Today’s liturgy is a tale of two mountains: Mount Moriah and Mount Tabor. Mount Moriah is the place to which Abraham was commanded to take his son Isaac and to sacrifice him to the Lord. It is a mountain of darkness, a place of death and self-denial, a place of submission to God’s will and of trust in his providence. It is a place of sadness at first, but ultimately a place of joy and grace. In Hebrew tradition, Mount Moriah became the Temple Mount in Jerusalem—the mountain where all sacrifices were offered, the dwelling place of God on earth.

The mountain of Transfiguration is not named in Scripture, but Christian tradition has long identified it with Mount Tabor—a relatively small but prominent hill in the Jezreel plane of lower Galilee. This is a mountain of light and glory, a mountain of divine power and of encouragement to the Lord’s disciples. Like Mount Moriah, it is also a mountain of submission to God’s will because of the words which were proclaimed by the Father, "This is my beloved son. Listen to him." Here, the disciples were invited to trust in God’s Providence, just as Abraham was on Mount Moriah; and here they were able to glimpse, in a visible manifestation, the divine life, the grace, of God.

But the these two mountains point to yet another mountain—a mountain that is not mentioned at all in today’s readings but is present nonetheless—Mount Calvary. Close by to Mount Moriah, and also a place of darkness, death, and sacrifice, Mount Calvary looms on the distant horizon in our Lenten journey. It was in the mind of Jesus and in his conversation with Moses and Elijah as he was transfigured before his disciples. Saint Luke tells us that this is what Jesus, Moses and Elijah talked about—the "exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem"—his sacrificial death for the sins of the whole human race.

Shortly before the Transfiguration, Jesus had begun to teach his disciples about his coming death and resurrection. And so the purpose of the Transfiguration was to strengthen and prepare his disciples for the horrors of what awaited them in Jerusalem. He wanted them to see his glory and grace before they had to witness his shame and execution. They were to see him disfigured on Mount Calvary by our disobedience, let them now see him transfigured on Mount Tabor by obedience to the Father.

It’s for this same reason that the Church, by long tradition, has given us the story of the Transfiguration on this second Sunday of Lent. We are to draw strength and courage from the glory of Jesus so that we might remain faithful to our Lenten sacrifices. We speak of giving things up for Lent. But who could be asked to make a greater sacrifice than what God asked of Abraham? The offering which Abraham made of his only son, Isaac foreshadowed the offering God himself would make of his only son, Jesus Christ. Jesus gave up his glory when he came to earth from heaven, and he gave up everything when he died for us on the Cross. It was only through this total self-giving that he was able to enter into the glory he revealed on Mount Tabor; and through his sacrifice he opened the door to eternal life for all us. But he calls us to follow in his steps. Perhaps we’ve given up sweets or TV or cigarettes for Lent—and that’s certainly good. But our Lord asks for so much more. He wants us to give up our very lives, our whole being, with all our virtues and vices, our joys and sorrows—he wants everything so that he can transform us—transfigure us—with his grace, according to his will, to bear the likeness of his own beloved Son.

In today’s second reading St. Paul asks us, "He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?" Through the suffering and shame of the Cross, Christ entered into his glory. It is the same path for each one of us: we must sacrifice all we have to share the glory of the risen Christ. May the Lord help us to be faithful, not only in our Lenten sacrifices, but throughout our lives as we give to him our hearts, our hands, our voices, our thoughts with all our hopes and desires. May he help us especially to cast away all sin and to receive the grace of his forgiveness. Sin disfigures but grace transfigures. Through suffering and sacrifice, may we be transfigured with Christ.