March 16, 2014

2^nd Sunday in Lent A

Genesis 12:1-4; 2 Timothy 1:8-10; Matthew 17: 1-9
I think in my life how often I feel like I’m going through it alone. At other times, I’m well aware that life is a ‘we’ that I am journeying to the Lord’s home with others. The readings point out so graphically that God is always present; God has called me and every one of His creatures to be with Him and God provides the opportunities for each person to be with Him. I am never alone, no one is.
God told Abram, “Go forth...I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you.” So often I look at my life to see what I have accomplished; but what difference does it make? If I’m living each day the best that I can and try to be a loving and caring person, I am doing all that God needs me to do. I can only do these acts of love and care with the grace that God fills me. So like Abram, I ‘go forth’ each day, and the ‘greatness’ that comes from me only comes from God’s graces and blessings to continue His plan of bringing all to Him forever. Like Abram I have to leave the security of my family and the familiarity of home to travel to the people and places where God is needed. It seems strange to compare oneself to Abram, but it is true. The first reading from Genesis introduces the epic journey of one man who despite the odds, his advanced years and all the uncertainties of the journey trusted in God. That is a powerful message for me...how often am I grateful and how often do I put my total trust in the Lord. I have found that I can only do this if I give up doing it my way, an ever present temptation.
Paul in writing to Timothy continues this call theme. Paul says that God is calling Timothy, himself and every person to a holy life. Paul’s merit, Timothy’s merit or mine have nothing to do with it. I did not do something ‘so glorious’ in my life that I deserve to be ‘called’ by God or to lead others closer to Him. God chooses, God calls; it is all part of God’s plan as Jesus said ‘to lose nothing of what You have given me.’ Now this can be a scary proposition if I put it all on myself. But God has called; that means that God gives everything necessary to the journey. I have to trust in God and ask for an awareness of His love every moment.
Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem and He gives a kind of ‘preview’ of His glory which will be completed at the fullness of God’s kingdom. Peter, James and John witness this glimpse of the glorified Lord. In a sense, it is a glimpse of the ending of the Gospel while still in the middle of it. This whole event comes and goes very quickly. These three apostles are given no explanation of what this means, only that they are to trust and not be afraid. After the Resurrection of Jesus, this will make sense to them. To each of us, it’s a stop along our journey of faith, but it is a very important stop for me and every person.

Msgr. Eugene Lauer in Sunday Morning Insights gives a powerful reflection: “The event of the transfiguration teaches us some profound lessons about Christian faith. The transfiguration is a sign and promise of the resurrection. It is a manifestation of Jesus as fulfillment of Old Testament promises. It is an experienced theology of hope.

In the midst of all these deep insights into our faith, there is contained in the transfiguration story an eminently practical point about faith-living, a simple lesson that we all sometimes forget. What are the final words of God, speaking from the cover of the clouds? What did the divine emphasize in the final climactic command to Peter, James and John?

‘Listen . . . .’

That’s it—listen. Peter didn’t understand that initially. He thought that for the moment to be complete, he had to say something (Peter always seemed to feel that way; he talked too much and usually ended up putting his foot in his mouth). That’s a common human trait. No event is finished, no encounter is authentic, unless we respond and explain totally and definitively how we understand perfectly.

Instead of listening in order to understand genuinely what the other person means and feels, how frequently do we do this: while the other person is speaking we spend our time carefully preparing what we are going to say in response.

We often do that with God in prayer. We explain precisely (for we have already figured it out so well) how the event should turn out, why the person should be cured, why our solution to the problem at hand is the best one. Then we tell God, reverently, piously, respectfully—but nonetheless we are doing the telling—what the divine should do.

Parents sometimes do the same with their children. Those in political and economic power do it with minorities. The rich do it with the poor. Those with PhD’s do it with the ‘common people'. And they don’t listen.

The gospel is simple this Sunday. ‘This is My beloved Son. . . . Listen to Him.’” So do I listen...not very well at all.
So I reflect on:

• Have I ever taken time to look at my life and its direction from God’s perspective? Do I know where I am going?
  
• I am being called, as each person is, to live the heroic life. This holy life according to God’s plan includes generous outpourings of love, mercy, forgiveness, and justice. Does this appeal to me? Am I running away from this? Do I ask God for help often?
  
• What do I know about myself that scares me, yet compels me to higher things?
  
• How often, in prayer, do I tell Jesus how wonderful it is to be in His presence? Where do I find Jesus in my day-to-day life?
  
• Do I allow the Holy Spirit to say this of me, ‘This is my beloved child in whom I am well pleased?’
  

My Lenten journey reflection this week is to realize that ‘my conversion’ is to turn away from the ultimately frustrating values of ‘me first’ and turning to embrace the ‘spirit’ of Jesus’ humility and selflessness.

In doing this I have to realize that there exists in me and in each person the ‘divinity’, the Spirit of God that enables each person to ‘recreate themselves’ to become the person God calls me and each person to be.