Mother Church invites us to celebrate Sunday, March 08, 2020 as the Second Sunday of Lent – Year A. In the entrance antiphon we pray, “Remember your mercies, Lord, your tenderness from ages past. Do not let our enemies triumph over us; O God, deliver Israel from all her distress.”
In the first reading from Genesis, God calls Abram to leave his homeland and go to an unknown land where he will become, through God’s kindness, a great nation. Abram obeys without question and stands fast in his faith, thus becoming the “Father of all who believe.” In the second reading, Saint Paul tells his companion Timothy that God leads those who are called on the right path since God desires the salvation of man. In the Gospel, the story of the transfiguration tells us that Jesus is not just the one who is to suffer but also the beloved Son of God. These two go together. The Father calls him “This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him.” In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace to listen to Jesus, God’s Beloved, with whom he is well pleased.
First Reading: Genesis 12:1-4.
The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, for the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and your name so famous that it will be used as a blessing. I will bless those who bless you: I will curse those who slight you. All the tribes of the earth shall bless themselves by you.’ So Abram went as the Lord told him.
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment
As we said last Sunday, and it is worth repeating, Genesis is the first of the first five books of the Old Testament; the other four being Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Together, they form a unit collectively known as the Pentateuch (Greek word for five books), or the Torah (the Hebrew word for Law). Genesis deals with the origins of the world and of the Jewish people.
Today, we hear the story of how God called the man who was to found the Jewish nation, Abraham, our Father in faith, from his homeland. He is invited to leave the world that is familiar to him, his country and his father’s house, and find security in the promise of God. He cannot see either the land or the family he has been promised, yet he begins this journey without maps. Living as a nomad, he has no land, and with his wife Sarah, who is barren, he has no children.
But he travels hopefully in the belief that one day his journey will lead to the fulfillment of God’s promises. Throughout his journey, Abram experiences setbacks and trials, but he travels on, rooted in the conviction that he is doing God’s will and God’s will only.
God made three promises to him: first, Abraham will receive the land the Lord promises him – the land of Canaan. Secondly, his children will form a great people. Thirdly, God’s favour towards Abraham will flow into his posterity and achieve its full effect in the world’s return to God. Abraham believes and the wheels of salvation are now definitively put in motion.
What does this passage tell me? It tells me that God calls each and every one of us in a special way and offers us a special assignment. God’s plan of salvation begins to operate by requiring man to make an act of obedience: in Abraham’s case, he is asked to set out on a journey. The plan will reach its goal with the perfect obedience shown by Jesus “made obedient unto death, even death on the cross” (Rom 5:19).
Everyone who listens and obeys the voice of the Lord, all believers, can therefore be regarded as children of Abraham. It is men and women of faith who are the sons and daughters of Abraham. Let us therefore pray for the grace to hear God’s call and to follow it fully, as Abraham does. Amen.
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1:8-10.
With me, bear the hardships for the sake of the Good News, relying on the power of God who has saved us and called us to be holy – not because of anything we ourselves have done but for his own purpose and by his own grace. This grace had already been granted to us, in Christ Jesus. He abolished death, and he has proclaimed life and immortality through the Good News.
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comments
Saint Paul wrote this second letter to Timothy from prison in Rome shortly before his death. It is therefore thought to be the last letter he wrote. For this reason, it is usually regarded as his spiritual testament. The tone of the letter is more personal, more from the heart than that of First Timothy. Paul urges Timothy to join him, an indication that he feels the need of his presence at this last moment of his life. He laments the fact that certain disciples have deserted the cause.
He repeatedly encourages Timothy to keep faith in the face of inevitable troubles, reminding his colleague that the finger of God is present in his work for Christ. All Timothy’s missionary effectiveness, Paul reminds him, comes from God’s loving purpose now concentrated in the person of Christ. He will preach the Gospel faithfully by revealing the incarnation of Jesus, an appearance among us, which saves us because his resurrection makes death a mere transition to life and to immortality.
To counter the work of those who spread false doctrine, Timothy must be tireless, even if there are difficult days ahead. He is urged to remain true to Paul’s teaching and keep the Sacred Scripture as his point of reference because it is inspired by God.
What am I taking home from this reading? I have understood that we need to courageously confront the difficulties the preaching of the good news of Christ’s salvation brings with it. The message is that we have been called by God, who has revealed himself in our Saviour. God’s salvation manifests itself through the incarnation of Christ. Four essential aspects of salvation are identified: 1) God has already accomplished salvation for everyone, 2) it is God, too, who calls all men and women to salvation, 3) salvation is entirely a gift: man cannot merit it, and 4) God’s plan is an eternal one.
