2nd Sunday of Lent, A March 1, 2026
Fr. Alexander Albert St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville
“It is good that we are here!” Why is it good? “Because we see Jesus in glory!” “Why do we want that?” This past week, I pestered the 6th grade boys with this kind of questioning. Every time they answered why we should want something, I would ask, “why do we want that?”
Now that we’re in the heart of Lent and some of the things we’re doing can begin to weigh on us, we might ask ourselves, “why are we doing this?” You might say, “because we want to go to heaven.” So, I ask you, “why do you want that?” Eventually we can get to the best answer: to be happy. Asking “why do you want to be happy?” is a bit like asking, “why does a square have four sides?” Four sides is part of what makes a square a square and happiness is what every human being wants. All our motivations eventually come back to that.
Why do we want to go to heaven? Because the unveiled glory of God in heaven is the only thing that makes a human being truly and permanently happy. So, why do we do what we do for Lent? To become happy. Now, when you’re craving steak on a Friday, it might not feel like you’re on the path to happiness. And yet, a significant percentage of the one billion Catholics in the world do actually stay faithful to their Lenten sacrifices. Clearly, we must on some level believe there is a connection between this self-denial and happiness. What is it?
Well, there’s the peace that comes from increasing our control over our appetites. There’s the clarity that comes from seeing how being full isn’t enough to be happy. There’s the confidence that comes from self-control and the joy of doing the right thing. In short, the pain of self-denial leads to happiness because it leads to virtue. Virtuous people are happier people. Being virtuous brings peace and confidence and usually brings some variation of success even in our earthly lives.
But building virtue? That can be painful, which is why we need these reminders. It’s why the Church always gives us the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor on the 2nd Sunday of Lent. It’s right after Jesus first tells his apostles that he’s going to be crucified. He sets out for Jerusalem, prepares himself for a gruesome death, and tells his disciples they need to carry their cross and share in his sufferings. After he shocks them with what looks like misery and failure, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain for this dramatic revelation of his glory.
Why? Because the apostles – and we today – need to be reminded of why we should deny ourselves and carry our crosses, why we should love our enemies and forgive those who hurt us, why we should forsake money and power and pleasure to pursue holiness instead. Why? Because despite the perceptions of the world, all these sacrificial, humble, and painful acts of love will ultimately make us happy. Even though many things in this world can make us kinda happy for a little while – or even for many years – nothing in existence offers the kind of perfect, eternal happiness that comes from perfect union with God. In a world broken by sin and caught up in lies, getting to God and to the truth and to real happiness requires a lot difficult, painful things.
“Lord, it is good that we are here,” says Peter. He’s experiencing a tiny foretaste both of seeing God’s glory and of the glory we human beings will have in heaven. The vision of God’s glory will fill our hearts and minds with perfect joy and even our very bodies will be gloriously immortal, perfectly healthy, and immensely powerful. Perfect control, no disease or pain, no limitations on movement, beautiful. The resurrected body is something even the healthiest, most attractive, most athletic person in the world could not even begin to compete with.
Which brings us back to the point. To get to the resurrection of the body, we first have to go through its crucifixion. By showing his apostles a tiny glimpse of his glorified body just a few months before he is betrayed and brutally murdered, Jesus is giving them and us an answer to that all important question: why go through all this?
So, remember to place all the challenges of Lent and our Catholic faith in general in the context of growing in virtue and the context of your own happiness and glory. If you’re weary of my preaching about obedience and sin and conversion and holiness, look at the transfiguration. Lent isn’t about how bad you are; it’s about how glorious you are and what stands between you and that glory.
The path forward is not more shame, but more hope. It’s not a hope that you can get your act together to earn your salvation, but hope in God’s goodness which accounts for your weakness. So, climb the mountain of prayer every day… even if it’s messy and distracted. When struggling with Lent or with breaking a bad habit or just trying to be decent Christian, telling yourself “I’m doing this so I can be holy and happy” will help a little. But it won’t go far if you have no context for what that happiness looks like. So, give yourself that context!
Why do young men read comic books, why do aspiring athletes watch the olympics, why do authors read other books, why do scientists study past breakthroughs? To see what the goal looks like. We are motivated by what we can imagine. Imagination is not always fictional. It is part of God’s image in us that allows us to see past our immediate sensory experience and act accordingly. So, just as a child fills their imagination with heroes, fill your imagination with true happiness!
“Listen” to the son with whom the Father is “well pleased.” Learn scripture and the lives of the saints. Make time to picture Jesus in glory, to imagine your own resurrected and glorified body, to imagine being more virtuous even in this life. Though we have to come down from the mountain, though we have to go about daily life outside times of prayer and reflection, these visions of glory and virtue and joy can dwell in our hearts. So, when life seems to knock us down, we can draw on moments like the Transfiguration and hear the Lord say to us “rise, and do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid. Despite your doubts, it is good that you are here. Do not be afraid of the trials that lay ahead. Rather than robbing you of happiness – if you keep your eyes on Jesus – they will become stepping stones to what God has always wanted for you: eternal joy.