Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent, March 1st, 2026

Today, the very fact that we are called upon to reflect on the familiar page of the Gospel describing the Transfiguration, should prompt us to reflect on OUR Transfiguration as the Body of Christ meant to glow with majestic brightness and glory. 

We should turn very sad if we realize that our spiritual journey stalled or reversed its course due to a crucial oversight: that the only reality in which all believers are called to live is the Mystical Body of Christ.  

Accordingly, whenever we hear or read mention of Jesus’ name, we should be aware that we are hearing or reading about ourselves too! 

Therefore, if we resolve to live consciously in the reality of the Mystical Body, we must place ourselves in the proper mode of allowing God’s Spirit to transfigure us both as a Church and as individuals. 

The transfiguration is always God’s initiative and will progress only after our generous, courageous response to his Word. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Matthew 3:17  

What was unusual and straight from God’s mouth in the Old Testament, such as: “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you,” (Genesis 12:1) in Christ and with Christ is now more personal and intimate, yet it is in no way less unsettling. 

Indeed, the saints can assure us that what Paul writes in the 2nd reading, today, is very true! “Bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God.” (2 Timothy 1:8) 

Every transfiguration begins with painful steps of separation from what is familiar: our family, our home, our land, our possessions, our knowledge, our education, even our good deeds, our prayers, anything and anyone that is good and that we think we might still need and will certainly miss if gone! 

This comprehensive separation is requested by the bold demands of the Gospel. 

Every transfiguration, then, proceeds unevenly, hesitantly, with regrets, second thoughts, relapses and lots of fear. Look at Peter, James and John in today’s gospel passage. (Matthew 17:1-9) 

Every transfiguration requires a high degree of inner freedom. It is the type of pure freedom that enables one, the likes of Abraham and Paul and Mary, and Peter, James and John, to trust unconditionally, blindly, the God who made the initial proposal and who promises to see us to the full realization of our transfiguration. 

This is how Paul describes this type of pure inner freedom: “He saved us and called us to a holy life (transfiguration), not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began.” (2 Tim. 1:9) 

We understand rather easily that we ought to separate ourselves from wrongful things and evil deeds (Jesus’ original message in the Gospel) but should we also “separate” ourselves from our good deeds, our favorite prayers, from all those good things that we do, and from people whom we love dearly?!

Aided by the Holy Spirit, we must continue to perform good deeds, and pray well, and do all that our calling in life requires of us as disciples of Christ, however, we cannot count on any of them, because they are the result of God’s infinite, undeserved grace. And nobody but the Lord alone can fill the void in our heart. 

Once we are freed of this type of reliance and on non-existent merits, we can place ourselves in the listening mode of total docility to do the Father’s will. 

One day, Jesus, the head of the Body, confided a secret to his closest friends: “My food is to do the will of the One who sent me and to finish his work.” John 4:34 

Not our good work(s) but his! Not our praying but his! Not our will but his! 

Every transfiguration leads to intimacy, familiarity and genuine love. People progressing in their transfiguration are instinctively willing to acquire the same tastes, preferences, desires, inclinations and choices that Jesus has! 

Today, as we contemplate the dazzling image of the transfigured Jesus, the glorious Head of the Body, we should notice his intense desire to have all of us soon clothed in a wedding garment as white as light, to make his joy complete and to bring to fulfillment the Father’s promise to Abraham that all communities of the earth (the Church, the whole Body) may find blessing in him.” Genesis 12:4