This is a time of year when many things are happening. We have a parish mini-mission going on this week, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday evenings. Father Jim Sullivan, a priest of our own diocese of Oakland, is preaching at all the Masses today. I hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity of grace. In this season of renewal, the mission can help you to live a better lent and a better life.

On this second Sunday of Lent, when we contemplate the Transfiguration of Jesus, we get a glimpse of the joy God has in store for us. Peter did not want to leave the mountain top. It is difficult to come back down to earth when we have had an ecstatic experience. We are grateful for these joyous moments, however, because they keep us going through the ordinariness and the difficulties of daily life. The Church puts this Gospel passage just after the beginning of lent, to encourage us to walk with Jesus along the way of the Cross to Easter. (It is still not too late to bring a small stone to church to be carried in the offertory procession as a sign of our hardness of heart and our need for renewal and reconciliation.)