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Joseph Campbell, student of myth and author of A Hero with a Thousand Faces, said that today’s Gospel is a perfect gem—containing all the phases of any hero’s journey. The hero (male or female) enters a different time and space and shares a vision with others for whom it is all too much—like poor babbling Peter. Then the hero (in today’s story, Jesus) returns voluntarily to be the guide, the way, the vision and the companion. Jesus models for us how to transcend boundaries and become what he himself already is: the Sacrament of Love come to transform the world into a new creation.As we struggle to reconcile what should be with what is, we recall the message of hope in this week’s good news. It’s sometimes frightening for us to envision what it will take to create a world based on the values of Christ, but no matter what causes us “to babble” in response to our visions (or daydreams and nightmares), we are to “Rise and have no fear.” Like the classic hero, we are on a journey from what is to what should be. Like the hero confronting obstacles, we struggle on our journey to maintain fidelity to the vision, the Gospel, in an age when consumerism trumps the concern for the welfare of others. We are steeped in a culture where having more for the sake of having more has made living simply a cause for ridicule. We have become a throw-away society, refusing to recognize that the benefits of this earth are not an entitlement for a select few, while the vast majority of the people on the planet languish in poverty.But the vision offered by Jesus challenges us to reconcile the tension between what is and what should be by challenging us to transform our society into one that values the least among us, that exalts in simplicity, and that acknowledges with humility that all is gift.We struggle through the arid environment of a society where independence and self-sufficiency have replaced the community credo of interdependence. The law of love and compassion espoused by Jesus has become hollow for most of us, reduced to sweet- sounding platitudes and warm fuzzies. We ignore or even deny the dignity and integrity of our brothers and sisters because of race, sex, economic status or sexual orientation. We are obsessed with being the strongest and most powerful regardless of the cost in human treasure. In God We Trust has become In “The Great I” We Trust.Jesus has a different vision: a world of peace and justice. Jesus’ vision is of a world where all of God’s children are treated with dignity, where no nation lords it over another for its own gain, where the broken and the weak come before the whole and the strong. Christ’s vision would have the wealthiest, most powerful nation not seeking to protect material interests halfway around the world in the name of a “war on terror,” but rather use every resource at her disposal to rebuild an impoverished and devastated nation ninety minutes from her shores.The Gospel today reminds us that our journey is not only a desert experience; it is also a mountaintop experience where we are able to focus on a broader view and imagine a clearer vision. We have a hero who leads us to the mountain to experience his vision—the fulfillment of promise first made to Abraham and Sarah. That vision may overwhelm us, as it did Peter who babbled senselessly, but the vision is clear. Christ, our hero, came to reconcile the tensions of the desert with the promise of the mountain. And he will accomplish that with the supreme sacrifice of love– the destination of the hero’s journey.Our journey too requires a moment of reconciliation—a time when we recognize the worldly wonders that surround us for what they are: mere illusions, so that we may rise up without fear to the mountain where our vision will be clearer and our ultimate destination more focused. On our journey, we have a hero in Jesus who reveals to us a vision in the Scriptures proclaimed today and in every Eucharist we celebrate. He voluntarily returns again and again to be the guide, the way, the vision and the companion. Jesus models for us how to transcend boundaries of this earthly existence and become what he himself already is: the Sacrament of Love that transforms the world.