Second Sunday of Lent / Msgr. Owen F. Campion
The Sunday Readings
The Book of Genesis is the source of the first reading at Mass this weekend. It is a story about Abraham, whom the Jews regard as the father of their people. Abraham is seen as the spiritual father of all who know and honor the one God. Hence he is a special figure in the religious traditions of Christians and Muslims.
Scholars believe that Abraham was an actual person, not the figment of imagination or a figure constructed in some literary effort.
Several points are important in this passage. First, and this is critical, God communicates with Abraham. God is in Abraham’s world, but also above and beyond Abraham’s world. God is no human’s peer. Therefore, people do not relate to God as if he were an equal. Nevertheless, God is present and interacts with them.
God has command over nature and the living beings in it. God can order Abraham to capture animals and to sacrifice them. By Hebrew tradition, the animals that Abraham captured were sacred because they were intended for sacrifice to praise God.
Abraham protected them from being taken away by predators. It is not as if animals that hunted for prey were inherently evil, although Jewish practice later would proscribe eating the flesh of any predatory animal.
Rather, they simply were victims of their own instincts and impulses. God is merciful and protects the good.
Abraham is vulnerable. He cannot understand many things. The sun sets. He is terrified. God promises him and his offspring life in a place of their own. He promises them security.
The second reading is from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians. A major Greek city at the time of Paul, Philippi’s name honored the father of Alexander the Great. Its Christian community was probably small and had many temptations to stray from the faith.
Paul wrote to the Christians in Philippi to give them direction and encouragement. He expanded their knowledge of Jesus and challenged them to be loyal and fervent disciples.
In this reading, Paul says that humans are imperfect, even more so because of their willful sinning. Human bodies are “lowly” because they are subject to death, the Apostle declares (Phil 3:21). Christ elevates and restores humanity. In Jesus, humans will never die if they earnestly follow the Lord with the help of his grace.
St. Luke’s Gospel provides the last reading. It is Luke’s story of the Lord’s transfiguration, which is also described in Mark and Matthew.
The story is powerful. As is so often the case in New Testament accounts, Apostles are with Jesus at a very important moment. In this case, Peter, James and John accompany him. The Apostles knew Jesus. They interacted with him. They certainly saw his human characteristics.
Because of the transfiguration, they saw Christ’s divinity that he revealed to them. On their own, being only human, they were unable to see it.
Strong symbols from Hebrew tradition conveyed the reality of this divine identity. God spoke from a cloud. Gleaming light surrounded Jesus. Beside Jesus were the prophets Moses and Elijah, with whom God also had communicated.
Jesus perfected the tradition of God’s relating to and protecting people.
Reflection
The Church this weekend offers us several important lessons intended to strengthen us in our Lenten resolve and ultimately in our Christian commitment.
First, we are not almighty or
all-knowing. We are humans. Second,
in our human limitation we are shortsighted, even blind at times.
Third, we will physically die. Fourth, God loves us with the love shown Abraham and the prophets. He loves
us in Jesus, his Son. Jesus is our hope, our only access to true and eternal life.
Using Lent better to relate to Jesus, and to commit to Jesus, is worth every effort. †