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.)

As lent begins we reflect on the temptations of Jesus. The gospels of Matthew and Luke recount three temptations by the devil, in different order. This year we read Luke's account. The devil tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread, to compromise himself for worldly power, and to perform a spectacular miracle to win acclaim. Jesus refuses all these temptations. He will not be the kind of Messiah the devil wants him to be. He will walk the way of the Cross to a kingdom not of this world.