Is our faith, our hope and our love great enough to allow for transformation? The three virtues of faith, hope and love pop up as themes through Lent. Abraham trusted God that a victim other than his son Isaac would be given, and God provided the lamb to be sacrificed. Paul’s letter, filled with hope inspires us, “I give no thought to what lies behind but push on to what is ahead.  My entire attention is on the finish line as I run towards the prize to which God calls me-life on high in Christ Jesus.”

Today’s Gospel – Luke 9:28-36 – tells of the transfiguration of Jesus. Did Peter, James and John really see Jesus transformed?  If so what did all that mean to them and what does it mean for me?  This is what Annie Dillard says, “Some people read it and say, ‘I don’t believe a word of it.’” Others say it sounds like science fiction…and a forerunner of Avatar. But a second and even third and fourth reading triggers the Christian’s heart and mind to say, ‘This is a call to transform my own life, to listen to God and to change.’

We are not Abraham or Paul, but like them and like Peter, James and John, we are called to be transformed into “other’s Christs.”  The Gospel tells us Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the mountain to pray. Though they fell asleep, they wakened to see Jesus’ glory and heard the words, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”

The same Jesus calls us today to go to a place apart to pray. And the same Jesus calls us to, “Listen.”  And like the disciples after having “fallen silent” we are to go down the mountain to serve.

As we move through Lent, let us ask ourselves some questions: What will it take for me to be transformed this Lent? When in my daily schedule can I ‘go to a mountain to pray’? What voices in my heart need to be silenced, so I can hear God’s voice? And when I come down from the mountain, whose cries for help can I answer?