[Salvation]

2nd Sunday of Lent: "Listen to Him"

 

 

(Raphael)

 

"This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased."

 

Sunday Word:   http://usccb.org/bible/readings/031614.cfm

 

 

Gen 12: 1 – 4a
2 Tm 1: 8b – 10
Mt. 17: 1-19

Mountain top moments in our lives are more occasional than they are the norm.  Those big celebrations: our first communion or confirmation, graduation from high school or college, a wedding day, ordination, the birth of a child, the baptism of that child, a trip overseas, your first grandchild, a 90^th birthday party.  In the ebb and flow of everyday life, these moments stand out for us as highlights.  Family members and friends come together to celebrate these significant events; we have pictures of them, we talk about them to others, and they are meant to be joyful times.  When the “party” is over, we may feel sad wishing it could just go on a little longer but sooner or later we know we have to get back to our routine.

 

Our Gospel this second Sunday of Lent presents a mysterious mountain top moment for Jesus and three of his inner circle confidants: Peter, James and John.  It would be great to know what these three disciples of Jesus were thinking as he took them up the mountain.  Maybe Jesus just wanted to get away, far away, from the crowds.  Maybe he wanted to share some personal secret with these three that he could not trust the others with.  Or maybe they recalled that their scriptures reminded told them that a mountain top was always a place of meeting between God and the leaders of his people.  It was the place for Moses to receive the Commandments from God and other times when a high place was the scene of an encounter between God and his people.  The great Temple of Jerusalem was built high in order to be seen by all.

 

But, on this mountaintop they were about to have an experience with Jesus that was intended to strengthen them for the future.  The passion and suffering of Jesus was on the horizon and he knew their faith in him would be greatly tested and those of the other Apostles.  They needed a morale booster, some indelible experience that would reveal more to them in the midst of Jesus’ suffering.  The cross was not the end but the beginning of God’s eternal plan and they would be the direct messengers of that good news to the world.

 

Peter in particular had recently proclaimed the truth about Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” But, they and we as well, needed to know that the glory Jesus would bring was going to be won at a price – the price of our sinfulness which opened up the floodgates of God’s forgiveness and mercy for all humankind.  The Cross loomed soon and the resurrection would put the exclamation point at the end of that sentence.

 

As Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus, who was now mysteriously transformed, they endorse all that Jesus said and did.  That he was the fulfillment of the original covenant given by God through Moses on another mountain, Sinai.  That Jesus was in the line and the fulfilled promise of the great prophets of Israel and Elijah, the greatest of those prophets who had railed against idolatry, now comes to affirm this truth.

 

Yet, in all this shining glory, Peter offers hospitality: “Lord, it is good that we are here . .  . I will make three tents here.” Peter, like most of us want those mountain top experiences to last forever, or at least to go on longer than planned.  Just show me the good stuff don’t tell me anything sad. “What’s the minimum I have to do?”  

 

In this radiant splendor, they see the divine nature of Jesus so why not just take our time and enjoy this for a while.  In short, I think we would all rather take the easy way out. In this present time of technological wonders, why not just hook in to high speed everything and get instant results.  

 

But, as we know, life isn’t that way nor was it going to be for Jesus and his intimate followers.  Nor can it be for us who walk the Christian journey.  Our daily life is a back and forth from cross to resurrection so what sustains us?

 

Like these three intimates of Jesus, it must be the voice of the Father speaking to us about his own son: “Listen to him.”  Where and how does Jesus speak to us? In his Word of the Scriptures, in our prayer, in the sacraments of the Church, in the suffering of others, in your children and your spouse, in the people we serve, in those times when we struggle with confusion about our faith, in the tough and disappointing moments when Christ stands with us.  Basically, not on the mountain only but in the valley where we live.  These three disciples did not descend that mountain alone.   

 

Our first reading reminds us that Abram was called from his comfortable senior living to now fulfill a new mission for God.  Like him we are called to be faithful.

