SPEAKER_00: In the first reading we hear the Lord say to Abram, Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk, from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.
SPEAKER_00: And Abram went as the Lord directed him.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: No debate, no follow-up questions, no spreadsheets, no maps, just a command and a promise.
SPEAKER_00: Go, he tells him.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to understand Lent, understand that word go.
SPEAKER_00: Because a spiritual life does not begin with inspiration, it begins with interruption.
SPEAKER_00: God interrupts Abram's stability, his routine, his way of life, his security, his identity.
SPEAKER_00: He says, leave.
SPEAKER_00: Leave what is familiar, leave what is comfortable, leave what has defined you up to now.
SPEAKER_00: And Abram goes.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what God does not give him.
SPEAKER_00: He does not give him a destination, no timeline, no explanation, just this.
SPEAKER_00: I will show you.
SPEAKER_00: That's the entire spiritual life.
SPEAKER_00: We want clarity without, we want clarity before obedience.
SPEAKER_00: God asks for obedience before clarity.
SPEAKER_00: We want guarantees.
SPEAKER_00: God gives promises.
SPEAKER_00: We want to know how it ends before we agree to begin.
SPEAKER_00: God says, start walking.
SPEAKER_00: Abram becomes Abraham not because he understood everything, but because he moved when God asked him to move.
SPEAKER_00: And here's where it gets uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: Lent is not about giving up small pleasures.
SPEAKER_00: Lent is God saying the same word to you.
SPEAKER_00: Go.
SPEAKER_00: Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk.
SPEAKER_00: What is that for you?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it may be habits or vices that are slowly hurting your soul.
SPEAKER_00: It may be a version of Christianity that's comfortable but very shallow.
SPEAKER_00: It may be distraction, it may be compromise, it may be the quiet addiction to control everything.
SPEAKER_00: Go forth from your father's house, he says.
SPEAKER_00: That means leave the identity you've constructed for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Leave the excuses that you defend.
SPEAKER_00: Leave the story you keep telling yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Well, this is just who I am.
SPEAKER_00: No, that is who you have settled into being.
SPEAKER_00: The scriptural life always begins with departure.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the truth most of us resist.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot be transformed if you refuse to move.
SPEAKER_00: And if we look at the gospel, Jesus takes Peter, James, and his brother John up a mountain.
SPEAKER_00: We know well that in the scriptures, when that the mountains are places of revelation, Moses, Elijah, now Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Why a mountain?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because of elevation changes perspective.
SPEAKER_00: Below you see problems, you're in the thick of it.
SPEAKER_00: From above, you have a different perspective.
SPEAKER_00: May even be able to see purpose.
SPEAKER_00: On the mountain, Jesus is transfigured, his face shines, his clothes blaze with light, and the Father speaks, this is my beloved Son.
SPEAKER_00: But do not miss the timing.
SPEAKER_00: This happens right after Jesus predicts his passion.
SPEAKER_00: Before the cross, he reveals glory.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because God never asks you to leave something unless he intends to show you something greater.
SPEAKER_00: Abram leaves home.
SPEAKER_00: He becomes father of nations.
SPEAKER_00: The apostles leave the shore.
SPEAKER_00: They see divine glory.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the danger.
SPEAKER_00: Peter wants to stay.
SPEAKER_00: Let us build three tents, he says.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to freeze the moment.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to control the experience.
SPEAKER_00: He wants glory without dissent.
SPEAKER_00: We do that a lot.
SPEAKER_00: We want consolation without conversion, inspiration without obedience, mountaintop moments without Calvary commitments.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus does not let them stay.
SPEAKER_00: The voice from heaven does not say, build.
SPEAKER_00: No, the voice from heaven says, listen to my son.
SPEAKER_00: Not admire, not discuss, not analyze, listen.
SPEAKER_00: That means when he says forgive, you forgive.
SPEAKER_00: When he says repent, you repent.
SPEAKER_00: When he says trust, you trust.
SPEAKER_00: And then when he says go, you go.
SPEAKER_00: The spiritual life is not about emotions or feelings.
SPEAKER_00: It's about movement.
SPEAKER_00: Abram went as the Lord directed him.
SPEAKER_00: That sentence should shock us, move us, because many of us hear the Lord and we stay.
SPEAKER_00: We hear him in the scriptures, we hear him in our conscience, we hear him in our suffering.
SPEAKER_00: We may even hear him in the homily.
SPEAKER_00: But we delay.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe later.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the right time now to make a move.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a right time to commit more.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe when things calm down, maybe when I understand the faith more or when I feel stronger.
SPEAKER_00: Abram did not understand more.
SPEAKER_00: He did not feel stronger.
SPEAKER_00: He moved.
SPEAKER_00: And here's a deeper truth.
SPEAKER_00: The promise follows the departure.
SPEAKER_00: If nothing changes in you this lent, it's not because God has been silent.
SPEAKER_00: It's because you've stayed put.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot ask God for transformation while clinging to what He told you to leave.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot ask for glory while protecting your comfort.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot ask for peace while refusing surrender.
SPEAKER_00: God is speaking.
SPEAKER_00: Go deeper in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Go to confession.
SPEAKER_00: Go reconcile that relationship that is hurting.
SPEAKER_00: Go detach what is quietly enslaving you.
SPEAKER_00: Go where obedience feels uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself, are you stuck in the same old, same old?
SPEAKER_00: The transfiguration shows us what awaits us on the other side of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Glory, clarity, identity.
SPEAKER_00: This is my beloved Son, the Lord says.
SPEAKER_00: And by grace that voice echoes over us as well.
SPEAKER_00: But you will not hear it clearly if you refuse to move.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the question.
SPEAKER_00: Not what your spouse needs to leave, not what your children need to leave, not what your neighbor needs to leave.
SPEAKER_00: What is God asking you this Sunday to leave?
SPEAKER_00: Because until you leave what is small, you cannot receive what is great.
SPEAKER_00: This Lent, stop negotiating, stop delaying, stop overanalyzing.
SPEAKER_00: And I promise you, if you trust the Lord, the Lord who calls you out of your comfort is the same God who waits for you on the mountain of glory.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.