Joyful Gospel Living – March 1, 2026
“Lord, it is good that we are here.”
For three years now, my husband Jeff and I have participated in a treasured monthly spiritual series at Francis House of Prayer (Allentown, NJ) with Sr. Marcy Springer, SSJ, on St. Teresa of Ávila. This year, our group has been reading and discussing her book The Way of Perfection, written for her religious community of Carmelite sisters to instruct them in their prayer life. Last month, we read about St. Teresa’s thoughts on the prayer of quiet, something that all of us need in our daily lives, too.
As we celebrate the important Lenten meaning of the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor, I was reminded of a personal connection to this when I was reading our February assigned text from St. Teresa:
“Persons in this prayer [quiet] see that only one thing is necessary and everything else disturbs them. They don’t want the body to move because it seems they would thereby lose that peace; thus, they don’t dare stir…They are so close that they are seeing as though understanding through signs. They are within the palace, near the King, and they see that He is beginning to give them here His Kingdom.”
Even before St. Teresa ended that paragraph with a reference to St. Peter’s exclamation about building three places to remain with Jesus on the mountain, I already had an image of an intimate prayer experience where the heart speaks to God and says, “Lord, it is good to be here.” More than 1500 years after the Transfiguration, St. Teresa, like other saints before and after her, was able to teach her sisters how prayer can transfigure our lives. Her enduring text continues to inspire us 500 years later, just like this Gospel story.
On Ash Wednesday, the Gospel reminded us of the three Lenten disciplines: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. As we are now in the second week of our 40-day Lenten experience, how are we doing with prayer practices that transfigure our minds and hearts? What are some of the ways to do that?
- Read and pray over the daily Scripture readings.
- Use a Lenten daily devotional to go deeper into the conversion that is the goal of Lent.
- Explore internet resources that provide deeper insights into the Christian pilgrimage of hope.
- Make a Holy Hour in adoration and open the heart to hear Christ speaking,
- Practice Centering Prayer in which there is a deliberate detachment from worldly distractions and 20 minutes of contemplative prayer (prayer of quiet).
- Attend daily Mass more frequently and meditate on the Scripture readings. How will they shape the course of our day?
Recently, I received an e-mail from Sr. Mercedes Rojo, a Franciscan Sister of Philadelphia who is the spiritual assistant to St. Francis Fraternity-Milmont Park. A well-known retreat director, she is a person who incarnates the Scriptures with great joy and zeal.
For her Lenten fraternal reflection, she commented on a recent post on the Center for Action and Contemplation’s (CAC) thread on “Desert and Transformation” that described how people in the early Church (after 313 C.E.), in their desire to have a closer relationship with Christ, would go into the desert to seek the wisdom of the desert abbas (fathers) and ammas (mothers). Their hope was to receive a word to awaken their souls.
After quoting from the CAC post, Sr. Mercedes added her own commentary to her Secular Franciscans, with special emphasis for their Lenten journey:
“After reading this reflection today, it reminded me of [Sr.] Macrina Wiederkehr [a late Benedictine retreat director], and how she describes Lectio Divina: ‘Read under the eyes of God until your heart is touched. Then, give yourself over to Love.’ – For when we do so, we receive A WORD!
What a wonderful practice this could be as we walk the Lenten Journey!! Asking the Lord to give us ‘a WORD’ as we reflect on the daily readings. So I invite us to pay attention to a WORD or phrase that touches us from the daily reading… And STAY with it… LISTENING TO WHAT GOD MAY BE SAYING TO US… TO ME…”
Just imagine the possibilities if we were to experience the prayer of quiet that St. Teresa described. What would it take to have that intimate moment with God in prayer in which we know that we are in the Palace with Him, near the King, and we realize that He has revealed to us that his Kingdom is here? Like the three apostles on Mount Tabor, would we be reluctant to leave there? Consider, though, how it would transform our world if we took that profound experience back into our daily lives with greater love and service!
In our daily living, faith calls us to be both active and contemplative (Martha and Mary). Our prayer experiences offer us the sacred time and place to surrender our will to God’s will, where St. Teresa told her sisters that all of our faculties would be joined together to serve the Lord. This is a wonderful Lenten desire—so close to us if we find that daily word in which we can center our minds and hearts on God’s love for us, aware of how good it is to be there.
When we carry our prayer experience with us into the world, it will be a source of strength and hope for us and others, remembering the words from Psalm 33:
“As we place our trust in You.”
Teresa S. Redder, OFS
SKD Regional Minister
Photo: Consecrated Life: Transfigured into Christ (Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery)
https://www.passionistnuns.org/blog/2015/08/05/consecrated-life-transfigured-into-christ
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