 

Mountain top experiences are important for our lives.  In our gathering for the Eucharist, we need the beauty of holy Mass with an inspiring environment, carefully prepared music, a great homily, faith filled participation of the assembly, kind and compassionate fellow parishioners who are serious about their faith and inspire us, the generous service of others and “ah – hah” moments in prayer. All this is good but we can’t, nor are meant, to stay there.

 

God comes down from the mountain to meet us.  As we journey through this Lent toward the glory of Easter, let’s look for the Lord who walks with us and calls us to hear his voice.

O God, who have commanded us

to listen to your beloved Son,

be pleased, we pray,

to nourish us inwardly by your word,

that, with spiritual sight made pure

we may rejoice to behold your glory.

(Collect of Sunday)

 

[Salvation]

Insight Scoop

The Cross is the doorway to communion with God

"The Transfiguration of Christ" by Giovanni Bellini (c. 1487)

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, March 16, 2014 | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Gen 12:1-4a
• Ps 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22
• 2 Tim 1:8b-10
• Mt 17:1-9

“Life is short; death is certain,” wrote Blessed John Henry Newman, “and the world to come is everlasting.” It is a fitting introduction to today’s readings, for together they form a powerful discourse about the life, death, and eternity.

There are several rich, if subtle, connections to be found between the reading from Genesis, which describes God’s covenant with Abram, the reading from St. Paul’s second letter to the young Timothy, and the Gospel reading, which recounts the Transfiguration on the mountain. The three that I’ll highlight here can be summarized as calling, blessing, and anticipating. And while these three are always essential to the Christian walk, they have perhaps an even greater force of meaning during the Lenten season.

Calling: The first words of God to Abram (or at the least the first words recorded) are a call to faith and action: “Go forth from the land of your kinfolk…” In a culture in which one’s extended family was the core of one’s social and religious life, this was a call to a completely new life. It required immense trust, especially since Abram would likely never return to see his father’s household and his homeland. But the promises of blessing were just as immense: “I will make you a great nation, and will bless you…” This blessing, of course, was presented in material, temporal terms; there was not yet an understanding of blessings in the afterlife. And so Abram anticipated blessings of a temporal sort: land, a great name, offspring, and far-reaching renown.

Blessing: Paul’s words to his spiritual son, Timothy, could also be applied to Paul’s spiritual father, Abraham, who was saved and called to a holy life, not according to his works, but according to God’s design. And, conversely, God’s words to Abram could also be applied in a certain—but far more profound—sense to the Son of God: he was called to go forth and enter “a land”, that is, first-century Israel. And he became Incarnate so that he would be a blessing to “all the communities of the earth”, and would build a great nation, the Church (cf. 1 Pet 2:9). By taking on flesh and becoming man, Paul notes, God’s grace was “made manifest”. Our savior Christ Jesus, having entered a fallen and sinful land, would destroy death and bring everlasting life.

Anticipating: While in the desert, Moses the lawgiver had taken Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu with him up the mountain to see God (Ex 24:9ff). Elijah the prophet had also been in the presence of God on the mountain (1 Kng 19:8ff). Yet despite having close communion with God, both men experienced rejection at the hands of their own people. Jesus, in taking Peter, James, and John up Mount Tabor, was calling them to a deeper discipleship, to a clearer (and unsettling) understanding of Jesus’ identity and calling, and their own identity and calling. They were blessed, but their blessing came by the way of the cross, for the cross is the doorway to communion with God.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his 2011 Lenten Address, wrote, “The Cross of Christ, the ‘word of the Cross’, manifests God's saving power (cf. 1Cor 1: 18), that is given to raise men and women anew and bring them salvation: it is love in its most extreme form.” The Transfiguration was a foretaste of the power and glory of God; it was a grace meant to shine in the dark night that enveloped the apostles following the crucifixion. It would remind them of their calling, make real their blessing, and keep alive their anticipation.

“The Gospel of the Transfiguration of the Lord,” writes the Holy Father, “puts before our eyes the glory of Christ, which anticipates the resurrection and announces the divinization of man. … He desires to hand down to us, each day, a Word that penetrates the depths of our spirit, where we discern good from evil (cf. Heb 4:12), reinforcing our will to follow the Lord.”

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the March 20, 2011, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)