Father Jack Sullivan, professor of Old Testament Studies at St. John Seminary in Boston, always said, “Gentlemen, listen very closely to the gospel…every time you hear ‘Jesus…went up the mountain to pray,’ the words went up to the mountain to pray is a warning sign that something powerfully important is about to happen.” And indeed today something very important happens in the gospel: along with the Transfiguration, we hear no less than God Himself say, “This is my chosen Son; listen to Him.”

So what does all this really mean for us today? The focus of today’s Sacred Scripture is this: If we want to be transformed by Christ, we must be willing to listen to Him, do the work and pay the price! What is the work and the real cost?

The price to be paid is “excellence, or the seeking of it.” In modern day America we now live in a time and place where “excellence and perfection” is the goal. For example, a great many Americans seek the perfect body. Just look at all the gyms along any main street. Count the number of cars with “Zumba” bumper stickers on them, personal trainers are everywhere, television ads offer nutrition or health experts and “enthusiasts,” even melon-based anti-age creams are broadcast and fat-free ice cream. There is a lot of time and money being spent on the physical beauty.

And while some folks achieve their “ideal” body image, many end up where they started—perhaps a few pounds and a few bucks lighter.

And yet the search for excellence in the realm of the physical is rarely matched by a search for excellence in the moral realm. If our humanity is to be transformed, and if Christ is the icon of that goal, then what do we need to do?

In today’s readings, Moses wants to bring his people to freedom and to a life God wants for them but it will be also be costly. The Jewish people are led from Egypt but the costs are too high—many moral and personally burdensome choices—so they want to return to slavery in Egypt with their full fleshpots. For us, advancement or freedom is also burdensome. To get a good education and a well-paying job we must study hard and go through difficult exams—it’s called self-sacrifice and discipline. It is true of every successful person: work hard, go without, and put in your time.

Should we expect otherwise when it comes to our moral and spiritual growth? Will we grow in Christ without knowledge of His Word? Will we deepen our relationship with Him without going deep into a prayerful dialogue with Christ? Will our faith come alive if we do not spend time living it out in our daily activities of life? And will we become a moral person if we do not succeed at habitus - practicing the virtues? Or does acting and choosing morally cause us discomfort, embarrassment or pain? Do we expect morality to come to us as second nature? Might we opt for a quick fix rather than a long workout, with self-sacrifice and discipline when it comes to building up our “moral fiber” in our spiritual workout? What’s our we will to spend on this “cause”?

According to scripture scholars, “The Transfiguration is meaningless if we do not understand the context: Jesus was about to suffer and die in order to release God’s transforming power unto humanity. The whole of Christ’s life is meaningless unless it points to the meaning of suffering. Of all the great founders of religions, only Jesus Christ enters into suffering, loss, pain and even death in order to lead us through it into the Resurrection and a higher and better life. Transcendence comes only through death and resurrection. That’s the guts of Christianity, a religion that goes way beyond being nice.”(FaithCatholic)

This Lenten season don’t listen to the Pilates and Herods standing along the Easter roadway ready to mock and ridicule us for our spiritual exercises. But have faith and listen to Christ. Those phonies along the road who will judge or mock us for our Christian ways—they won’t be able to save us with
eternal joy and happiness. No—they will only offer to derail our journey to God with a few, albeit enticing temporary “fixes” like the magic creams to eliminate the years or the powdery drinks to shed the pounds or the ab-o-flex machine now holding the piles of clothes in our bedrooms…rather, it is the hard exercise and the upward climb that will provide the noble outcome: the beauty and the God-likeness that our hearts—and bodies—really desire. Forty days and counting