The Mountain of Prayer

A Reflection on Matthew 17:1–9

In the Gospel of Matthew, Peter, James, and John go up the mountain of Tabor. During this Lenten season, the Church invites us to go along with them in order to learn a crucial lesson. These three apostles ascend the mountain not to sightsee or for exercise, but most importantly to pray.

As Jesus prays, He is transfigured before their eyes. In prayer, He stands in the presence of the Father and converses with Moses and Elijah. This moment reveals something profound: prayer changes us because prayer draws us into the life of God Himself.

The conversation centers on the “exodus” Jesus is about to accomplish in Jerusalem. In the Old Testament, Moses led the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt through the Red Sea and the desert toward the Promised Land. Now Jesus inaugurates a new Exodus. Christ, the new Moses, leads His people from the bondage of sin through the waters of Baptism and through the desert of death into the eternal Promised Land—heaven.

Amid this sacred moment, Peter interrupts and says, “Lord, it is good that we are here.” He immediately proposes building three tents, eager to act, to construct, to do something of his own making. Peter’s response is deeply human. Faced with divine mystery, he wants to control it, organize it, and preserve it.

But before Peter can continue, a cloud overshadows them, and God the Father speaks. The Father reveals the identity of Jesus Christ: “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Then comes the essential command—the lesson at the heart of Matthew 17:1–9: Listen to Him.

This command echoes the ancient prayer of Israel: Shema—“Listen.” The Christian life begins not with speaking, planning, or doing, but with listening. We are called to live with open ears and open hearts, attentive to the Beloved Son in whom the Father delights.

Yet listening is difficult. Our lives are filled with worries, distractions, responsibilities, and constant noise. The world continually tells us what to hear and what to value, often contrary to the voice of Christ. Lent invites us to pause amid these many preoccupations so that we may truly listen to Him.

This is fundamentally a lesson in prayer.

Prayer is hard work. If someone knows an easy formula for a perfect prayer life, we would all want to learn it. Prayer is an ascent—a climb up a high mountain. To pray well, we must leave behind ordinary concerns, anxieties, and attachments so that our minds, hearts, and bodies may rise toward the Lord. When we ascend the mountain of prayer, the Father repeats to us what He said to Peter, James, and John: Listen to my Son.

Without Christ, we struggle to climb. Left to ourselves, we risk becoming like the apostles often depicted in Eastern icons of the Transfiguration—overwhelmed and falling asleep. But if we take hold of Jesus’ hand and allow Him to lead us, He draws us higher than we could ever climb alone.

And something remarkable happens there. We are transfigured.

The more we pray, the more Christ appears within us. We may never recognize the change ourselves, but authentic prayer transforms us. Christ shapes our hearts, purifies our desires, and conforms us to Himself. By faith, we trust that prayer truly changes us even when we do not immediately see the results.

Every Lent is meant to be a Tabor experience—a time to climb the mountain with Christ, to encounter Him in prayer, and to experience a quiet interior transfiguration. Yet the Christian journey does not end on Mount Tabor.

After the vision fades, Jesus leads His disciples back down the mountain. The path of discipleship continues toward another mountain: Golgotha.

There, Christ’s garments will no longer shine with dazzling light but will be torn away. His body will not appear gloriously transfigured but wounded and scourged. His radiant face will be covered in blood.

The same Jesus who reveals His glory on Tabor now turns to each of us and says, “Rise, and do not be afraid. Let us go.” He invites us to follow Him to Golgotha, where love is revealed most fully.

For it is there that we witness the greatest truth of all: no one has greater love than this—to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Lent calls us to listen, to pray, to be transformed, and finally to follow Christ with courage and faith—up the mountain of prayer and onward to the mountain of sacrificial love, where His glory is revealed not only in light, but in the Cross.

Father Kevin Lix, Parochial Vicar