Sunday, February
24, 2002
2nd Sunday of Lent
1st Reading:
Gen 12:1-4
Yahweh said to Abram,
"Leave your country, your family and your father's house, for the
land I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you
and make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those
who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse, and in you all peoples
of the earth will be blessed."
So Abram went as Yahweh had told him, and Lot went with him.
2nd Reading: 2 Tim 1:8-10
Dear brother, do
your share in laboring for the Gospel with the strength of God. He saved
us and called us - a calling which proceeds from his holiness. This did
not depend on our merits, but on his generosity and his own initiative.
This calling given to us from all time in Christ Jesus has just been manifested
with the glorious appearance of Christ Jesus, our Lord, who destroyed
death and brought life and immortality to light in his Gospel.
Gospel: Mt 17:1-9
Jesus
took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high
mountain where they were alone. Jesus' appearance was changed before them:
his face shone like the sun and his clothes became bright as light. Just
then Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus.
Peter spoke and said to Jesus, "Master, it is good that we are here.
If you so wish, I will make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and
one for Elijah."
Peter was still speaking when a bright cloud covered them in its shadow,
and a voice from the cloud said,
"This is my Son, the Beloved, my Chosen One. Listen to him."
On hearing the voice, the disciples fell to the ground, full of fear.
But Jesus came, touched them and said, "Stand up, do not be afraid."
When they raised their eyes, they no longer saw anyone except Jesus. And
as they came down the mountain, Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone
what they had just seen, until the Son of Man be raised from the dead.
Commentary
What a feast the liturgy puts before us!
The foundation stone of the divine enterprise: Abraham. God is preparing
a people wherein to take flesh as one of us, that all peoples of the earth
may be blessed!
Forget about your merits or lack of them! That's irrelevant. God's delight
is in entire self-giving, and God has chosen a way: Jesus.
Jesus, like a two-sided coin: on one side Jesus of Nazareth; on the other,
the bright cloud, the voice, the transcendence of God: "The Father
and I are one."
"It is not much knowledge that fills and satisfies the soul, but
the intimate relish and understanding of the truth." (Ignatius of
Loyola) Jesus invites you to climb the mountain, to watch, listen, wait.
Who are you, Jesus? What is in your heart as you prepare to go up to Jerusalem?
Can I journey with you?