|
Reflections
for Sunday, March 16, 2014
Lent is about transfiguration! It is not just our Lord Jesus who becomes
transfigured. Rather, all of us can be transfigured if we want the path
that He has shone us by His life, death and Resurrection.
The Book of Genesis today gives us the beginning of the story of Abraham,
our faith in faith. Abraham begins as Abram and hears God speaking to him,
calling him to leave his own country and his people. Abram is to live for
God alone. This never means that Abram will be without other people in his
life or that he will not love other people. It only means that God is
first and that Abram will try to do God's will to the best of his ability.
This is also what God is asking of you and of me today: leave on an inner
journey, go with God, do God's will not matter how uneasy it may make us.
Saint Paul gives this same advice to Timothy in the second reading today,
from the Second Letter to Timothy: He called us to a holy life, not
according to our works but according to his own design and the grace
bestowed on us in Christ Jesus.
The secret of any spiritual life is to seek God's will and then to try to
do that will with as much faithfulness as possible. We are humans and weak
and most of us are not saints, but we can keep on trying to do the will of
God. Lent is a time to strengthen our resolve by becoming more aware of
God's love for us.
The Gospel of Matthew today gives us an account of the transfiguration of
Jesus. No one is really sure what happened to our Lord at the
transfiguration. It is as though the divine nature of our Lord cannot be
contained and begins to break through. Later in Christian spirituality, it
comes to be recognized that this divine nature is also ours by adoption and
can also begin to manifest itself in us if we strive to be faithful.
Lent is the time of transfiguration for us! We plead with the Lord in this
time of Lent to transform us, to transfigure us, to help do His will with
joy. At times, we rebel against the Lord and then we plead for His mercy,
but always trusting completely in His love and in His will to save us and
transform us. Lord, have mercy on us! We are sinners and we trust in you!
May your love transform us.
Readings of the day:
First Reading: Genesis 12.1-4
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1.8b-10
Gospel: Matthew 17.1-9
| |
Reflections are available for the following Sundays:
|
