2nd Week of Lent: Transformed by Hope

25/02/2026

News

“Transformed by Hope” is proposed as a space of listening and discernment on the Sunday Gospels that will accompany our Lenten journey.

The initiative, promoted by the UISG Women Theologians, is situated within the horizon opened by the Jubilee and seeks to prolong its grace, continuing to live our vocation as pilgrims of hope amid the challenges of the present time.

Each week, in the light of the Word of God, we will contemplate an aspect of the conversion to which we are called, allowing ourselves to be guided by the Spirit on the journey toward Easter. It is an invitation to allow evangelical hope to shape our way of believing, of living communion, and of participating in the mission of the Church.

During the first week, the commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (17:1–9) is prepared by Sr. Thérèse Raad.

“There in their presence he was transfigured…”

There are moments of Tabor in our consecrated life. Moments when everything becomes luminous. When the face of Christ shines for us like the sun. When our vocation regains its original clarity, beauty and freshness.

Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him. He takes them aside, up a high mountain. Nothing is improvised. The Transfiguration is not a spectacle: it is a grace given in intimacy.

As consecrated women, we know what it means to be “led up a high mountain by themselves.” Our times of prayer, our retreats, our chapters, our community silences... these are the mountains where the Lord leads us to show us who He truly is — and who we are in Him.

But the Transfiguration is not only consolation. It is revelation.

Jesus' face becomes bright as the sun. His clothes, white as light. It is not another person: it is Jesus himself. The one who will walk to Jerusalem. The one who will be misunderstood. The one who will be crucified.

The light does not remove the cross. It reveals its meaning.

How many times have we wished to “set up three tents”? To fix a moment of strength, to keep a community fervent, to preserve a mission that bore fruit, to hold on to a more stable era in our congregation...

“Lord, it is wonderful for us to be here!”

Yes, it is good to be in the light. But our vocation is not to dwell on the mountain. It is to listen.

The Father's voice resounds: "This is my Son, the Beloved… listen to him".

Listen to him... In our governmental decisions, in our apostolic choices, in our community tensions, in our declining numbers, in the new calls of the synodal Church. Listen to him.

Our fruitfulness does not come from our strategies, but from our ability to listen to the beloved Son.

“The disciples fell on their faces, overcome with fear.”

The experience of God is unsettling. It brings us to our knees. It reminds us that we are not in control.

Then Jesus approached them. He touched them. ‘Stand up, do not be afraid.’

This gesture always moves me deeply. Christ does not leave his disciples crushed by fear. He lifts them up.

How many sisters today need to be lifted up? Lifted up from fatigue, discouragement, loss of meaning, conflicts, restructuring, personal fragility...

What if our first mission were to become, for one another, this gesture of Christ?

“And when they raised their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus.”

In the end, only He remains.

Neither Moses, nor Elijah, nor the securities of the past, nor institutional certainties.

Only Him.

Perhaps this is the heart of consecrated maturity: consenting to everything being simplified until only Jesus remains.

And then comes the descent from the mountain.

We do not remain in the light. We descend towards the plain, towards the sick, towards the crowds, towards incomprehension... towards the cross.

Our consecrated life is this ongoing movement:

Going up to contemplate.

Going down to serve.

Listening to discern.

Receiving light to walk through darkness.

In a fragmented world, in a Church undergoing transformation, in congregations called to reinvent themselves, the Transfiguration reminds us of this: Our future does not depend on our strength.

It depends on our ability to listen to the Beloved Son.

And when fear grips us, when uncertainty brings us to our knees, let us remember: He draws near, he touches us, and he says to us again today: ‘Stand up, do not be afraid.’

May this Word become, for each of us, a light to continue on our journey.