March 1, 2026 - Second Sunday of Lent - Fr. Diego Dalla Gassa

Peace to you from the Holy Land. I am Fr. Diego and I find myself serving the Lord on Mount Tabor in the fraternity of the Transfiguration. I wish to share some lights that I consider important for my life, for our Lenten journey.

The text we have listened to has a frame and it is the announcement of the passion both before and after. And it may be that we too as disciples, faced with the announcement of the gift of life and of a dying to our own will, to our own ideas, it may be that we too fall into darkness, into a human vision, too human, according to the world. The Lord takes us by the hand, leads us aside to go up the high mountain, there where he reveals himself as a burning fire that does not consume the bush.

And we too are called to remove our sandals. And it is here that he is transfigured, his face shines, his garments become white like light. And the Christian life is to be seen precisely as a great announcement of this garment of light which recalls our baptism, which recalls our journey toward the garment of light, toward the wedding feast.

It is beautiful to see how Moses and Elijah as well, who represent the law and the prophecy, are fulfilled in Jesus. Every announcement concerning the ancient law and every possible prophecy are fulfilled in Jesus.

It is here in this experience in which we feel loved, accompanied, taken by the hand, that like Peter we too can say let us make three tents, let us make three tents. It is good to be here. When we feel loved we want to remain at peace, to remain within this beauty.

And it reminds me of a text in which God says to David, "Will you build a house for me, it is I who build a house for you, I will build a house and the house is Jesus and his house is us." It is this new dwelling, this new temple that he has established for us. He has entered once for all into a temple, into a sanctuary that does not belong to this creation and it is there that the voice of the Father is heard. This place is one of the few places where the voice of the Father is heard. Listen to him, listen to him.

It is something particular, it is an imperative. This is my Son, the beloved. In him I have placed my delight. And this imperative is repeated.

Where is it repeated? How can we listen to it? Jesus remains alone. Moses and Elijah disappear. The voice of the Father has been perceived. He remains alone, as if to say he is the mediation, he is the one we seek, we can listen to him and we are asked to guard all this until the Son of Man has risen. If we listen to this account it is because the disciples guarded it and have now handed it on to us as a mystery of which the Lord wants us to be participants.

We too are called to welcome all this and carry it with us as if it were truly the paradigm of our life in which we can bring this beauty, this intimate communion, this light and this being taken by the hand, bring it there where we are. I ask you to carry with you a verb from this text, because heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

What has happened, happens and will happen.

Greetings from the Holy Land, from the mountain of the Transfiguration.

Every blessing.