February 28th 2021.  Second Sunday of Lent

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL Mark 9:2-20

Jesus took Peter, James, and John

and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.

And he was transfigured before them,

and his clothes became dazzling white,

such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.

Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,

and they were conversing with Jesus.

Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,

"Rabbi, it is good that we are here!

Let us make three tents:

one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.

Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;

from the cloud came a voice,

"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."

Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone

but Jesus alone with them.

As they were coming down from the mountain,

he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,

except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

So they kept the matter to themselves,

questioning what rising from the dead meant.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

SHORTER HOMILY . . . The Gospel on Sunday describes the transfiguration of Christ. The first reading also has the story of the ascent of a mountain: the sacrifice of Isaac. The call to sacrifice Isaac comes at the end of a long process of difficulties and trials. A son is born to Abraham and Sarah, despite their great age, but then God calls Abraham to offer this precious son in sacrifice. They are living in the land of Canaan, which is populated by gods who demand human sacrifices from their adherents. Do we consider it strange that the tribes of Canaan made sacrifices of children to their idols? The sacrifice of children is commonplace nowadays. Many people today find themselves at the end of their lives with few or no offspring. Their idols demanded the sacrifice of their children, either by refusing to have any, or by terminating the ones they had already generated. What are these idols that we adore? Our worldly interests, fears and anxieties. We pursue them instead of God, because we consider God to be a harsh taskmaster. But God is always much different to what we expect. As Abraham discovers, it is only when we abandon our lives to God that we realize that he does not want our life; he wants our heart! If God seems to be asking something from us, it is only because he wants to give us much more. 

    This is a prelude to understanding the transfiguration. What is essential for Lent? The most urgent thing in the spiritual life is always to change our ideas about God. When Abraham comes down the mountain with Isaac, he knows God in a different way. Peter, James and John must ascend the mountain with Jesus to discover that the Lord has a different face to the one they imagine. In Eden, the serpent destroyed in Eve the image of God by speaking negatively of him. The action of the Holy Spirit is the opposite: he speaks well of God and we discover him to be Father. It is only after the resurrection that the disciples realize that the transfiguration event was an authentic experience of prayer in which their image of God was transformed: they experienced the fatherhood of God. Let us take it step by step. First, Jesus takes them away from the world. This process of being taken out, separated, is always an essential aspect of prayer. Then they encounter Moses and Elijah, who represent Sacred Scripture (the Law and the Prophets). These Scriptures speak of Jesus, revealing who he is. Then Peter remarks that it is beautiful to be here. What they are experiencing is not just a matter of rational comprehension of Jesus, but a beautiful encounter with him. The Father then speaks, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him”. The word “listen” in Hebrew always includes the element of obedience. 

    So what is this wonderful time of Lent calling us to? To know the face of Christ so that we begin to obey him. To see his beauty, to be happy to be with him, to want to always be with him, in acts of obedience, acts of abandonment to his sacred will. 

LONGER HOMILY FOLLOWS

The Transfiguration is a revelation of who Jesus is at the deepest level

The second Sunday of Lent is traditionally reserved for the account of the Transfiguration. But what has the Transfiguration got to do with the subject of the first reading – the sacrifice of Isaac? Why does holy mother Church consider this reading a good way to approach the mystery described in the Gospel? The true etymological meaning of “transfiguration” is that of metamorphosis – to go beyond something’s form. In other words, to change a reality, not by replacing it, but by going beyond what it already is, or how it appears – in a certain sense, to unveil the truth. The disciples see Jesus “beyond the form”, beyond what is visible. St Paul tells us to fix our gaze on invisible things. By the grace of God, Peter, James and John are able to see who Jesus is in a profound way. They perceive his mysterious reality and hear the voice of the Father. In the Old Testament, the voice of God represented his most intimate form of revelation.

