SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
‘He was transfigured’
Mountains in Scripture are places of revelation. We think of Nebo, Sinai, Tabor, Calvary. Mountains provide a different perspective. From the height, we see things in a new way. The Tabor event happened 1,800 feet above the plain, when Peter, James and John had withdrawn from the crowd, recalling the wilderness experience of Jesus, which was recounted in last Sunday’s Gospel. The disciples had been accompanying Jesus for a long time. They had walked with Him, talked with Him, listened to Him, but it was only in the quiet space that they saw Him in a different light. Jesus showed His disciples His glory, a glory that had been there all the time. We miss things that have been there all along. Most people spend their time ‘looking at’ life, but not actually ‘seeing into’ it. Children see magic, because they look for it. If only we opened ourselves to the world around us with the eyes of wonder we would notice the fingerprint of God in ordinary things from the spider’s web to the robin’s nest; from the rising of the sun to its’ setting; from the milky way to the ebb and flow of the tide. The glory of heaven is constantly breaking-in. Earth is the place where heaven unfolds. Heaven is very near. All we need is perception. ‘Nature is a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants to us a glimpse of His infinite beauty and goodness’. (St. Francis)