Second Sunday of Lent Year B

Genesis 22:1-2,9-13,15-18 God put Abraham to the test. ‘Abraham, Abraham’ he called. ‘Here I am’ he replied. ‘Take your son,’ God said ‘your only child Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him as a burnt offering, on a mountain I will point out to you.’ When they arrived at the place God had pointed out to him, Abraham built an altar there, and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son Isaac and put him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and seized the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven. ‘Abraham, Abraham’ he said. ‘I am here’ he replied. ‘Do not raise your hand against the boy’ the angel said. ‘Do not harm him, for now I know you fear God. You have not refused me your son, your only son.’ Then looking up, Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt-offering in place of his son. The angel of the Lord called Abraham a second time from heaven. ‘I swear by my own self – it is the Lord who speaks – because you have done this, because you have not refused me your son, your only son, I will shower blessings on you, I will make your descendants as many as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants shall gain possession of the gates of their enemies. All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, as a reward for your obedience.’ Psalm 115:10,15-19 I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living. I trusted, even when I said: ‘I am sorely afflicted,’ O precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful. Your servant, Lord, your servant am I; you have loosened my bonds. A thanksgiving sacrifice I make; I will call on the Lord’s name. My vows to the Lord I will fulfill before all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Romans 8:31-34 With God on our side who can be against us? Since God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up to benefit us all, we may be certain, after such a gift, that he will not refuse anything he can give. Could anyone accuse those that God has chosen? When God acquits, could anyone condemn? Could Christ Jesus? No! He not only died for us – he rose from the dead, and there at God’s right hand he stands and pleads for us. Mark 9:2-10 Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone by themselves. There in their presence he was transfigured: his clothes became dazzlingly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter spoke to Jesus: ‘Rabbi,’ he said ‘it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say; they were so frightened. And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and there came a voice from the cloud, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’ Then suddenly, when they looked round, they saw no one with them anymore but only Jesus. As they came down from the mountain he warned them to tell no one what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They observed the warning faithfully, though among themselves they discussed what ‘rising from the dead’ could mean.

The Gospel of Mark narrates to us today his account of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ on a mountain on chapter 9, where he took Peter, James and John with him a little before He was to suffer on the Cross on another mountain.  They climbed the mountain because Jesus wanted to pray and when they reached the top Jesus was seen communing with Elijah, representative of the Prophets, and Moses, that of the Law.  Jesus was transfigured, his body and raiment, so white he was that it was whiteness in its purest.  Peter was beside himself and talked but did not know what he was saying.  God the Father certainly had a clear message to the three Apostles and to us today, the Second Sunday of Lent: “This is my Beloved Son.  Listen to Him.”

The importance of listening cannot indeed be overemphasized.  We are told by the medical doctors that we should listen to our bodies for us to be healthy.  The psychologists tell us that we should listen to ourselves, our ways of talking and our ways of acting and our way of life, every now and then for self-evaluation and self-betterment.  Family counselors counsel us to listen to our wives and husbands and to our children and parents for us to have a happy family.  We listen to our friends for their pieces of advice and recommendations.  We listen to our neighbors and co-workers for community and social issues.  Now God the Father invites us to listen to His Son.

Lent is a special time for listening to Jesus.  Alms-giving is listening in action.  Fasting and abstinence are listening in action as well: we listen and respond to the needy.  Especially prayer, it is listening to God Himself.  We kneel and dispose ourselves to Him, soliciting His grace and mercy and insights.

His message for us today is clear: as Jesus was transfigured, so we are as well transfigured, so we will as well be made like Jesus.  There is more for us than this world, than what this world offers, than what this world would have us believe achievable.  Yes, we can have more, do more, be more than just what we have now, what we do now, what we are now.  Worldly things pull us down like strings pull down a finch, a maya bird.  The Lord wants us to soar high and be free from human bondage in sin.  They make us be content with the physical things of this world while the Lord wants us to inherit the Kingdom in heaven.  They tell us that we can only do so much, and we can only achieve so much, that we must be content with what we have.  The Lord tells us that to us belongs more than just passing pleasures and fleeting moments.  He in His Transfiguration is showing us that we are called to be like Him, that we will be like Him, that we Children of God, of God Himself, no less.

Our contemporary society has been numbing us and lulling us to believe that what we really want and need are those things it offers: fame, fortune and success.  It does us great good to turn off once in a while the TV and the radio and to close down our external ears to the worldly things and to open up our internal ears to God in alms-giving, fasting and abstinence and prayer this Lent.

Lord we are your beloved sons and daughters.  We want to listen to you: help us, Lord, to listen to you in prayer today.  Help us to realize that we can have more, do more and be more.  Help us be transfigured to what you have destined for us and not to what the world wants us to stay with and be content with.  Help us not be content with the offers of this world but aspire always to the treasures you have in store for us in heaven where you prepared our dwelling place with you.  Amen.

4 March 2012, Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, Cathedral and Macabog Chapel, Sorsogon City, Philippines.