The Gospel of the Transfiguration is proclaimed. It invites to live Lent by fixing our gaze on the Transfigured and begin listening to all he has to say: "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him " (Mk 9.7). To silence others, to listen, to him.

God intervenes in our lives in mysterious ways, but steady and loyal. Our deep commitment to the risen Christ transfigures us in our everyday life, and his Spirit, that is in us, prompts us to transform others.

A reading of the text with the eyes of faith shows that Abraham did not doubt of God’s loving plan.

He understood that the latter, engaged in the adventure of the Alliance, would realize his promise of innumerable descendants by none other than Isaac, and that, no matter what happens. (Genesis 22, 1-2.9a )

The Psalmist offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord who took the initiative to release him. « It costs the Lord dearly to see his own dying! » Abraham, in his trial, made this extraordinary discovery. Ps 115 (116 B )

Paul marvels. God has shown his love by giving us what is most precious: His Son, His only Son, for our greater good. ( Rom 8: 31b-34 )

Like Matthew and Luke, Mark delivers the story of the transfiguration which allows to lift the veil on the person of Jesus. Mark however, does not talk about the transfigured face of Jesus. He retains the color of his clothes. Jesus lives the meeting with his Father in an intimacy that becomes manifestation of God himself. Although his nature is human, Jesus is God. The whiteness of his clothes attest to it.

The transfiguration is neither a parapsychic phenomenon, nor a show, nor a miracle, but a moment of the grace at the same time for Jesus himself, for the disciples and for us.

For us, the transfiguration is a pause in our daily lives to "ascend" toward God. It is about living a moment of intimacy with the Lord to feel his loving presence. It is a call for us to listen to him, an invitation to live in trust and hope, no matter what happens in our personal, community or ecclesial lives. An anticipation of the light of Easter, a foretaste of heaven?

Lent is a time of renewal for the whole Church, for each communities and every believer. Above all it is a “time of grace” (2 Cor 6:2). God does not ask of us anything that he himself has not first given us. “We love because he first has loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). When the people of God are converted to his love, they find answers to the questions that history continually raises. One of the most urgent challenges which I would like to address in this Message is precisely the globalization of indifference.

Indifference to our neighbor and to God also represents a real temptation for us Christians. Each year during Lent we need to hear once more the voice of the prophets who cry out and trouble our conscience. Pope Francis