Homily for the Week of March 3, 2012

Second Sunday of Lent, 2012
Genesis 11: 1-18 PS 116: 10-18
Romans 8:31-34 Mk 9:2-10
Mk 9:2-10

This weekend's Bible readings can be summarized in just three words: listen to him. These words were spoken by a voice that came from the cloud when Peter, James and John had gone to a mountain with Jesus. As a general rule in the Bible dramatic things happen on mountaintops. There are about 500 references in the Bible to mountains and hills. Sometimes mountains are described as places of hiding and refuge; sometimes they are presented as desolate and barren, hostile to the living. They are depicted as places of false pagan worship; they are also celebrated as sites of authentic worship of the true God.

And in some of the most significant events presented in Bible, mountains are where people encounter God in transforming, stunning fashion. In such instances, their faith is tested. God gave Moses the 10 commandments on Mount Sinai. Our readings today give us two mountaintop experiences: one of Abraham and another of Jesus and his close friends.

Today's Old Testament reading is one of those incredible mountaintop encounters. It is also one of the most perplexing and baffling stories in the Old Testament. Thousands of years ago people thought that they lived on after death only through their children. To die childless meant that at death a person simply ceased all existence. Abraham and Sarah had only one child which they named Isaac. Isaac was God's gift to Abraham and Sarah -- their guarantee of living on after death. One day God talks to Abraham and asked him to kill his son Isaac. God is not only asking Abraham for his only child, but He also is asking Abraham for his very existence. How could a good and loving God ask Abraham to sacrifice his own son? The point of this story is that Abraham had his faith in God tested in a way that almost no one else is ever tested. Abraham passed the test. He was willing to be so loyal to God that not only would he willingly offer God his only son, he was also willing to offer God his very existence. Was Abraham perfect? By no means, but God knew the depth of Abraham's loyalty. Abraham chose to listen to God.

This brings us to today's Gospel. This weekend we hear of an event in the life of Jesus unlike any other human event, and yet this event has been the center of our faith in Jesus Christ. It is called the Transfiguration of Jesus or the changing in the appearance of Jesus Christ. Thousands of artists have painted this event, the most famous of which is the one done by the artist Raphael. Thousands of Catholic and Protestant churches have been named in honor of the Transfiguration. So what is this event and what does it mean to us here today?

Three of the four Gospel writers tell us that this event in the life of Jesus took place on a high mountain, most likely Mount Tabor. Just a week before Jesus had been up front with his followers and told them that he would soon suffer terribly and be killed by the religious authorities of the day.

But the apostles did not understand what Jesus was talking about. Jesus felt that his closest friends were confused. They had spent several miserable days worrying about what might happen. They felt dejected. After all, the person for whom they had given up everything told them that he was about to leave them. They seemed to doubt that Jesus was really savior and redeemer. Jesus was having a hard time trying to get his friends to understand what he had been saying and doing during the past three years. Seeing their doubts, Jesus decided to go to the mountain to pray and to show them his true glory. He wanted to relieve them of their sadness and worry, and prepare them for what would happen in just a week in the Garden of Gethsame. Jesus decides to take only three of them.

When they got to the top of the mountain they suddenly saw the face of Jesus highlighted brilliantly and his clothes appeared to be dazzlingly white. For a short time the old testament prophet Elijah and the patriarch Moses appeared with him. And afterwards, they only saw Jesus. Jesus allowed them to see this so that they could enjoy, for a short time, the happiness that is reserved in heaven for those who love him. In a sense Jesus wanted to help his friends believe that he was truly the Son of God, and that his terrible sufferings and death by crucifixion would be followed by happiness in heaven. Death was not the end to his life. Jesus was listening to God.

Saint Paul, in the Second Reading, asks us to be joyful and confident. He tells us that if God is with us we can do anything, that when we have problems, when the difficulties of life seem to overcome us, we should think of the glory that awaits those who carry their cross patiently, as Our Lord carried his Cross for us.

Like Peter, James and John sometimes we also have problems understanding the whys and wherefore of daily life. We don’t know how we are going to resolve the problems that confront us on a daily basis. At times like this, the Lord asks us to have faith in him.

Lent is the perfect time to show our faith in Christ, to show him that we are ready and willing to listen to him and to follow him. During these days of Lent, we, in this community, should prepare ourselves, through penance and fasting, for the celebration of the glorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. The Lord reminds us about what he told the apostles, that before we experience the glory, we have to go through the Calvary of daily life.

When you and I were baptized the priest said: The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and those who could not speak, speak. May he soon touch your ears to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father. At the same time he touched our and our mouth.

Jesus himself has shown us that life and love are often tested through our pains, disappointments and sufferings. If we let Jesus hold our hands or even carry us, we will always find a new life transfigured or changed by love. The glorious image of God resides in each one of us, but very often we can't see it because e keep our goodness hidden. Like dull, old silver, the image has lost its luster. It has been tarnished by neglect, by sins and human failings. Prayer polishes us and then we can see our inner beauty. We too can be transfigured. Begin today to simply think, to speak and to act as Jesus did.