Again, let us “Come away by [ourselves] to a secluded place and rest a while." (Mark 6:31)  As we ponder these beautiful Sunday Readings, let us leave our world like Abraham and set off into a deserted place. 

            Encountering Our Lord in the Mystery of the Transfiguration is a comforting scene.  It is full of consolation to see Him in all His brilliance, which often takes faith to realize in our hardened and distracted hearts.  But that is what Lent is for!  We need only have this faith to treasure the Father’s Love for us.  We stand before His beloved Son, and He will also say “You are my beloved.”  That way, as our Second Reading for today states, we may: “Bear [our] share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God. 

            I also want to shed light on the second part of today’s Letter to Timothy that “He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” 

            On that first note, I wanted to put emphasis that holiness is not about our merits.  It is always important to do the right thing and putting our effort in; but it is Christ’s merits which make us holy.  After all, are we not imperfect? 

            So let us spend the rest of this weekend basking in the Love of God and run the race!

            God Bless!