Cycle C - Year I:  

17 March 2019: Second Sunday of Lent

(Liturgical Color: Violet)

Readings:

First Reading:        Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18

Second Reading:   Philippians 3:17--4:1

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 9:28b-36

A glimpse of God's glory...

 There is an old adage that says "At the end of a rainbow is a pot of gold." It could mean, that after everything you have gone through, reward and victory may await you. Of course, the old saying is just a myth, and although there is no truth to it usually the wise saying is meant to inspire and encourage people.

 To inspire and keep faith seems to be the message of the Gospel this Sunday.

Recall that on Ash Wednesday we started our Lenten journey on a rather somber tone as we reflect on our Lord Jesus Christ -- His suffering and His sacrifice, His life, death, burial and resurrection. It is fitting because Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance even as we prepare for the glory of Easter.

But then 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.

Now 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, 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 event is a source of courage and strength that will sustain the chosen apostles through on the difficult way of the cross. While Jesus was still walking among them, the apostles tended to take Him as simply human with extraordinary powers. Thus, the transfiguration was to help them see Him beyond what the human eye can see. This was a moment in His human existence that Jesus allowed the chosen apostles, and also us, to see the divinity in His Person. The splendor of the divinity was allowed to pierce through the humanity and be made visible.

In St. Luke's version of the transfiguration event there is a detail contained in the story which is unique to his account... St. Luke wrote that Jesus was transfigured while He was praying. 

"Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While He was praying His face changed in appearance and His clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with Him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His exodus that He was going to accomplish in Jerusalem." (Luke 9:28-31)

Indeed, 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 on earth in human form. In that holy mountain, the chosen apostles had the experience of "the already of the not yet", so that the "inner circle" of Jesus' apostles could gain a greater understanding of who Jesus is. And so 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 gave them the assurance they needed when the passion and death of our Lord would transpire. It made such an impression of the disciples of that Lord that the transfiguration is one of the only stories common to all three of the synoptic Gospels.

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 our Lord's transfiguration event wrote of it later:

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)

How does this Transfiguration event affect our lives today as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ?

First of all, 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 sharing the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord lived a full human life, experiencing both its joys and sorrows. Therefore, we must take upon ourselves our share of the Lord's suffering and death so that we also will share in His eternal glory. Thus, we cannot imitate Peter's impulsiveness and hastiness in wanting to "glory" in the Lord's transfiguration immediately

In truth, God wants to share His glory with us. We get a glimpse of His glory in our Lord's transfiguration. So as we continue with our Lenten journey, let us pray earnestly and ask God to deepen our faith in His love and His loving plans for all of us, especially when they do not immediately make sense to us. Let us seek His grace to embrace our crosses and allow them to increase our virtue and to be a channel of God's strength, so that we can also share in the Lord's Easter... at the end of our Lenten journey. Amen.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle C - Year I:  

10 March 2019: First Sunday of Lent

(Liturgical Color: Violet)

Readings:

First Reading:        Deuteronomy 26:4-10

Second Reading:   Romans 10:8-13

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 4:1-13

We can overcome temptations!

 We interrupt our liturgical journey in Ordinary Time to begin the season of Lent. What is Lent season?

In general, Lent is a time of preparation for the big event of Easter Sunday. Specifically, Lent is the Catholic liturgical season consisting of forty days of fasting, prayer, and penitence beginning at Ash Wednesday, which falls March 6 this 2019 with the imposition of blessed ashes on our forehead, and concluding at sundown on Holy Thursday. Forty days is significant for Christians because it is the length of the fast and temptation of Jesus in the desert.

The liturgical color on the priest's vestments and the altar cloth change to violet (i.e. normally, the lighter shade of violet to distinguish it from the violet used during the Season of Advent.)

