Saturday, March 4, 2023

2nd Sunday of Lent, Year A

After six days Jesus took Simon Peter with James and his brother John and let them up a high mountain, where he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and his clothing became white as light.

This Gospel, taken from Matthew 19:1-9, shows Jesus on his journey toward his suffering and death in Jerusalem. His full adherence to God’s will, said Pope Francis in 2015, renders his humanity transparent to the glory of God, who is love. Here is more of his talk:
Transfiguration, Alexandr Ivanov (1824)
Jesus thus reveals Himself as the perfect icon of the Father, the radiance of his glory. He is the fulfillment of revelation; that is why beside Him appear transfigured, Moses and Elijah appear; they represent the Law and the Prophets, so as to signify that everything finishes and begins in Jesus, in his passion and in his glory. 
Their instructions for the disciples and for us is this: “Listen to Him!” Listen to Jesus. He is the Savior: follow Him. To listen to Christ, in fact, entails taking up the logic of his Pascal Mystery, setting out on the journey with Him to make of oneself a gift of love to others, in docile obedience to the will of God, with an attitude of detachment from worldly things and of interior freedom. One must, in other words, be willing to “lose one’s very life” (cf. Mk 8:35), by giving it up so that all men might be saved: thus, we will meet in eternal happiness. The path to Jesus always leads us to happiness, don’t forget it! Jesus’ way always leads us to happiness. There will always be a cross, trials in the middle, but at the end we are always led to happiness. Jesus does not deceive us, He promised us happiness and will give it to us if we follow His ways.
With Peter, James and John we too climb the Mount of the Transfiguration today and stop in contemplation of the face of Jesus to retrieve the message and translate it into our lives; for we too can be transfigured by Love. In reality, love is capable of transfiguring everything. Love transfigures all!

No comments:

Post a Comment