SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

Genesis 12:1-4; 2 Timothy 1:8-10; Matthew 17:1-9

 

Today’s readings speak of our call to holiness, of true greatness, of faith and trust in God and the ultimate glory that awaits us. We encounter a God who speaks to us and we are called upon to listen to him and respond to him. Now as we enter the Second Week of Lent, our task is to continue to examine our hearts and to repent in order to prepare ourselves for the glorious paschal mystery. 

As human beings we do not like change. We do not like change and we resist it as much as we can.  But as much as we resist, change is a part of our life. We grow from infant to child to adult.  We move from one place to another in search of new things and new way of living.  We know that we are pilgrims on a journey to a more permanent dwelling place, a place of total union with our God of Truth and Love.

         Today’s First Reading from the Book of Genesis involves the Divine calling of Abraham to become the spiritual father of the people of God. The appearance of Abraham in history marked a new era. The Lord called Abram to take his relatives and to depart from his country and his father’s house to the land that the Lord would show.

He was asked to sacrifice all familiar places and the people he knew and move to a new place shown by God himself. His trust in God will lead to his blessings. God makes a promise to Abram, that of him, He would make a great nation, that He would bless him and make great his name so that Abram would be a blessing to many.  God now builds a new relationship with him.

         Today’s Second Reading from the Second Letter of Timothy is a reminder that God calls each person and he has not stopped communicating to people.  God wants everyone to be holy, reminding that all believers have received their life and immortality through the Gospel. Therefore, a special call is given to join in the suffering for the gospel. For the good news can entail hardships. In the midst of sufferings, a person is called to rely on the power of God.

St Paul indicates that God offers us salvation and sanctification as a pure gift and not as the result of our works. His calling is according to His own purpose and grace and this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.  In His foreknowledge of sin entering the world, the Lord God had planned to dispense His loving and merciful grace through Jesus. Now Timothy is asked to preach the Gospel despite the fact that Paul was in prison at that time. But Paul and Timothy recognize that God’s word is a Gospel of power, of salvation.

         The Gospel of today speaks of striking interventions by God in people’s lives indicated through the transfiguration of Jesus on the Mountain.  Jesus is transfigured in the presence of his disciples, manifesting to them his divinity to strengthen them in their faith before he enters into his Passion and death on the cross.

This was the important moment when he had to strengthen his disciples particularly the ones who had been chosen to be close to him during his ministry. Jesus wanted his sonship to be revealed to them with the voice of the Father telling them that Jesus is his Beloved Son in whom he is well pleased and they ought to listen to him. Secondly, when his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white, the event may have testified to the fact that Jesus was the true Light which enlightens everyone. Thirdly, the transfiguration foreshadowed the eternal reign of Jesus as God and King in Heaven.

         The Gospel tells us that all on a sudden Moses and Elijah are seen talking with Jesus.  Their presence is very significant.  They represent the two great traditions of the Old Testament: Moses personified the Law of God’s people and Elijah the traditions of the great prophets. Their presence and their talking with Jesus indicate their total endorsement of all that Jesus is doing and also of all that he will experience in the days to come. 

Jesus is the natural continuation of their Jewish tradition and is fully part of it.  Therefore, the disciples need have no misgivings about anything they have heard from Jesus about his coming destiny. This happened “six days” after the declaration of Jesus as Messiah.  Peter had just, in the name of the other disciples, recognized their Teacher, Jesus, as the expected Messiah of Israel. 

We see that the emphasis is not on seeing the transfigured Jesus but on listening to him, through the voice of God himself: “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”  These are the exact words spoken at the baptism of Jesus.  This identifies who Jesus is, confirming his divinity as God’s son.

            He will speak with authority. This is an endorsement of Jesus and of all that he will experience, including his rejection by his people and his suffering and death on the way to life and victory. The invitation to “Listen to him” is directed at Peter and to others.  To listen to Jesus is to hear what he says and identify with him fully.

         The father tells the disciples to listen to Jesus. True listening requires a response from the listener, attending to what was said, recognizing its meaning, and making it part of the person’s inner, conscious experience. God speaks to us in so many ways.

First of all we need to learn to listen to what life is saying in the present moment before trying to shape our prayer. Too often we make the world just a projection of our own desires and fears. 

Second, when life gives us its message, we should make the understanding of that message the first object of our prayer.

Third, once we have received the message of life we must attempt to integrate it with our efforts to live by the Gospel. The Gospel must be the focal point of our lives. 

Finally, we need to pray and listen to what God says and yet we know God has no need of our prayer, in fact the very desire to pray be a gift from God.

May God Bless all of Us!

 -        @Avinash Bitra OFM Cap.