As we look around this temple, we are relearning what to hold on to and what to let go of that help us make progress in our faith lives. We are seeking progress and not perfection. Where do you need to acknowledge that God’s will is to be done?

Some treasures are of lasting eternal values, others are not. Some are worth holding onto, others you need to let go regardless of how much you think you love them for they are fool’s gold. Where do you have fools' gold stored away and how can you release yourself from it’s grasp?

As we look around the temple, we wrestle with a more realistic awareness of the grip our attachments have on us. We have become consumers, of things, people, religion, and life. How can you restore your gratitude for the many gifts you have been given to make sure there is enough for everyone?

As we linger in the Temple, we are reminded of God freeing his people out of Egypt, yet Jesus sees them chained to making Temple sacrifices. A system that exploits and oppresses people, enslaving them to an ideology. Where do you need reminding that you, too, are a temple of the Holy Spirit where God is found?

We enter the Temple area with Jesus as his frustration over sacrifices causes him to toss over the tables. He understood anger, frustration and having a human temper. We can hold onto things so tightly, that we are no longer really free. What tables need to be turned in your Temple area allowing you to be truly free?

Before we descend from the mountain top, we have the chance of living something different. Let us recall the exceptional clarity and intense emotion of glory on the mountain top. Living a life that is open, unbounded, and free, ready to receive whatever comes. With God at your side, will you stay open to what you can neither control nor foresee; the possibility of something new?

Join Fr. Michael in the bonus episode each week to go deeper in the desert. This is the 2nd bonus episode.

On this mountain, fear, self-doubt, guilt, regrets, disappointment, or wounds can keep us from living who we truly are and who we want to be. The person we want to become sometimes doesn’t match who we are becoming. What can you do to live a more purposeful life?

From the vantage of the mountain top, this is a moment to dream big, to rethink our priorities, what we value, what we want and seek. We commit to act in our daily life on what we have dreamed. What attracts you about life yet to be lived?

As we look out from the mountain top, we continue to learn the truth about how we see ourselves, the truth about the direction our life is heading and who we are becoming. Regardless of what we see within ourselves, it is just information, a diagnosis; not a final judgement or conclusion. How is God reshaping and redirecting your life?