Listen to Jesus!
2nd Sunday of Lent
Year AMarch 12, 2017
If you want to know how to interpret the Sunday gospel, you are supposed to look at the first reading. The first reading and the Sunday gospel are intentionally paired up. This week I was stumped. I thought what does the call of Abram have to do with the Transfiguration?
Bishop Barron unveiled the key in his weekly podcast. It’s in the last line of the first reading. God called Abram to move to a new land and the last line says, “Abram went as the Lord directed him.” Abram listened to God.
In the gospel, we hear the Father say, “This is my beloved Son, listen to Him.” Listen to Jesus. The readings this weekend are telling us: listening to Jesus is the key to holiness and happiness!When I was in Lawrence, I lived with a priest who was a good listener. He told me that one of his spiritual disciplines was to listen and obey what he was commanded to do. I told him, “Wow, that’s really wonderful. I’m glad you shared that with me, now get up and get me a drink!”
The question is how often do we really listen to God? Or am I just living my life the way I want?
Misery and difficulty come in our life when we don’t listen to God. Think of Adam and Eve. They did not listen to God and ate the forbidden fruit and everything went downhill!
If you want to transform your life, take time to listen to Jesus. Parents you can probably relate to this. How often do you find yourself saying, “If only my children would listen to me!” Do you ever think our Heavenly Father is saying that about us? “If only my children would listen to me!” It would spare us a lot of heartache and pain.
One of the principle ways we listen is in our prayer. Lent is the time to move out into the desert with Jesus and find silence so that we can truly listen. If you are really interested in going deeper, please attend one of Fr. Nathan’s Lenten mini retreats on prayer. The dates are March 24, 26, & 27. Fr. Nathan is a great teacher on prayer. You just attend one of those dates. It’s all in the bulletin this weekend.
What’s the first step of prayer? Jesus says, “When you pray go into your inner room and pray to your Father in secret.” We need to set aside time and we need silence. What’s the number one reason people don’t pray? -The time pressure problem. We are too busy. I’ve said before BUSY stands for “Being Under Satan’s Yoke.” The devil wants us to be busy about many things so that we lose sight of the one thing necessary. What’s the one thing necessary? -Our relationship with the Father. I’ve asked before that we take at least 20 minutes a day for daily meditation. Schedule in your time and keep your appointment with God, just like you would a doctor’s appointment.
The first thing St. Ignatius would do in his prayer is imagine how God saw him. Imagine how God sees you.
As you sit in the silence be aware of what’s on your heart. So, often we busy ourselves because perhaps we don’t want to face our own interior life – what we feel inside, what we have done, who we have become. Don’t be afraid to come before the Father as you are. The Father loves you as you are not for who you want to be.
Relate to the Father whatever is on your heart. If you are having doubts, relate those to the Father. Ask the Father to heal that part of your heart that is hardened. Relate to the Father your fears, your worries, the things you are grateful for, what’s happening in your life.
So we begin talking to our Father as we would any person! Then listen. One of the most basic ways to meditate is to use the scripture. The bible is God’s word to us. Listen and ponder God’s word. Take a passage from the gospels, you can use the gospel for daily Mass or the psalm for the day, and prior to reading it simply ask the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart. And then read it through two even three times.
When a word or phrase speaks to your heart, chew on it, apply to your life. Enter into conversation with the Father. Relate to him whatever feelings, desires, thoughts, memories well up within you. And then allow the Father to speak to you. Receive from the Father. A big part of prayer is simply receiving the Father’s love, just being in his presence.
Finally, at the end of our prayer, we make a concrete resolution. Father this is what I heard you say to me and prayer and then is how I’m going to live it out. It can be as simple as, “I’m going to remember the line of scripture today the spoke to me.” Or, “Lord I heard you calling me to be more grateful and I’m going to be more intentional today about thanking people.”
Can you imagine if we made one simple resolution each day? Over time we would be transfigured. In fact St. Alphonsus Ligouri said if a person is struggling with serious sin, if they begin meditating for 30 minutes every day, one of two things will happen: either they will abandon their sin, or they will abandon their meditation.
Prayer is the path to transfiguration, to transformation! Msgr. Pope told us priests last summer, “The gospel is not information, it is transformation.” You want to be transformed like Jesus on Mount Tabor – listen to God’s word and allow it to change your life.