Second Sunday of Lente Reflection

Second Sunday of Lent Reflection
Sister Belinda Monahan, OSB, Spiritual Advisor and Board Member

​What is your mountaintop experience?
               
Many of us has an experience similar to the one recounted in today’s Gospel.  It may not have been on a literal mountaintop, it may not have involved the sudden appearance of Moses and Elijah.  Nevertheless, we have encountered Jesus in a new way—in a way that brings us closer to the reality of who Jesus is.  We are awakened from the dullness of our daily lives into a more complete experience of Jesus. 
               
This awakening is the invitation extended to us in this season of Lent.  We often think of Lent as a trip into the desert.  And it’s true that we are—as Jesus was last Sunday—invited into the desert for prayer, fasting, and generosity.  These practices lead us, as they lead Jesus and his disciples this week, to mountaintop experiences; to a deeper recognition of who Jesus is:  the chosen Son to whom God’s voice reminds us to listen. 
               
And when we do listen? When we come down from the mountaintop?  When we have classes to attend, and work to do, and errands to run, and friends to talk to?  How do we bring that mountaintop experience back down into our everyday lives? 
               
Abram in the first reading chooses to believe in God’s promises, even when they seem to be completely outside of the realm of possibility.  Paul urges us to—as he has—stand firm in the Lord.  The disciples in today’s Gospel at first remain silent and fail to tell anyone, but must later have recounted it.
               
Because once we encounter God in his fullness, we are changed.  And even as we travel down the mountain, we carry with us the light of that encounter and share it with others. 
               
​What is your mountaintop experience?