SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT
Transfiguration: A Call to Maturity.

Introduction: The grade 7s were asked to write a paragraph on Maturity., as we would say: "Growing up" One of the students wrote "In grade seven we are suddenly expected to be mature and organized. Immature behaviour states that the student is unclear about how to handle the pressures suddenly forced upon them. But students have never been taught how to handle these, so how can they possibly learn maturity?

I will leave you to sort out the student's difficulty - but we all expect to mature:
physically: we grow, some too much and then we try and loose weight
emotionally: and that is what the grade seven student was talking about
spiritually: and that is what the transfiguration points to - in today's Gospel.
For a long time, I got caught up in imagining what would it be if I were there at the Transfiguration and missed the meaning of this event.

A: If we look at the "call to maturity" in relation to the first reading, it might make sense to us. Abraham is called to make a sacrifice to God. He sits with all these grizzly remains of cows, sheep and birds. Just sitting there would make anyone feel sick - now as it grew dark, Abraham was over come with a terrible fear. We too have our hidden fears:

what if I tell my husband that I am worried about his health, his over work
what if I tell my wife that I am not as brave as she thinks me to be
what if I tell my husband that I am worried about another pregnancy
what if I tell my spouse that if we do not communicate our marriage is doomed
what if I tell my parents that I am taking drugs but want to quit
what if I tell my boyfriend I do not like his advances
what if I tell my friends, I think God is calling me to religious life
Faced with these fears, some times like Abraham we sit in terrifying darkness. But the Gospel - brings new hope : the Transfiguration already gives us a glimpse of what Jesus will look like after his passion and death.

B : We are called by the Gospels and by this Season of Lent - to turn away from Sin, to move out of the terrifying darkness, to be transfigured like Jesus.
We have been called to move from the darkness of sin - to the light of forgiveness. We do this through the Sacrament of Confession, Reconciliation
We have been called to move from the darkness of selfishness to life by reaching out to others.
The Pope calls us to move from the darkness of illiteracy to the light of knowledge. Jesus too grew in wisdom and knowledge

C : You see Jesus had to do his own growing up. At the age of 12 he was taken to the temple. He was lost. The story ended with the words "He went down to Nazareth and there he grew in wisdom and knowledge before God and men " In a word, Jesus matured - that maturity would only be complete when he would say " Into your hands I commend my spirit" But today, he reached a new stage in maturity, in growth. He was transfigured - a sign for you and me, a stage for you and me to reach.

D : That is maturity, that is being transfigured. Peter in a sense was like a teenager, He like the grade seven student did not have the faintest idea of what the Transfiguration meant. But he wanted to be a part of it "Lord it is good to be here" When I was a teenager, I always faced the sun, I did not acknowledge any shadow in my life. There was no black ice on which I could slip in my adventure of life. Now as I grow older - I realize that I do have weaknesses, liabilities - and it is not any thing to be ashamed off. It is not a " growing up" so much as a "growing down". It is a stabilizing of experiences, a reflection on the events and persons that have shaped my personality. It is a maturity of a different sort, it is a Transfiguration which tells me "I can see clearly now - my fear has gone "

This type of growing, this type of transfiguration makes me comfortable to know that within me is both
the power to love and hate,
the power to be strong and gentle,
that like God - there are both masculine and feminine qualities in me.
Sometimes when I see these, I might be terrified as Abraham was with the darkness. But the fear passes away - and the relief comes as it did to Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration - the relief when they realized, there "was no one there but only Jesus"

E : Looking at oneself and seeing the true values, the true qualities in one's life sometimes is brought about by events beyond our control - or perhaps of our own making:
for Abraham it was a sacrifice he made by which God made a covenant with us
for some, it was a sudden growing up when the first child was born
for others it was a death of a loved one, a sudden heart attack, a stroke
We stop, a Transfiguration take place. Suddenly, nothing is important
not the job not the house,
not the CD - or the sports car -
not your Doulton Figurines or your Stocks and Bonds
You realize how important people are in your life - your near and dear ones - God becomes the Centre.

Perhaps you can say with Bryan Adams " Look into my eyes and you will see, what you really mean to me " You begin to take any thing and you can recognize the "Finger of God - that touches and transforms " The day that happens to you - you in one way have been Transfigured like the master, Jesus. And may it happen to all of us, Soon !