Reflecting the Light

March 1, 2026

Second Sunday of Lent, Year A

Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22; 2 Timothy 1:8b-10; Matthew 17:1-9

One of my favorite pastimes is to visit National Parks with my family. I've been blessed to hike through a few of them over the years, and these trips make up some of my fondest memories. I have come to see these magnificent creations as a direct reflection of God’s majesty and beauty. Whether I'm staring at the vastness of the Grand Canyon, standing amongst the giant trees in Sequoia National Park, or gazing up at hundreds of stars on a cold, clear night in Sedona, I am absolutely in awe of God’s creation. I try in those moments to wrap my brain around His all-powerful, all-loving nature, and those moments no doubt, bring me closer to Him.

Now imagine being Peter, James, and John. These are simple Jewish fishermen. By this point, sure, they've seen some things. They've witnessed Jesus' incredible preaching. They've seen his miracles and healings. They know there's something extraordinary about this man. But absolutely nothing could have prepared them for what comes next.

Close your eyes for a second and picture this moment from Matthew's Gospel: "And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light." What an unbelievable sight that must have been. The guy you've been following around Galilee, sharing meals with, watching get tired and dusty on the road like the rest of you — and suddenly, his face is shining like the sun!? Then, as if that weren't enough, Moses and Elijah show up. Say what!? Moses and Elijah!? For faithful Jewish men, that would be like...sorry, I don't even know what that would be like. There is no modern comparison. But we aren’t done yet. Now, we have the actual voice of God the Father saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." Earth-shattering. Literally.

Here's where it gets curious. After this truly mind-blowing experience, Jesus tells them: don't tell anyone. Not until after the resurrection. This wasn't unusual for Jesus. After many of his healings, he gave similar instructions. But, put yourself in Peter, James, and John’s shoes for a moment: you just witnessed the most incredible thing any human has ever seen, and you're told to keep it to yourself? I’m not sure about you, but I would be terrible at that. If I saw even a fraction of what they saw, I'd be grabbing anyone and everyone I ran into and say, "You are NOT going to believe what I just witnessed!!!" Picture too, what their faces would have looked like for days! I guarantee you there was a reflection of light from Christ’s divine face that shone forth on them; it had to have.

I think that impulse, that inability to keep quiet about an encounter with God, tells us something important about ourselves, because we absolutely still have those encounters today. Now, most of us aren't going to see anyone transfigured on a mountaintop. Our encounters with God tend to be more subtle, but they are no less real.

It can certainly come as described above during an encounter with nature, but it could also come when someone shares love or kindness with you when they didn't have to. It's there while holding the hand of a loved one on the back porch on a summer evening, not saying a word, and feeling completely at peace. It can come to you in a moment of quiet prayer after receiving the Eucharist, feeling His spirit and presence at work in your life. God is all around us. We only need to open our eyes, our ears, and most importantly, our hearts to sense His presence in our world.

So, how then do we respond after such an encounter, once we recognize Him in those quiet, beautiful moments? I think we're meant to do exactly what Peter, James, and John eventually did: we share it with others — not by preaching on a street corner necessarily, but by being that encounter for someone else. By sharing love with the people we meet every day. By loving them the way God loves them. In so doing, we become what he asked of us in Matthew 5:14-16, when he said, “You are the light of the world... Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." 

So, as we continue through this Lenten season, may we encounter God and his light in a very real way, and may we reflect his light to a world that is in desperate need of it.