From the top of a mountain valleys look different. That is sometimes why people climb them. The relationships between rivers, fields and forests become clearer with altitude. The landscape below not only becomes smaller, it is transformed.

The same laws of perception hold for human lives. Looking back to where we stood 5, 10 , 20 or 40 years ago we see things in perspective, understand relationships and motives which were obscure at the time. In other words, a human biography can be compared to the ascension of a mountain. Most people would agree that life is generally an uphill battle. Most of us also know moments when we can’t help wondering, “why bother, why climb?” Such moments usually come when the slope seems too steep, when we haven’t had time to look back and see how far we have really come or when we loose sight of the top of the mountain and the goal of our climbing.

The goal is realized in every step forward though we may not notice it. Every step forward transforms our perspective, our view of the world left behind, our past. Hence, we can acquire wisdom with the years. But also, we ourselves are transformed through the work of lifting one foot after the other. We grow stronger. Endurance develops. We become more than we were, for transformation is the goal. It is an old truism that everyone has his or her own mountain to climb, perhaps an entire mountain range to traverse. Ultimately, though, we are all climbing the same mountain together – with invisible ties joining us all together. These invisible ties enable us to help one another on our various paths upward. Some are ahead taking risks for the rest of us, exploring paths as yet untrod, others climbing more slowly, providing a “safety net” for those pioneers who might fall. We are all helping.

At the top of the mountain stands the one who helps us all: Jesus the Christ. In chapter 17 of Matthew’s gospel we read of his transformed appearance before the eyes of the three disciples. He stands at the top, radiant, illuminating the terrain below, the Son of Man, the human being transformed at the end of the climb. Now, since his resurrection, as “lord of the heavenly powers on earth” he radiates the power of transformation itself: love. This is the love that creates the ties enabling humanity to ascend not merely as individuals but together, in community. This is the love that is everywhere present since he was raised from the dead, since the disciples could speak of their vision on the Mount of the Transfiguration and fulfill the words, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I also.”