Do you have the courage to see Jesus?

II Sunday of Lent Mark 9, 2-10 Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus.Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyonebut Jesus alone with them. As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant. Every year on the second Sunday of Lent we read the account of the transfiguration of Jesus. The transfiguration is an Epiphany, like the Magi, and the baptism. T hey celebrate Jesus’ revelation to the world; a revelation of who Jesus is. Why celebrate the Transfiguation at the beginning of Lent? What does this Epiphany of Jesus have to do with our Lenten Journey? What does it mean when Jesus once again admonishes his disciples not to tell anyone else about what they have seen? An American Novelist Marianne Robinson descibed the transfiguration saying, “wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration. You don’t have to bring anything to it except the willingness to see. Only who could have the courage to see it?” Peter, James and John didn’t have to do anything to experience the Transfiguration. They only had to be willing to see it. We are called to be witnesses to the Transfiguration as well. Again, we don’t have to do anything we only have to be wiling to see it. Are you willing to see the transfigured Glory of Jesus? Can you see Jesus’ splendor in your midst? Today? Here in the City of Mexico? Tuesday, at our weekly reflection people shared stories of the transfiguration. Some experienced the transfiguration at a retreat, at the death of one’s mother, in the example of a grandmother and in a bowl of soup. Again we don’t have to do anything to be aware of these moments, we just have to be willing to see it. That is why I said last week that the first step in our lenten journey is to stop. To slow down, to be aware. Jesus is present everywhere, we only need to be aware. If you have not experienced Jesus’ presence in your midst, it isn’t because he is not there, it is because we are not aware. Marinne Robinson said that people don’t see the transfiguration not because they are blind, but because they don’t have the courage to see Jesus. What does it mean to have the courage to see the Transfiguration? In the Transfiguration the voice of God says, “this my beloved son, listen to him.” To listen is not to simply hear something, to listen means to pay attention to someone to follow them, to do what they tell us to do. We need the courage to listen to Jesus’ voice so that we can begin to respond to Jesus. Jesus’ ministry began with the proclamation of the word, we continue listen to his word. The Church exists to listen to the Gospel. We have to learn to listen to the Gospel of Jesus. To pay attention to God’s word. We need to become familiar with the stories of the Gospel. To renew the Church today we need to listen to the Gospel. God’s word to Peter James and John on the mountain that day are the same words to us today. “this is my beloved son, listen to him.” Do we have the courage to listen to Jesus?