SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
Cycle “A”: Gen 12, 1-4a; 2 Tim 1, 8b-10, Mt 17, 1-9
Introduction: When Pope John Paul II introduced the Five
Mysteries of Light into the weekly cycle of the Rosary meditations, he filled
what had long been missing from the existing fifteen decades: the public
ministry of Jesus. In each mystery Jesus reveals himself, enlightening and
illuminating our lives. On this second Sunday of Lent, the liturgy focuses on
the fourth of these mysteries: the Transfiguration of the Lord, according to the
tradition of Mathew. In his Transfiguration Jesus gave us a glimpse of his
divinity, but also reminds us that his glory will be seen in the shame and
shadow of the Cross. In the life of Jesus, shame and glory are the two sides of
the same coin. And so it almost inevitably will be in ours, especially the
shame of our sins. But if we offer ourselves with all our sinfulness to our
Father, we shall hear him say to us as he said to Jesus, “You are my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased.” So with great confidence in our most loving
Father we entrust ourselves to him and confess our sins: “I confess…”
The Homily:On this beautiful second Sunday of Lent we recall
the splendid Transfiguration of the Lord. We believers are witnesses to the
true nature of Jesus Christ as Son of God, a nature that revealed itself in a
burst of dazzling light, the pure transparency of divinity. Today Jesus tells
us what God is like .Yet the picture is not complete unless you keep observing.
The Son of God is not content to stay in a blaze of glory, but he begins to
descend the mount in order to ascend another mount called Golgotha. And as he
descends he says strange things like laying down his life as a sacrifice for
all men and women. That’s the kind of God we have come to know - a God whose
glory is spelled out in wounds, painful cries, darkness and death. A God pretty
much like we are; worse off than we are. Every time we celebrate the holy
sacrifice of the Mass we renew that mysterious word and sacrifice of Jesus, and
in the process of our celebration we beseech God to take possession of our
hearts and transfigure them.
Now let us listen to Peter as he blurts out that famous line, “Master,
it is good for us to be here.” His words came tumbling out, the best he could
muster in his wonderment and admiration at the splendour he witnessed. He could
say no better: his words were the best expression of his intelligence and the
exhilaration of his emotions, “Master, it good for us to be here.”
My dear friends, have we not sometimes said the same, when we felt the
nearness of the Lord and were fain to leave his presence as he drew us closer
to himself, and we sensed his irresistible attraction, the beauty of his
Godhead? And we said something like what Peter said: “Lord, it feels so good to
be with you.”
My dear friends, our Lord Jesus bids us to hunger for him. Faced with
the insatiable desires of the marketplace, we are invited, not to repression,
but to hunger for something more than the marketplace. We are passionate
people, and to kill all passion would be to stunt our humanity and allow it to
wither. That would make us preachers of death. Instead, we must be liberated
into deeper desire for the boundless goodness of God. So we beg God to make
himself irresistible; that our fascination for him may never wither away. Our
desires go astray, not because we ask for too much, but because we have settled
for too little, for tiny meaningless satisfactions. The ideal for us is not to
control our appetite at all, but to allow them full rein in the wake of an
uncontrolled appetite for God. The
advertisements that line our roads invite us to struggle against each other, to
trample on each other in the competition to fulfil our endless desires. But our
God offers us the satisfaction of infinite desire freely and as a gift, for God
is the most beautiful, most attractive, most lovable and satisfying of
all. The glory of Jesus is our glory,
too.
On the mountaintop, Peter, James and John saw Jesus as he really is,
and as he would be after his resurrection. They had a glimpse of his true glory
as Son of god. Yet after this they had to go back down the mountain and
continue their lives. Later, they had to endure the suffering of seeing Jesus
die on the cross before they experienced the joy of his resurrection. We may
have experienced times when we feel especially close to God, when we seem to
glimpse his glory and are filled with his life. But these feelings do not last.
We have to live our own lives in a world full of evil and suffering, where God
seems distant. It is then that we can recall the times when God was close to
us. They remind us that God is real, and that we have the hope of future glory
to strengthen us. For Jesus, his glory and suffering were intimately linked. We
pray that in our suffering we may believe that his risen life is at work in our
very pain.
Yes, indeed, we are all awkward customers, plagued by our own follies
and by the very many difficulties of being human in a world that runs to so
much inhumanity. We are not easy to work with or to work through.
It is important to handle every experience to the best of your ability
now. You may have to practise more patience, strive that much harder, reach
inside yourself for a little more strength, and muster a little more faith in
God and yourself. If after you have given everything you have to give, you
still come up short, you will have nothing to be ashamed of. You can experience
the inner peace of those who know they gave their all. You will be a success
regardless of the outcome. You will be better, not bitter, knowing that in
God’s presence you did your best.
So, my dear friends, we can say, and with all others who bear witness
to the work of God in the midst of us, we can say with thanksgiving and wonder:
“Lord, it is good to be here.” “It’s
good to be with you, Lord. May I be with you forever.”
PRAYER: One of the best-loved hymns written by Isaac Watts of Southampton
(1674 – 1748: 74 years)
Lord of the worlds above,
How pleasant and how fair
The dwellings of thy love,
Thy earthly temples are!
To thine abode
My hearts aspires,
With warm desires
To see my God;
O happy souls that pray
Where God appoints to hear!
O happy men that pay
Their constant service there!
They praise thee still;
And happy they
That love the way
To Zion’s hill.
They go from strength to strength
Through this dark vale of tears,
Till each arrives at length,
Till each in heaven appears:
O glorious seat!
When God our King
Shall thither bring
Our willing feet.
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