Three Tents

Reflection for March 1, 2026 – Second Sunday of Lent

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus leads three of his disciples up a mountain, where they see him with Moses and Elijah. God speaks, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Find the daily reading here.

Three Tents

You guys, I was such a good Catholic at the National Eucharistic Congress.

Mass every day? Check. Rosary every day? Check (and check — we said a lot of rosaries). Deep thoughts and deep conversations about God with total strangers? Check. Hours in adoration reflecting on the state of my soul? Check.

When I went to Indianapolis in the summer of 2024 to cover the NEC for our archdiocesan newspaper, I knew it would be a fun and spiritually rich experience. But I didn’t expect that it would make me think differently about my whole life (and afterlife). And when people ask me why — “What happened in Indianapolis that changed you?” — I can only tell them this: I spent time with God.

Of course, I do all these things in my regular life at home, too. I try to be a good Catholic here. But good grief, it’s a lot harder. In Indianapolis, I didn’t have a calendar full of appointments and to-do lists that filled me with dread. I didn’t have the world crowding around me, grasping at my attention and my will.

Indianapolis was the mountain, and if I could have, I would have built three tents.

So I understand Peter’s feelings at the Transfiguration. He’s thrilled — he sees it all clearly now. Here is the fullness of Truth, revealed in all its glory, and he’s ready to start bringing groups of tourists up to see it. He’s ready to bring people to Christ. But in the blood-soaked, fear-filled days to come, Peter will realize that it’s not his job to bring the world to the Truth. His job is to bring the Truth into the world.

What a tragedy it would be, if Truth only lived on the mountaintop.

So build three tents, strong and durable shelters for the Truth to dwell. But build them in your heart. And then, the Transfiguration won’t be just an event, something that happened at a certain time and a certain place. It’ll be a reality that lives within us all. And we will bear it with us wherever we go.

©LPi