Make Us More like Yourself...

We listen to the account of Jesus' transfiguration at Mt. Tabor as witnessed by the apostles Peter, James, and John. And in the Gospel account, our focus is directed towards the transfigured Christ -- glistening and shining, as it were. Christ was in a way glorified by His heavenly Father.

I think it is no accident that the Church directs our attention to that in this Second Sunday of Lent. The Church, I believe, is inviting us to follow what the apostles did at Mt. Tabor -- to gaze at the transfigured Jesus. In a way, the Church invites us during this season of Lent to contemplate on the very person of Christ.

It is indeed very difficult and very challenging to contemplate Christ's person because once we do that, we are illumined to accept the fact that we are very different from Him. We become more aware of the hatred, violence, malice, and impurity that are deeply rooted in our persons. We begin to see how wounded, how fragile, how frail we all are. But I guess this is the challenge of Lent. To focus on the person of Jesus, His attributes, His attitudes vis-a-vis our attitudes and disposition in life.

So as we enter more deeply into this holy season, Let us beg the Lord for the grace of transformation. That like Jesus, we may be transfigured too, into persons very much like Him. That we may truly reflect Him to every person we meet. That in the final analysis, we become alter Christus in the world, true to our Christian identity.