Today’s readings: Genesis 12, 1-4; 2 Timothy 1, 8-10; Matthew 17, 1-9.
The word of God to Abraham to “leave your country, your family and your father’s house for the land I will show you” is also today being addressed to us all to dream of a future only God can make happen. We all need to liberate ourselves, to let go of whatever we can bank on in life.
The Lord’s magic word to Abraham in Genesis changed the course of his life and rendered his name a blessing. Abraham was invited to let go of his old world and look beyond. That was a promise that offered security in spite of it being the beginning of a journey towards the unknown.
This is part of our Lenten task to free ourselves of our baggage which, as much as it can be integral to our identity, can also ultimately serve as a blockage in our journey of growth. It is only when freed of this baggage that we can exit the deserts of life to experience on the high mountain of God’s presence the beauty of life that Jesus in today’s gospel disclosed to his inner circle.
In the second reading, St Paul’s narrative of his personal journey and achievement witnesses to the power of God’s grace at work in us. He experienced in person what it means, and implies that death was abolished and that life and immortality are proclaimed to us.
There is a darkness that at times grips our heart and mind, tempting us to surrender and to think of life only horizontally in terms of immanence. Yet we all long for a glimpse of solace and vision that satisfies our hunger for beauty. We long for beauty everywhere and in everything we do – in landscape, music, art, clothes, furniture, gardening and companionship.
But the beauty we long for cannot materialise concretely on the outside if it is not a manifestation of a beauty within. Just as much as we need to acknowledge our sinfulness and vulnerability in the face of temptation, we need to firmly hold on to the potential with which we have been gifted as humans.
The scene of Jesus transfigured on a high mountain, with his face shining, provides a deep contrast with the scene of Jesus in the desert, in his spiritual combat with Satan. Yet these are the two sides of the same coin that depict even our life as it evolves.
The imagery of a journey can be applied to the tasks we are all called to accomplish in life. Like every journey, life has a beginning and an end. In between, life’s journey demands longing, hope, vision, and especially a sense of direction. Unless we are inspired, unless we aspire, we are most likely to falter. In all this, faith can surely be an added value that gives vision to our existence.
In the Genesis reading, Abraham stands for a beginning, one which demanded a radical trust in God but also in life’s potential. It was a journey culminating in Jesus transfigured on the mountain, with Peter, James, and John overcome with fear and awe.
In the wake of setbacks and trials, Abraham, Paul, and Jesus witness to God’s grace, which counterbalances our fear and paralysis. As Paul writes to Timothy: “Relying on the power of God who has saved us and called us to be holy” will make us “bear the hardships”.
This grace granted to us renders us blessed, as Abraham was, and beloved sons of the Father, as Jesus was. This same grace ‘transfigures’ our human frailty and against all odds makes God’s glory transpire from us to the extent that as the ancient Eastern Fathers of the Church claimed, we become ‘divinised’.
This can radically contradict what in mainstream culture we are made to believe, proposing instead that our humanity, even if disfigured through myriads of tragedies and fatalities, can be recomposed and transfigured if and when we rely on the power of God, which shapes our vision and changes our direction in life.