The 2nd Sunday of Lent, Transfiguration Sunday.
While Jesus has successfully completed His forty days in the dessert and was rewarded with Transfiguration in the sight of His disciples, we are only at day seven of Lent. How are you doing? Are you being changed by your increased prayer and focus on goodness or, like the first week at the gym - are things beginning to hurt a bit? The concepts of changing, transforming, and transfiguration all intrigue me as we begin week two.
The Paulists tell me:
To be changed means to become different. Lots of us make changes in our habits during Lent, only to revert to our old ways once Lent is over.
To be transformed means to become thoroughly or dramatically different. It’s still a neutral term: transformation may be thorough, but it’s not necessarily better.
But to be transfigured means to be elevated, to become thoroughly or dramatically more beautiful.
What an awesome thought: to be transfigured, to be whole and beautiful. It is of course a gift from a loving God who acts in each of us.
On God’s behalf, who will you help be open to transfiguration this Lent?
Who will you allow to bring you to the fullness of beauty this Lent?
-Maureen Condon, CSJ
Image: Timo Volz/Unsplash