “What is Jesus saying to me? Where is he trying to lead me——-at this point in my life? Am I accepting all the love God is trying to give me?” And are we reflecting God’s love to all those around us? Are we willingly accepting the cross he asked us to carry? Not only are we transformed by the power of God’s unconditional, forgiving love, but we have the power and ability to transform others, and help change their lives by reflecting the love of God. There may be people around us, family, friends, or others we may not know, but come in contact with; people who are at a low in their life; who are in a desert, or bearing a cross; those who can’t hear God’s voice or feel his love. Thus, when we need to let God’s love flow from us. There are times we should drop everything, to embrace a spouse, hug a child, help a friend, befriend a stranger. When we do that, we can help them come out of the desert, God’s love becomes real for people and they can truly experience it.
When reflecting on the ups and downs of our own lives; when we find ourselves in a desert, the words of today’s responsorial psalm have a greater meaning; “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?” Let us listen for God’s voice. He will not abandon or forsake us.
In the dying and rising of these first two Sundays of Lent, we can see the relationship of Lent to Easter. We still have ups and downs, the peaks and the valleys, but if we listen to him and let him journey with us during this Lenten time in the desert, when we come to the glory of Easter morning, we will see that we —- and those we have touched will begin to take on the glow of the transfigured Christ. Easter is coming. Let us reach for the mountaintop to experience the joy, and the glory with the Risen Christ.