Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 9:28–36

How are you “Lent-ing” this Lent?

Yes, I know; I used Lent as a verb. I have a fun relationship with the Holy Spirit whom I consider the mover and shaker of the spiritual world. He’s the ultimate VERB. Nothing happens without Him, certainly not Lent. Personally, I have zero chance of making it through to Easter without His intercession—a little guiding here, some nudging there, maybe even an outright spiritual shove. (Please note the verbs.) This liturgical season reminds us of the period Jesus spent in the desert before His public ministry began. And who was it that led Him there? Yep, the Spirit. Led Him. See the verb there? 

I’m not fashioned for Lent. Self-denial is not my spiritual gift. I crave pleasure and comfort far too easily. I’m the girl who can fast until noon, but then I totally sneak a banana because why does every minute when you are fasting feel like an hour???

Reading this week’s Sunday gospel threw me for a loop because the Transfiguration doesn’t feel all that, well, “Lent-y.” Why are we hearing it proclaimed now when it has its own feast day later in the summer? With the sun’s radiance and longer days filled with light, summer definitely feels more “transfiguration-y,” right?

Jesus led Peter, John, and James to the top of Mount Tabor. There, He was transfigured before them. His face “changed in appearance, and his clothing became dazzling white” (Luke 9:29). Matthew’s gospel notes that Jesus’ “face shone like the sun” (Matthew 17:2). This dazzling brightness, this shining radiance, was Christ’s divinity. These very human men were gazing upon Christ in the fullness of His glory.

Lent = desert, a barren time. The liturgy is without a single alleluia, and no “glory to God in the highest” is to be found.  

We are in Lent, people; this is no time for glory!  

Isn’t Lent about the hard, challenging, and hungry road through the desert toward Easter Sunday? Isn’t Lent an invitation to shed the habits, sins, behaviors, and thoughts that keep us separated from God, clouding our intellect and wills, distorting and disfiguring us?

And there it is—the connection between the gospel and our Lenten journeys. (Don’t you like my in-real-time Spirit inspiration?)

Where sin distorts and disfigures us, Lent invites us to be transfigured, re-formed, and re-created in His image and likeness, God’s original design for His creation.

In our second reading, Saint Paul writes to the faithful in Philippi, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body” (Philippians 3:20–21).

Our goal during Lent is not simply to make it through to Easter, the resurrection, or His glory. The goal of Lent is our glory. Each Lenten season offers us the opportunity to be transfigured and conformed more to His image, reflecting and radiating His divine love from within. 

Our life here on earth is temporary, like a desert, a mountain road, or a valley of tears through which we all must pass. We are pilgrims journeying toward an eternal destination. With our ultimate glory in heaven set before us as our end, we are invited to participate in our own transfiguration here and now. However, we must first navigate the difficult path of suffering, the same road to Calvary that our Lord traveled before us. For “[w]hat has been disfigured by sin cannot regain its original supernatural beauty except by way of purifying suffering.”[1] 

We who have been marred and callused by sin, don’t we long for the Spirit to purify, mold, shape, and refine us into a glorified body fitting and readied to spend eternity with our Lord? 

Lent isn’t a season to endure. It’s a time to go further, further toward holiness and away from sin and desolation, further toward Jesus who is our “all and in all” (Colossians 3:11), and further away from the enemy who seeks to disfigure us. 

If you feel like you aren’t Lent-ing well just yet, take a moment to turn back to the Lord today—right now. How can we do this? Follow the commandment of God the Father in the gospel: Listen to His beloved Son (Luke 9:35). 

Listen. Another seemingly passive verb. Yet, listening to the Holy Spirit is anything but passive; it demands that we adopt a posture of stillness and solitude, mandating that we tune out the excess noise. (Bring on those verbs, Holy Spirit!) The more we immerse ourselves in the quiet presence of our Lord, the more attentive we become to His words, and we begin to desire what He desires. Thus, we become transfigured, conformed to Him. Then, like Him, we pick up our cross and embrace it rather than deny it.

The cross leads to glory—both His and our own. 

As Christians, the road we travel will never bypass the suffering of Good Friday. However, if we choose to unite our suffering with His, He promises that it will always be transformed for our glory. Our suffering is not meaningless. He saves each and every tear. Nothing is wasted. Rather, all will be offered to His Sacred Heart, to be achieved for our eternal glory, far outweighing any pain felt here (2 Corinthians 4:17). 

In the quiet and barren desert of Lent, rest assured the Spirit is with us, just as He was with Jesus. There, He will guide us toward a clear and repentant heart—one freed from worldly attachments that entangle and ensnare us, a heart longing and ready to be molded and transfigured by His strong yet gentle hands into the dazzling and radiant image He desires.  

With you in the desert (probably hiding snacks),
Jeannine

Food for thought or journaling ….

Where are you on your Lenten journey today? Can you carve out quiet time with the Holy Spirit? What do you need to transfigure in your life to conform more to the image of Christ? What verb would you like the Holy Spirit to speak into your heart this season?

“Transfigure us, O Lord. Break the chains that bind us. Speak your healing word. Where you lead, we’ll follow. Transfigure us, O Lord.”[2] Amen.

[1] Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., Divine Intimacy (Baronius Press, 2022), 299.
[2] Hurd, Bob. “Transfigure Us, O Lord.” (Oregon Catholic Press, 2002). www.godsongs.net/2024/02/transfigure-us-o-lord-down-from-the-heights-of-glory.html