The Lenten journey, after having led us into the desert of temptations, leads us to the mountain of the transfiguration. After the tempter, Jesus now hears the word of Elijah and Moses. The Father speaks through the Law and the Prophets to guide the path of the Son. We too are urged to discern which words we hear, which give us life and joy, which sadness and death. It is the experience of Peter, James and John, which Jesus takes with him to the mountain of prayer. Why them? Perhaps because they are the three disciples who show greater resistance to Jesus’ journey towards Jerusalem. Peter has already protested after the first announcement of the Passion, to the point of receiving the appellation of Satan from Jesus (cf. Mk 8: 31-33). James and John ask for the first places in the Kingdom, after the third proclamation (cf. 10: 35-40). The three of them too, on the mountain, listening to the Scriptures and praying with Jesus, must understand the meaning of Jesus’ journey, on which they are urged to follow him. The glory of the Son cannot be contemplated on the mountain, stopping his journey, because it reveals itself along the way that Jesus travels, in the total gift of himself. Thus is revealed the very face of the Father. Abraham is not called to sacrifice Isaac, but to prophesy the secret of the fatherhood of God, who, as Paul writes, “did not spare his own Son”.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey