The Second
Sunday of Lent
Dear brothers and sisters,
At
first glance, the account of the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus might seem a
bit out of place in these early days of Lent. In the midst of this penitential
season, we may feel somewhat somber as we take a close look at our lives and
our discipleship of the Lord. As we look at our sinfulness, the exuberant joy
of the Transfiguration may catch us off guard.
But
if we examine the context of this great moment in the Gospel of Luke, we see
that Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up Mount Tabor after he predicts his
coming Passion and Death in Jerusalem.
In fact, he had just finished telling me what being his disciple
entails:
Then
he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and
take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose
it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for
one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself? Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, the
Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his glory and in the glory of
the Father and of the holy angels. Truly I say to you, there are some standing
here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:23-27).
To
be sure, following Jesus is no easy task.
When following after Jesus begins to look too costly, we must remember
that we have not been made for ease, but for greatness.
Knowing
the great weight that must have hung on the Apostle’s hearts, Jesus took the
three up the mountain with him to pray (cf. Luke 9:28). Pope Saint Leo the Great wrote that
The great reason
for this transfiguration was to remove the scandal of the cross from the hearts
of his disciples, and to prevent the humiliation of his voluntary suffering
from disturbing the faith of those who had witnessed the surpassing glory that
lay concealed.[1]
Certainly
the Apostles would to be not only encouraged but also strengthened in their
love of the Lord and the certainty of placing their faith in him. Beholding his glory and hearing the voice of
the Father, they could again say with his confidence, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom
should I fear? The Lord is my life’s refuge; of whom should
I be afraid” (Psalm 27:1)?
We,
too, often need this same encouraged to follow the Lord and to hope in
him. So it is that Holy Mother Church
has placed this passage before us for our reflection today. As we look at our
sinfulness in these days of Lent, we need to remember that the Cross is not the
end, but the means of new life, of entering into the house of the Father. We must hear anew the words of the Psalmist:
“Wait for the Lord with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord”
(Psalm 27:14).
We must wait for the Lord because the Cross is
the promise of eternal glory, of everlasting joy and gladness in the presence
of the Lord; in it and through it we see his face (cf. Psalm 27:8). The Cross
continually reminds us that despite our sinfulness the Lord did not abandon
us. Therefore, "no one should be
ashamed of the cross of Christ, through which the world has been redeemed. No
one should fear to suffer for the sake of justice; no one should lose
confidence in the reward that has been promised.”[2]
The Cross stands before us, in all of its starkness, as both a reminder of our
sins and of the Lord's great mercy. When
we look to the Cross, we can truly say to God, “Of you my heart speaks, you my
glance seeks” (Psalm 27:8). When we look
to the Cross, we can hear the Lord say to us, “Of you my heart speaks, you my
glance seeks.”
We
know that it was the Lord who first made the Covenant with Abram and promised
to bless him with land and heirs. This Covenant was renewed with Moses when the
Lord promised to be Israel's God and Israel promised to be his people (cf.
Leviticus 26:12). Why was the Covenant renewed? Because of Israel's infidelity
to it; the Lord kept faith with Israel, Israel did not keep faith with the Lord.
Knowing
the weakness of fallen humanity, in the fullness God sent his Son to seal the
new and everlasting Covenant not in the blood of sheep and goats, but in his
own blood. This final Covenant was sealed on Calvary with the Lord's death on
the Cross and the piercing of his side.
But
now, even we, who are joined to Christ in Baptism and nourished with his own
Body and Blood by which the New Covenant was sealed, have broken faith the Lord;
we have sinned and turned from the Lord. Unlike Abram who put his faith in the
Lord, we so often put our faith in ourselves (cf. Genesis 15:6).
In
his letter to the Christians at Philippi, Saint Paul laments the reality that
"many, as I have often told you, and now tell you even in tears, conduct
themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ" (Philippians 3:18). The
enemies of the cross, he explains, are those who "are occupied with
earthly things" (Philippians 3:19).
In
these days marked by increased prayer, fasting, and alms giving, we have a
profound opportunity to honestly examine our lives in the light of faith and
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Let us not waste these days but make the
most of them by reflecting on our words, thoughts, actions, and inactions. As
difficult or painful as it may be, we must sincerely ask: Am I conducting
myself as an enemy of the cross of Christ? Are more my thoughts more occupied
with earthly things they with heavenly things? Have I allowed the Lord's love
to influence and shape every aspect of my life?
In
his Message for Lent 2013, Pope Benedict XVI reminded us that
Christians are
people who have been conquered by Christ's love and accordingly, under
influence of that love - "Caritas
Christi urgent nos" [II Corinthians 5:14] - they are profoundly open
to loving their neighbor in concrete ways [cf. Deus caritas est, 33]. This attitude arises primarily from the
consciousness of being loved, forgiven, and even served by the Lord, who bends
down to wash the feet of the Apostles and offers himself on the Cross to draw
humanity into God's love."[3]
Today,
then, and in the coming days of Lent, you and I would do well to seek to climb
the mountain of the Lord in pray and ask: Do I love others as the Lord loves
me? Do I forgive others as the Lord has forgiven me? Do I serve others as the
Lord has served me?
We
know already that the answer to these questions is not always “Yes;” the answer
is instead, all too often, “No.” And
yet, though we know our sinfulness, our many failures to love both God and
neighbor, we do not soon enough seek to be reconciled to God and counted no
longer as enemies of the Cross of Christ but as friends of the Cross of Christ.
If
Saint Paul wept for the lack of faith of the early Christians, for their
failure to live as authentic disciples of the Lord, why do we not also weep for
our sins? In these coming days we must
find moments of solitude and stillness so that can listen to the voice of the
Lord calling us to repentance and conversion.
We have in the example of Father Damien a Saint with a deep love of the
Sacrament of Penance and a deep awareness of his need for it.
Let
us follow the example of this holy priest who followed so closely after the
Lord confess our sins to a priest. Let
us allow ourselves, dear brothers and sisters, to be conquered by the love of
Christ and place ourselves entirely at his service so that one day we may “see
the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13). Amen.
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