Sacred Heart Parish
2nd Sunday Of Lent (B)
1.In our first reading this evening, God says to Abraham – “I swear by myself that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars”. In our second reading, Paul says to the Romans – “He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, will he also not give us everything else along with him?” In our Gospel reading, Mark writes, “Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, ‘This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.’” Perhaps we should examine our first and third readings in more detail.
2.The faith of Abraham is the focus of attention in our first reading. As one writer puts it – “Abraham had been asked to cut himself off from his past when he left his homeland in Ur in Chaldea; and now it seems he is to be cutoff from the future by the death of his son Isaac.” Knowing full well that the death of Isaac meant the end of his future, Abraham nevertheless made preparations to obey what God had told him to do. Convinced of Abraham’s complete willingness to comply with God’s command, an angel of the Lord, God himself, stopped the descending blade. “God had posed before Abraham the question whether he really understood God’s promise.” Abraham passed the test.
3.Last week, on the First Sunday of Lent, the liturgy invited us to reflect on the Temptation of Jesus. His victory in his trials strengthens us in our trials. Today, our liturgy invites us to reflect on the mystery of the Transfiguration – when on the holy mountain the Lord Jesus revealed himself in glory in the presence of his disciples. Our preface prayer today offers this explanation: “The Lord had already prepared his disciples for his approaching death. He wanted to teach them, through the Law, that is, through Moses, and then the prophets represented by Elijah, that Christ had first to suffer and them come to the glory of his resurrection.” When St. Paul first preached Christ crucified to the Greek-speaking unbelievers at Athens, many considered his preaching mere foolishness. However, there were those among his hearers who became believers – Jews and Gentiles – and they discovered in the teaching of the cross leading to resurrection the very power of God and wisdom of God. This is the teaching the liturgy offers us this very day. This teaching obviously challenges our routine ways, just as the earthly promise which God made to Abraham in our first reading challenged his routine ways. Our task today is to seek to grasp the transfiguring words of St. Paul – “Our citizenship is in heaven. It is from there that we eagerly await the coming of our Savior – the Lord Jesus Christ. He will give a new form to this lowly body of ours and remake it to the pattern of his glorified body.”
4.Mark presents the narrative of the Transfiguration in Chapter 9 of his Gospel. In Chapter 8 he had narrated Peter’s confession of faith, the first prediction of the Passion, the condition of discipleship about denying oneself, taking up the cross and following Jesus. What is the point of the Transfiguration? The Lord Jesus revealed his glory to his disciples – his first disciples and now ourselves – to strengthen them and us for the scandal of the cross. His glory shone from a body like our own to show that the Church, which is the body of Christ, would one day share his glory. The narrative of the Transfiguration reveals Christ’s divinity. The narrative of the Transfiguration in the light of his cross reveals his humanity. The lesson seems clear: our lives, from womb to tomb, constitute a journey involving pain and transfiguration. The Church gives us the Lenten season each year to help us make this journey in Christ’s likeness. It means living out the two-fold character of our Baptism – the very sacrament of the Lord’s dying and rising – our dying more and more to sin and selfishness and our living more and more for God and neighbor.
5.Our Mass texts today stress the truth that we be hearers of God’s word and doers of God word. Our Opening Prayer asks God our Father for the grace to hear what his Son has to say. The first reading stresses Abraham’s trust in God’s word, in spite of the formable sacrifice involved. The Gospel of the Transfiguration speaks of the cloud that overshadowed the Apostles and out of the cloud came the Father’s voice – "This is my Son, my beloved, listen to him!" As we make our way through Lent, we will have ample opportunity to hear God’s word, which, unlike our own words, is effective and transfiguring. Just think of some of the words the Lord Jesus speaks to us in the Lenten Liturgies:
a) "If you bring your gift to the altar and then recall that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift at the altar and go first in search of reconciliation.
b) You have heard the commandment – you shall love your countryman but hate your enemy. My command to you is – love your enemies and pray for your persecutors.
c) If you forgive the faults of others, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours. If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father in heaven forgive you.
d) When you pray – say – Father, hallowed be your name – your kingdom come – your will be done.”
Enlightened by these words and empowered by the Eucharist, may we truly find Christ this Lent and become hearers and doers of his word. Should we not obey the Father’s command when he tells us – "This is my divine Son; listen to him!"