Let us pray this day for the courage to follow Saint Paul’s exhortation to us to courageously witness to our faith, in season and out of season, whether we are listened to or not. We need to be fortified in our faith by prayer, one of the three pillars of Lent, the others being fasting and almsgiving. As Pope Francis tells us in his message for Lent, concerning prayers, “Even more than a duty, prayer is an expression of our need to respond to God’s love which always precedes and sustains us. Christians pray in the knowledge that, although unworthy, we are still loved. Prayer can take any number of different forms, but what truly matters in God’s eyes is that it penetrates deep within us and chips away at our hardness of heart, in order to convert us ever more fully to God and to his will.” Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Gospel acclamation: “Glory and praise to you, O Christ. From the bright cloud the Father’s voice was heard: This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him. Glory and praise to you, O Christ.”
Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9.
Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone. There in their presence he was transfigured; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light. Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them; they were talking with him. Then Peter spoke to Jesus. ‘Lord,’ he said ‘it is wonderful for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He was still speaking when suddenly a bright cloud covered them with shadow, and from the cloud there came a voice which said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favour. Listen to him.’ When they heard this, the disciples fell on their faces, overcome with fear. But Jesus came up and touched them. ‘Stand up,’ he said ‘do not be afraid.’ And when they raised their eyes they saw no one but only Jesus. As they came down from the mountain Jesus gave them this order. ‘Tell no one about the vision until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.’
V/ The Gospel of the Lord.
R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Comments
This day’s Gospel tells us what happened on Mount Tabor. Shortly before this scene, Jesus had declared to his disciples that he is going to die at the hands of the chief priests, the elders and the Scribes. The Apostles had been saddened and dismayed by this announcement. Now Jesus takes with him Peter, James and John, and leads them apart to pray. They are the three disciples who will later bear witness to his agony in the Garden of Olives. And as he is praying, the appearance of his countenance is altered, and his clothes become dazzlingly white. The astonished Apostles see him talking to Elijah and Moses, who appear in glory.
The flash of God’s glory transports the disciples into a state of immense happiness. It makes Saint Peter exclaim: “Master, it is well that we are here, let us make three booths, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Peter is eager to make this situation last longer. Our Lord allows Peter, James and John to enjoy for a very short time the contemplation of the happiness that lasts forever.
Immediately a cloud overshadows them and the powerful voice of God, the Father, is heard coming from it. “This is my Son, my Chosen One, listen to him.” God the Father speaks through Jesus Christ to all men and women of all ages. His voice is heard in every age, in a particular way through the teaching of the Church. As Saint John Paul II says “the church continually seeks ways of bringing this mystery of her Master and Lord to humanity – to the peoples, the nations, the succeeding generations, and every individual being.”
When the Apostles lift their eyes, they see no one but Jesus alone. Elijah and Moses are no longer there. They see the Jesus they know. This is the Jesus we have to find in our ordinary life, in the midst of our work, out in the street, in the ordinary people around us, in our prayer. We have to find him when he forgives us in the Sacrament of Penance and, above all, in the Holy Eucharist where he is truly, really present.
We must never forget that Jesus, whom those three privileged men see on the mountain, is the same Jesus who is daily at our side. That is why we should learn to find him in the ordinary events of everyday life. Each Christian longs for the opportunity to see Christ. We long for heaven on earth because our earthly life is threatened by fear and by death.
Cameroonian Jesuit Priest Father Kizito Forbi tells me that Lent is a time for Christians to seek their heaven on earth. Lent presents Christians with an opportunity to become risen Christians; that is, Christians who experience Jesus in a new and transfigured way through fasting, prayer, and almsgiving.
Would our lives not be different during this Lenten season if we were to make Christ’s presence a reality in the habitual things of each day? Lent is a time for encountering Christ in a new way. Lent presents Christians with an opportunity to become risen Christians. In other words, Christians who experience Jesus in a new and transfigured way through fasting, prayer and almsgiving. In our Lent, we have the opportunity to reproduce in our lives what Peter, James and John experience on the Mountain of the Transfiguration.
Let us pray for the wisdom to hear and understand that transfiguration in our individual lives involves our invitation to meet Christ in a new way during these forty days of Lent. To quote Pope Francis again, let us keep our gaze fixed on the crucified Lord, and allow ourselves “to be saved over and over again”. “Jesus’ Pasch is not a past event; rather, through the power of the Holy Spirit it is ever present, enabling us to see and touch with faith the flesh of Christ in those who suffer”. Holy Spirit accompany us in our Lenten journey. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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