Cycle B - Year I:  

28 February 2021: Second Sunday of Lent

(Liturgical Color: Violet)

Readings:

First Reading:        Genesis 22:1-2, 9, 10-13, 15-18

Second Reading:   Romans 8:31-34

Gospel:  Please Read  Mark 9:2-10

"Our final goal is the glorified Christ!"

The Lenten Season is a penitential and so rather somber journey as we reflect on the suffering and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ: His life, death, burial and resurrection.  It is a time for soul-searching and repentance even as we prepare for the glory of Easter.

On the second Sunday of Lent we take a break from our sadness and meditate on the fourth Luminous Mystery of the Holy Rosary, the Transfiguration of Jesus.  This is one of the most dramatic scenes in all of Scripture.

Our Holy Mother Church places the transfiguration event before us while our journey of Lent is still young, perhaps to assure us of the final goal, which is the glorified Christ.  Our Lord came into the world precisely to win such glory -- for Himself and for all of us.  By His incarnation He took our human nature. By His passion and death He purified it. And by His resurrection and ascension He glorified it.

The Transfiguration takes place after the first announcement of the death of Jesus (Lk 9:22).  The announcement by Jesus Himself had confused the disciples, especially Peter.  When we take a closer look at the small details, we see that the text describes the transfiguration in a way that makes us aware of how this unusual experience of Jesus was able to help the disciples overcome the crisis in which they found themselves.

How did Jesus prepare His disciples for His forthcoming passion and death?

We find the answer in this Sunday's Gospel.  The evangelist Mark wrote about an amazing experience of the chosen apostles ...  "... Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white... Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus." (Mk 9:2-4)

The Transfiguration of our Lord was a unique display of His divine character and a glimpse of the glory which Jesus had before He came down to earth in human form.  In that holy mountain, the chosen disciples had experience "the already of the not yet", so that the "inner circle" of Jesus' disciples could gain a greater understanding of who Jesus is.  These disciples who had only known Jesus in His human body now had a greater realization of the deity of Christ, even when perhaps they could not fully comprehend their experience at that time.  Nonetheless, this experience of the Transfiguration gave them the assurance they needed when the passion and death of our Lord would transpire.

And true enough, these "privileged" disciples never forgot what happened that day on the mountain.  They bore witness to it to the other disciples and to countless millions more down through the centuries.  They were witnesses of the Lord's transfiguration event and wrote of it later, thus:

St. John wrote of it in his Gospel account: "We have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth." (Jn 1:14)

St. Peter wrote of it as well: "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.  For He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain." (2 Peter 1:16-18)    

But then we must avoid Peter's impulsiveness and hastiness in wanting to "glory" in the Lord's transfiguration immediately.  Because first we must accompany our Lord in His Lenten journey.  There is no shortcut to our heavenly goal, that is to say, we could not have the Gospel without sacrifice, holiness without prayer, virtue without effort, Communion without Confession, and Easter without Lent.  We cannot escape taking our share in carrying Jesus' cross.  In other words, we must take upon ourselves our share of the Lord' suffering and death so that we also will share in His eternal glory.

This Lenten Season let us pray earnestly and ask God to deepen our faith in His love and His loving plan for us, especially when they do not make sense to us.  Let us seek the grace to embrace our crosses and allow them to increase our virtue and to be a channel of God's strength.  Amen.

A blessed Sunday to us all.  And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!