Scared of change? Leave it here. We'll have it!

Second Sunday in Lent, Cycle B

Gn 22:1-19, Rm 8:31-34; Mk 9, 2-10

Just a few days ago I stopped at a kiosk and I noticed that on the counter there was a plate with a handful of coins and a sign saying, "Scared of change? Leave it here, we'll have it!"

Change? Yes please, as long as its only superficial or in others!

Are we really scared of change? Well, yes and no. It seems that change is part of our life. We are careful about how we look and how we dress. The large number of barbers' shops and hairdressers and other such services in our neighbourhood is a clear indication of this. Some of them even promise that you will leave their place completely transformed! Then we also want to see change, change in others, in the way that they think, in the way that they relate with us. Finally, we want to see change in the world. We are still hoping to see the words of the Prophet Isaiah who says, "Swords will be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning forks."

A reflection of a deeper longing for a deeper transformation

This longing for change and for transformation is perhaps a reflection of longing for a deeper, much more important transformation which we hope will ultimately some day take place in our hearts, making us renewed persons. Yes, we want to transformed but we fear the pain change that it brings with it. So we are more likely to make this transformation something either superficial or expect it of others or of the world around us but hardly of ourselves.

Lent = repentance = conversion = transformation

Lent is a time of transformation. We have noticed this from the very first day, on Ash Wednesday. We realise that we need to repent, convert, make a U-turn in our lives. That is painful because it means that we have to lose many things to which we are attached and which are dear to us.

Clinging onto the "Isaac" in our life

Like Abraham, we are attached to our "Isaac" which we find hard to offer to God. And yet during Lent we make an extra effort to give it up. What is that "Isaac" in our life? That "Isaac" is often our very selves, either our pride, or our personal beliefs and convictions, sometimes even our past guilts or resentments. Sometimes we allow ourselves to be so conditioned and even identified by these realities in our life that we cling onto them and refuse to let go of them. They give us a good excuse for us not to change, and we use them to justify our negative attitudes.

Offering our "Isaac" gives us a new life

Today's particular reading from Genesis is telling us that we must do the painful step froward of offering these inordinate attachments to the Lord. And guess what happens when we do so? We are transformed by God. No longer would we be shackled by them, but we would be made free, enriched by them. We would be given a new life through and by them.

No Tabor without Calvary

When we do so, we can catch glimpses of the resurrection, something similar to what Peter, James and John experienced in today's Gospel reading. We cannot experience the exhilarating experience of the Transfiguration on mount Tabor if we are not ready to experience also the suffering on the cross on mount Calvary (Golgotha).

Transfiguration is a flash-forward to the resurrection

But the message of the Transfiguration is precisely this, that suffering, sin, death does not have the final word. Like a flash-forward scene in a film, Jesus shows his disciples the glory to be experienced. He gives us a taste of what will it be like for us to experience in him our own resurrection, the joy of the contemplation of God's face for all eternity.

The Damascene

St John of Damascus, on the of the Early Church fathers in the Eastern Catholic Church was fond of saying that it was not Jesus who was transfigured in his glory, for he was always so. Rather, they are the apostles whose eyes were opened even if only for a brief moment, so that they can see Jesus in the fullness of His glory.

A Transfigured ecology

Our transfiguration must therefore begin right here, with each one making his or her part to bring about a transfiguration of the whole of creation, indeed, a transfigured ecology, at the centre of which is Christ himself and whose words everybody would be able to hear and of which nobody would be deprived.

Transformation not feared but longed for

This is the change that deep in our hearts we all long for. The suffering involved in our transformation can sometimes discourage us but we must keep in mind that that is not our ultimate destination. It is only part of the journey. Our destination is to be united with the Risen Christ, whose glimpse we get in the transfiguration and which were must try to bring about as from our life here on Earth.