The Transfiguration: A Reflection on the Second Sunday of Lent (Year B)
What a beautiful story – the story of Christ being transfigured before His three favored Apostles - Peter, James, and John. (Did you ever wonder if the other apostles were at least a little bit envious of those three? Even Andrew, who brought Peter to Jesus originally, is not among the favored three.) Those three were asked to accompany Jesus up the mountain. They probably suspected something unusual was going to happen. But they could not have imagined what they saw – their beloved Master transfigured before them, so filled with light and glory that they could not find words to express what they were seeing – and hearing. They heard the Father, to Whom Jesus was always referring, saying in His beautiful, unforgettable, and loving voice, “This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well-pleased!” James and John were speechless, but impetuous, never-at-a loss-for words Peter, wanted to build three booths (tents) for Moses and Elijah, who also were there with their glorified Jesus. Then he added those immemorial words: “Lord, it is good for us to be here!”
“Lord, it is good for us to be here!” How often we feel like echoing those same words. You spend a half-hour in Adoration, and your heart is so at peace that there is not much you can say except, “Lord, it is good for me to be here!”
Your favorite niece, your goddaughter, is getting married in a lovely little church, to a wonderful young man, and again, with happiness flowing all around you, what can you say except, “Lord, it is so good for us to be here!”
You run into an old friend you haven’t seen for ages! You are both able to spend some time telling each other what has transpired in your lives in those years you haven’t been touched base. “Lord, it is good for us to be here!”
A family meal - nothing extraordinary, but just good food served with love, with the people you love most in the world around the table, telling of their day’s activities. Lots of laughter, freely sprinkled. One child even remembers to thank Mom for the good meal. “Ah, Lord, it is good for us to be here!”
Maybe there is a good Lenten intention for us here. As we end our day, remembering the good and maybe not-so-good things that transpired, we can recall the times when we were just at peace with what was happening, where we were, with whom we were, with the quiet joy of being alive. We can thank God for those moments when our hearts wanted to cry out, “Lord, it is good for us to be here!”
Thank you, Peter, for reminding us to be grateful to our wonderful God. We did not get to see Jesus transfigured as you, James and John did, but we know that someday we will see Him in all His glory, that the Father will call us His beloved son or daughter – and that will be the most wonderful of all times to cry out, “Oh Lord, my God - it is good for us to be here!”
