By Msgr. Josefino S. Ramirez
We are now in the second week of Lent, and the Church continues to prepare us for the events of Holy Week.
Jesus Christ also prepared His followers for that event. One thing that He did is what we read about in today’s gospel.
Jesus brought the three most trusted apostles—Peter, James and John—to a mountain. Then suddenly, Jesus Christ appeared to them in all his areligious leaders of the Old Covenant, Moses and Elias.
In the midst of this display of power and glory, they were talking of what may have seemed a very strange subject—Jesus Christ’s impending passion and death.
The apostles were dazzled. They were very excited. All they could notice was the glory, and it seems they did not pay much attention to the subject of conversation—the apparent defeat on the cross.
Later on, when Jesus Christ would be hanging on the cross, they would not remember the glory of the Transfiguration. Now they were in a victorious mood—they were up. Later on they would be crushed by apparent defeat—they would be down.
God allows the life of every man to have its ups and downs. It is a part of our fallen human nature that after a moment of elation, there may follow times of dejection.
This is allowed by God even in the spiritual life. There may be moments of sweetness and fervor. There may also be moments of dryness.
We should not let this hinder our path to get closer to God. If we were to allow ourselves to get carried away by our moods, there would be no consistency in our spiritual life.
Instead, we should try to base our spiritual life on virtue—constant good habits that can override our fleeting moods. This means that occasionally, we have to “go against the grain” just like Jesus Christ during His agony in the garden.
We need to be undaunted by external or internal tribulations, just as Saint Paul says: “We also exalt in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works out endurance, and endurance, tried virtue, and tried virtue, hope” (Romans 5:3-4).
The virtue of fortitude, one of the four cardinal virtues, is very necessary for a genuine spiritual life. Without it, we would not have real goodness and piety. We would only be bondadoso (kind), which is a caricature of real goodness.