Transfiguration and Blessing
Student Reflections for Sunday Readings
March 20, 2011 (2LentA), by Jimmy Starke

Sunday Mass Readings   
Podcast of Readings    Video Reflections
Lecturas y Comentarios 
Sunday Readings Bible Study
Prayer of the Hours 
BQ: Do you believe Jesus is Truly Present at Communion?

Finishing my last semester as an undergraduate, I am constantly confronted with the monumental task of planning my future. Overwhelmingly, my response to the questions of graduate school and life after SLU consists of grasping at as many pieces of the puzzle as possible in order to push and pull them into place.

I push one graduate school half-heartedly aside, pull another one excitedly into place, and then shove in my presuppositions and expectations of a good life. I feel as if I am doing the puzzle by throwing aside the pieces that do not readily fit and forcing together pieces that do not belong together. Is this how I should proceed?

Today’s Gospel from Matthew 17 tells the story of Christ’s Transfiguration, prior to which he set his path toward Jerusalem with his first prediction of the Passion. Jesus begins his journey with a transfiguration and a blessing from the Father.

Carrying this message, the second reading from 2 Timothy 1 calls for God’s beloved to be transformed by the grace of Christ in order to live according God’s gospel.

Both readings show me that the journey with God requires a transformation of myself, including my perspectives and expectations.

With this lens, I look again at my puzzle problem and realize that it is not a puzzle at all. My outlook must be something more organic, something which can and will be formed and transformed by God.

My transformation is continuous, like the growth of a vine. Tended by the gardener, the vine is directed up one lattice and across another; some buds are allowed to transform into flowers while others are clipped.

So too, I will allow the grace of Christ to direct me along the lattice, nurturing some parts of my life into flowers while letting go of others.

Jimmy Starke
Saint Louis University
--