2nd Sunday in Lent – Feb 25, 2018 - Homily - 1
In last Sunday’s gospel we go out with Jesus into the desert where we heard that he fasts and prays for 40 days in preparation for his mission. It is this 40 days of preparation in the desert on which our season of Lent is modeled – a time for making efforts to keep our eyes on the divine rather than what is of the world.
In today’s gospel we go from the desert to the mountain top as we hear the account of Jesus’ Transfiguration – of the revealing to his closest disciples that he is indeed the Son of God, and that his glory will triumph over all of the persecution, pain and suffering that will lie ahead. We are given this privileged glimpse of Christ’s glory, and for those of us looking on with eyes of faith we are let in on this extraordinary vision which gives us a preview of the glory that will come with the resurrection – a preview that reminds us of the goal of our faith, and reminds us of the reasons that we use this 40 day period to spiritually prepare ourselves to celebrate the mysteries of Easter.
And this glimpse was extremely important for the disciples, because just 6 days prior to the Transfiguration event, Jesus told them about the great mystery of his having to suffer and die before he would rise again on the 3rd day. We have the benefit of knowing how the story ends – we know that the story ends on a triumphant note with Jesus’ resurrection on the 3rd day. But you can imagine how confused and sad the apostles must have been to hear that Jesus would have to die a horrible and violent death by execution? We also feel for Abraham in the 1st reading today who is asked to sacrifice his son – you can imagine how painful that must have been until God reveals himself, and prevents the sacrifice from happening – an action on Abraham’s part entirely relying on the faith that although he didn’t understand what was happening, God had a plan.
And, through the Transfiguration, Jesus takes his disciples up the mountain to give them this vision of His radiant heavenly glory in order to strengthen their faith to sustain them in the difficult times ahead – a glory most powerfully manifested when Moses and Elijah who represent the law and prophecies of the OT disappear, and we realize that it is now Christ who takes the promises of salvation upon himself in order to complete God the Father’s loving plan for salvation.
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And Lent, for us, is marked by this anticipation. Unlike the disciples, we know how the story ends, but by our recounting of the Transfiguration at this early point in Lent, we are reminded about what this is all about. Our penitential Lenten journey is about readying ourselves for what we know is to come – it is about journeying with Jesus to the cross so that we can more readily celebrate with him in His resurrection at Easter. The event of the Transfiguration is a sign for all of us of what is to come – it is a sign of the glory that the Messiah brings, and is a preview of what we should expect to experience in the heavenly kingdom.
Our Lenten resolutions are all about going out into the desert with our Lord so that we can also most fully experience the glory he reveals to us on the mountain. But, mountains aren’t easy to climb, and so to get there we really do need to take seriously our efforts during Lent and all year around to build our relationship with the Lord so that we can properly dispose ourselves to see Him in his glory as the Divine Son of God, and not take this awesome fact for granted.
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At each Mass we attend, Christ is miraculously transfigured before us in the Most Holy Eucharist. At every Mass we have a mountain top experience as Jesus becomes truly present to us in his Eucharistic Body and Blood. But when we don’t make efforts during the year and renewed efforts during Lent at deepening our faith, we can become blind to our Lord’s presence. This is why the dessert experience is so important for us – because it is in the dessert experience of Lent that we take time to cure our spiritual blindness as we put in the hard work of climbing the mountain to God where we can more fully see His shining glory.
And during this Lent I encourage all of you not only to ‘give’ something up, but to also look at our Lenten preparations in a positive light and ‘take’ something up, so that we are better equipped to ascend that mountain to God. To take up more prayer time; to maybe dust off the bible and read a chapter or two every day; perhaps if we have time, to go to a Mass or two during the week in addition to Sunday; to participate in the Stations of the Cross on Friday evenings; to receive the healing Sacrament of Reconciliation; all of these things are positive and holy ways of climbing the mountain and removing those barriers we have between ourselves and God in order to make this Lent truly meaningful so that we can more fully and joyfully celebrate the greatest mystery of our faith – that Jesus triumphs over death by rising from it at Easter, paying the price of sin and obtaining for us the glory of eternal life.
When we don’t spend time in the desert in preparation, Easter will come and go like any other day – but when we do take the time to foster our relationship with the Lord, we too can be counted amongst Jesus’ closest disciples whom He will bring up the mountain with him to fully experience the joys that come with being a follower of Christ.