Scripture Sundays- Second Sunday of Lent

Mural at the Church of the Transfiguration, Mt Tabor

Today's Gospel, both in the extraordinary and ordinary form, revolves around the Transfiguration-- the moment when Jesus, The living Word of God, is revealed in all His glory on the mountain, accompanied by two of God's greatest men of faith, Elijah and Moses.

His disciples, who witness the transfiguration, ask to build tabernacles ("tents") for each of them and to remain on the mountain, but God's booming voice speaks to them, directing them to focus on Jesus:

 "This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him." 

And instead of staying,  Jesus leads them down again, into the valley and onto the Passion.

It is a moment of comfort for them, as they have just learned about the necessary passion of Our Lord and are concerned about the future. But it is also a moment of confusion-- what does the Resurrection mean?

This passage from Divine Intimacy about the Transfiguration perfectly describes the relevance of the scene.

Father Gabriel of St Mary Magdalen, OCD, writes:

"Glory is the fruit of grace: the grace possessed by Jesus in an infinite degree is reflected in an infinite glory transfiguring Him entirely. Something similar happens to us: grace will transform us "from glory to glory.""(2 Cor 3, 18) until one day it will bring us to the Beatific Vision of God in heaven. But while grace transfigures, sin, on the other hand, darkens and disfigures whoever becomes its victim. Today's Gospel brings out the close connection between the Transfiguration and the Passion of Jesus."

There is no glory without suffering. The scene makes this very clear. But the key to this passage involves the clue we are given at the very end. Peter who-- in ecstasy before this glorious vision-- begins by saying: "Lord, it is good for us to be here," asks to build three tents for them to stay. God does not allow him to stay. Instead, he removes Elijah and Moses and stands Jesus alone in front of Peter, saying: "Listen to Him."

It is only in Listening to Jesus, communing with Jesus, spending time with Jesus, and literally following Jesus that we will be given that vision again. In other words, a spiritual consolation is not for us to cling to, request, or desire. Although it is nothing short of glorious and we should enjoy it, it is built for our encouragement, not our enjoyment. It is built for our strengthening.

As mothers and wives we experience moments of glory--- successes and beautiful, "perfect" days. But if you're anything like me, those days are few and far between. The average experience of the wife and mother includes the days you forget to wash your husband's work uniform, the day your two year old learns the word "no," the day you accidentally wash the rocks and pens in your sons' pockets and break the washing machine, the day your in-laws make comments about their concerns about homeschooling, and the day your husband has a rough day at work and comes home in a bad mood. 

This is the stuff of ordinary life, and this is the suffering by which we are sanctified. It is good and well to ask for those "perfect" days.... but we do not get there alone. Even more, importantly, many of us can work our way to the top of the mountain and realize that there is nothing there but a view! If we do not go up the mountain when Jesus leads and come down from the mountain when Jesus leads, we have missed the point. Our character is not formed in our own transfiguration moments, but in them our hope is born and cultivated. Our character is formed when we turn from sin and embrace the Cross, patiently offering up our suffering and keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus who will teach us what He wants in it.

Carmelite Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (St Edith Stein) said: "Hail to the Cross, Our only Hope."

In this season of lent, embrace each difficult moment of life and pray:

"Dear Jesus, am I listening to You as You taught me in the transfiguration? Teach me to embrace the cross and my own journey through the valley so that when You give me a vision of Your Glory I not only receive encouragement from it, but I recognize in it that it comes only from following You on the difficult path of Your Passion!"

Without death there is no life-- without the cross, no resurrection. When tough times come, may we all respond in faith: "Lord, it is good for us to be here," exactly as Peter said on the mountain.


TODAY'S READINGS:

Reading 1 Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18
God put Abraham to the test.
He called to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am!" he replied.
Then God said:
"Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah.
There you shall offer him up as a holocaust
on a height that I will point out to you."

When they came to the place of which God had told him,
Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.
Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the LORD's messenger called to him from heaven,
"Abraham, Abraham!"
"Here I am!" he answered.
"Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger.
"Do not do the least thing to him.
I know now how devoted you are to God,
since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."
As Abraham looked about,
he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.
So he went and took the ram
and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

Again the LORD's messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said:
"I swear by myself, declares the LORD,
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 of the sky and the sands of the seashore;
your descendants shall take possession
of the gates of their enemies,
and in your descendants all the nations of the earth
shall find blessing-
all this because you obeyed my command."


Responsorial Psalm Ps 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19
R. (116:9) I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
I believed, even when I said,
"I am greatly afflicted."
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

Reading 2 Rom 8:31b-34
Brothers and sisters:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son
but handed him over for us all,
how will he not also give us everything else along with him?

Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones?
It is God who acquits us, who will condemn?
Christ Jesus it is who died-or, rather, was raised-
who also is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us.


Gospel Mk 9:2-10
Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
"Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.

As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.