The evangelist St. Luke gives us the Gospel reading for the First Sunday of Lent on the temptation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now recall that during His baptism at the River Jordan, Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit as the Father has anointed and confirmed Him as the Messiah and Savior. Immediately after His baptism the Spirit led Him into the wilderness of Judea, a lonely place of solitude and silence. (Bible scholars describe Judean wilderness as a vast wasteland of sand, rocks, hills, and deep ravines that stretch for miles and miles. It is one of the most barren, bleak, and inhospitable places on the earth.)

According to the Gospel narrative, our Lord Jesus was alone in the wilderness for forty days, with no contact with friends and family. He was there to prepare Himself for the mission entrusted to Him, spending forty days and nights in solitude and prayers to His Father in heaven.

At the end of Jesus' forty days in the wilderness, Luke tells us, the evil one tempted Him. That is to say, the evil one saw an opportunity to strike while Jesus appeared more vulnerable in His physical and emotional weakened condition due to His prolonged fasting and inner struggle over His important call and mission. But Jesus rejected the empty promises of the evil one and chose the path of His Father -- a path that resulted in self-renunciation, humility, and obedience to His Father's will.

Now what is the lesson that the Gospel this Sunday is teaching us in our practical life?

As humans we constantly face the temptations of comfort, power, and wealth. We can imitate our Lord Jesus Christ Himself in fighting these temptations. For Jesus did not rely on His own human strength and will-power for overcoming temptations. He relied on the Holy Spirit for strength, wisdom, courage, and self-control. In the Gospel narrative, Jesus goes back to the word of God and quoted Sacred Scripture to find strength and insight to fight off evil. Because the word of God is our big source of energy when we are tempted.

Thus, our Lord Jesus Christ has shown us that we cannot fight temptation just on our own, because the enemy is far more powerful over humans. We need help, we need the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit and the word of God to overcome temptations. And Jesus Himself gives us His Holy Spirit to help us in our weaknesses, and to be our guide and strength in time of testing. The Lord Jesus gives grace to those who humbly acknowledge their dependence on Him to be able to reject the lies and deceits of the evil one.

The practical way, perhaps, to handle temptation is to run away immediately at the first sign of temptation. Because we can never rely on our "moral capacity" to resist temptation.

In gist, the practical message of the Gospel reading for this Sunday is to remind us that when we face temptation in our day to day life, we can overcome them if we go to our Lord Jesus Christ and choose to remain with Him.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!

Cycle C - Year I:  

3 March 2019: Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:         Sirach 27:4-7

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 15:54-58

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 6:39-45

To judge others with a prayerful heart....

 At election season, probably everywhere in our human world, candidates try to outdo each other in criticizing and finding faults against opponents. It's an old and discredited dirty politics but it persists because electorate patronize it, so it seems, particularly when corrupted with money and false promises. But then, criticism is the most dishonest way of praising one's self.

This Sunday's Gospel is a timely reminder about the right conduct in dealing with the shortcomings of others. In the Gospel, our Lord Jesus spoke about criticism, judgment and weak character using parables which employ images common to His life time. The lesson He wants to impart is part of the formation of those who want to follow our Lord as disciples.

Now our human nature has the tendency to guide and correct people. But it can be a common weakness to judge others while not recognizing our own faults and need for God's mercy. For there is always a strong temptation in us to be quick to see the flaws in others.

Jesus Himself does not deny that people have failings, but He invites us to look to our own blind spots first. And we are hypocrites if we are concerned only with the splinters of one's eye and do not recognize our own self-blinding plank. 

Do we pass judgement with arrogance and pride?

Our Lord Jesus does not prohibit us from correcting those who err or are in a sinful state. But then He wants that in passing judgment we should do so in the spirit of prayer, great humility, compassion, and love.

For God sees each of us from the inside. Our heavenly Father sees us with a generous and compassionate gaze and does not despise or condemns us for our shortcomings and failings.

In the Eucharist at Mass, let us pray for grace to be loving and forgiving. Lord, make me more aware of my own inadequacies so that I may become gentle in dealing with others. And make me gaze at my erring brethren as kindly as You do, our heavenly Father. Amen.

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

Ad Jesum per Mariam!