The Transfiguration of Christ is intimately related to the transfiguration of humanity

What was the motive for the Transfiguration? In his letters, St Paul says that from glory to glory we are transfigured into his image. But are we talking about the transfiguration of Christ or our own transfiguration? Are these two separate things? What is our transfiguration? From the moment when God first calls Abraham in Chapter 12 of Genesis, it is the transfiguration of Abraham by God that is in progress. He is an elderly man with no sons and a sterile wife. His life seems to be at a dead end, but he will become the father of a nation and the progenitor of many descendants. His very name will be transformed. “I will make your name great”, says the Lord. This is the meaning of transfiguration – the work of God in us.

It is God alone who removes the veil and reveals our true beauty, our true paternity. It is in encountering his beauty that we become beautiful ourselves

Where does it lead us? In the case of Abraham, he seemed the lowest in every sense, and yet he had in himself the potential to be the father of a great nation. It is God alone who can reveal who we are. Each one of us needs God to reveal who we are. We need the experience of God to lead us to our beauty, to our true paternity, to the greatness of our name. Every woman and man has a wonderful grandeur, but it is God alone who can make this beauty reveal itself. How does this happen? The eventual transfiguration of Peter, James and John will occur when they come to know the true face of Christ. Curiously we are transformed, not by working on ourselves, but by encountering the Lord. When he changes in our eyes, we too are changed. When we see his beauty we become beautiful ourselves. In his first letter, John says that we don’t know yet what we will become but we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. What a curious thing!

Like the pagan gods, our materialistic gods demand the sacrifice of our children through abortion, neglect, or the refusal to conceive

It is often forgotten by many commentators that the Canaan in which Abraham lived had gods like Baal and Moloch who demanded human sacrifice. It was normal for the Canaanites to offer their first-born sons to their false gods. Our modern idolatry demands the sacrifice of children as well. To advance our careers we renounce children. If a life is not exactly as we hoped it would be, then we abort our children. There is nothing new about this. For money we sacrifice our children. Our careers demand the sacrifice of children. Worldly success demands children, children that are never born, or aborted, or neglected. We do not take care of them because the idols of this world demand our attention. The Canaan in which Abraham lived offered their first-born to the Gods. When God asks Abraham for his son, he seems to be a god just like the others. Abraham will discover that his God is completely different, but he will only make this discovery when he has shown himself completely willing to sacrifice his son. Many people are horrified when they read this account, but the person who was least surprised at God’s demand was Abraham himself! When God said, “Take your son and give him to me”, Abraham simply takes him and begins the journey. The gods, after all, all asked for that which one was most attached to; they made humanity pay the necessary taxes for existence. Abraham obeys and climbs the mountain, and there he discovers that God does not demand this sacrifice at all.

At the sacrifice of Isaac, God reveals to Abraham that he is a God of love who does not ask anything from us, but only wishes to give. Whenever we undergo a trial and are afraid, let us trust in the Lord and then we will be transfigured; we shall see his face, and when we encounter his beauty, we too will become beautiful

In Jesus Christ we will discover eventually that the Father does not demand the firstborn son but offers us his own. The ram that Abraham finds caught in the bushes is a sign of the providence of the Lord: he will provide the sacrifice. On this mountain, the Lord reveals to Abraham who he is. It is not simply the mountain where God does not ask for the life of Abraham’s son: it is the place where Abraham follows the Lord to the limit and where God reveals himself as the one who gives life. He is not like Moloch who demands the firstborn son. The true God is the one who offers his own son. It is here that Abraham truly becomes the father of a multitude because of what the Lord is doing with him. We too discover that the Lord does not require anything at all from us. He only wants to give to us, and when he appears to ask for something, it is only because he wants to give us more. If he seems to be asking a sacrifice from us and we are afraid, then let us trust in him, because it is in these situations that we will see his face, and when we see his face, we will be transfigured. The transfiguration of man is the encounter with God which draws out his authentic beauty, an encounter in which he discovers that God is much different than he thought. He is a God who does not ask for anything, but has so much to give us.