Today’s Gospel recounts the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Tabor, during which the voice of the heavenly Father proclaimed that He is His beloved Son and that He must be listened to. It’s a great mystery that we are led to contemplate in the footsteps of the three apostles Peter, James and John.

This episode anticipates the day of the Resurrection. It’s a happy moment on this second Sunday of Lent, just before the second proclamation of the Passion. This is to strengthen the apostles, and us too, and prepare our hearts to overcome the scandal of the Cross.

Indeed, it was fitting that those who were to witness Christ’s agony, scourging, crucifixion and death on the Cross, should be prepared for this ordeal by contemplating his glory.

On Mount Tabor, alongside Jesus, Moses and Elijah appeared, the two summits of the Old Testament, representing the Law and the Prophets respectively. These two prophets were simply God’s spokesmen. They are present, alongside Jesus, to bear witness that Christ is the Word of God, and that the Law and the prophets already foretold Christ’s resurrection.

For Jesus, the mystery of the Transfiguration consists in manifesting all the radiance and glory of his divinity. He, who is man, wants to show as clearly as possible that he is first and foremost God. The Transfiguration episode is a summary of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, clothed in our weakness, made our way to the Father.

Brothers and sisters, parishioners and pilgrims of Ars, let us give thanks to God our Father, for the radiant clarity of his transfigured Son. On this second Sunday of Lent, may he bathe us in his light, may he bathe searching and doubting humanity in his light. May he give us the ability to discern the path that leads from trial to joy, from death to life, so that we can seek God with all our heart and say, like the apostle Peter: “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here! Let’s put up three tents!”

May our Lord Jesus Christ, through his Transfiguration, give each and every one of us the strength and courage to persevere in our daily efforts of mortification during this Lenten season, a time of penance and conversion, in order to rise with Him at Easter. Amen!