March 16, 2025
Second Sunday of Lent
Lectionary: 27
Reading I
The Lord God took Abram outside and said,
“Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can.
Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.”
Abram put his faith in the LORD,
who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.
He then said to him,
“I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans
to give you this land as a possession.”
“O Lord GOD,” he asked,
“how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
He answered him,
“Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat,
a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
Abram brought him all these, split them in two,
and placed each half opposite the other;
but the birds he did not cut up.
Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses,
but Abram stayed with them.
As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram,
and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.
When the sun had set and it was dark,
there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,
which passed between those pieces.
It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram,
saying: “To your descendants I give this land,
from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.”
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Hear, O LORD, the sound of my call;
have pity on me, and answer me.
Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Your presence, O LORD, I seek.
Hide not your face from me;
do not in anger repel your servant.
You are my helper: cast me not off.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Reading II
Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and
sisters,
and observe those who thus conduct themselves
according to the model you have in us.
For many, as I have often told you
and now tell you even in tears,
conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their end is destruction.
Their God is their stomach;
their glory is in their “shame.”
Their minds are occupied with earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body
to conform with his glorified body
by the power that enables him also
to bring all things into subjection to himself.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters,
whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,
in this way stand firm in the Lord.
or:
Philippians 3:20—4:1
Brothers and sisters:
Our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body
to conform with his glorified body
by the power that enables him also
to bring all things into subjection to himself.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters,
whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,
in this way stand firm in the Lord, beloved.
Verse Before the Gospel
From the shining cloud the Father’s voice is heard:
This is my beloved Son, hear him.
Gospel
Jesus took Peter, John, and James
and went up the mountain to pray.
While he was praying his face changed in appearance
and his clothing became dazzling white.
And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah,
who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus
that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.
Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep,
but becoming fully awake,
they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus,
“Master, it is good that we are here;
let us make three tents,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
But he did not know what he was saying.
While he was still speaking,
a cloud came and cast a shadow over them,
and they became frightened when they entered the cloud.
Then from the cloud came a voice that said,
“This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”
After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.
They fell silent and did not at that time
tell anyone what they had seen.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031625.cfm
Commentaries on
Genesis 15:5-12,17-18; Philippians 3:17—4:1; Luke 9:28-36
We are faced in today’s readings with a paradox of our
Christian faith—we belong here and we do not belong here. It is in this world
and through this world that we are to find our God. Yet, this is not our
permanent home; we are pilgrims on a journey to a more permanent dwelling
place, a place of total union with our God of Truth and Love. That is the goal
of living and we need to keep it constantly before our eyes. It is so easy to
get obsessed with things on the way: our career, our financial security, the
education of our children, the house we want in some desirable area or other
needs or luxuries. These are mere stepping stones to a life beyond. We must
not, like Lot’s wife, look back nostalgically at the past and become petrified
into stone.
Life, as one writer put it, is like watching a movie in a
cinema. One cannot cry out: “Stop! I want to stay in this scene!” No, the movie
goes on. And life goes on. And it is important to know where it is headed. Both
the First Reading and the Gospel speak of striking interventions by God in
people’s lives. Let us take the Gospel first.
A moment of truth
Luke today gives the story of the Transfiguration, a story that can be
found also in Mark and Matthew. It is important to be aware of where it comes
in the Gospel account.
Just before this, Peter, in the name of his
fellow-disciples, had made the dramatic acknowledgement that Jesus, their
teacher, was the Messiah, the Christ, the Saviour King expected by Israel. It
must have been an awesome and heady moment for them all to realise that they,
among all their fellow-countrymen, should be privileged to be his chosen
companions. One can imagine how they began to have visions of power and glory
because of this relationship (not altogether unlike rebels on the run who
suddenly find their leader is now president of the country).
But almost immediately afterwards, they are brought very
rudely down to earth. Jesus begins to instruct them about what it will mean to
be companions of the Messiah. There will be no great palaces; there will be no
prestigious offices. On the contrary, things will from that very moment seem to
go very wrong. The Messiah, their Jesus, will become a hunted figure, hunted
not by foreigners, but by the rulers of his own people. He will be arrested,
tried, tortured and eventually executed.
This was not the expected scenario for the Messiah’s
appearance on the world’s stage and it quite clearly left the disciples in a
state of shock and total incomprehension. It just did not make sense and Peter,
surely reflecting the feelings of his companions, objected strongly. In return,
he got a good scolding:
Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not
on divine things but on human things. (Mark 8:33)
A privileged experience
It is in this context that the scene in today’s Gospel takes place.
Three of Jesus’ most intimate disciples are brought to “the mountain”. We do
not know which mountain, but in general, mountains in Scripture are holy
places, places where God is especially felt to be present. Although
traditionally Mount Tabor is identified as the mountain in question, it really
does not matter. Here Peter, James and John have an experience of Jesus totally
transformed in his appearance. The light of God shines through him.
Suddenly he is accompanied by Moses and Elijah, two pillars
of the Hebrew Testament, representing the Law and the Prophets, the whole
Jewish tradition. Luke says they spoke with Jesus of his coming experiences in
Jerusalem. What is obviously implied is that Moses and Elijah fully recognised
what would happen to Jesus as totally in conformity with the tradition they
represented.
The disciples, however, are still not fully understanding
what is happening; they were “weighed down with sleep” (as they would be later
in the Garden), but just managed to keep awake (which they failed to do in the
Garden). (Their sleep is paralleled by the experience of Abram in the First
Reading.)
As Moses and Elijah seemed to go away, Peter—impetuous as
ever—blurted out:
Master, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three
tents [‘shrines’]: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah…
The Gospel comments that Peter did not know what he was
saying. Clearly, this scene was not for keeps. It was wonderful for them to be
there, but there was another world, another reality awaiting their Master—and
them also.
Then, even as Peter spoke, a cloud came and covered them
with a shadow and the disciples “were terrified as they entered the cloud”.
Naturally! This was no morning mist. They recognised the cloud immediately as
the close presence of God himself. And they heard God speak from the cloud:
This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!
First, there was the support of Moses and Elijah and now
Jesus gets the solemn endorsement of the Father himself!
Listen!
“Listen to him”—they are being told to remember the words Jesus just
told them about the Messiah, who would be rejected, suffer and die shamefully.
If they cannot understand and accept those words, they do not know the real
Jesus, then they cannot be his disciples. As Jesus will say later:
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls
into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it
bears much fruit. (John12:24)
The suffering and death of Jesus are the seeds of new life
for all of us.
After the “voice” had spoken, they found themselves with
Jesus alone, the same ‘ordinary’ Jesus they always knew. But they kept silent.
They had nothing to say, but much still to learn and to understand about the
Person and the Way of Jesus. What they needed was the gift of faith and total
trust in Jesus and in God.
Abram’s experience
There are some parallels in the experience of Abram. Abram (later to be called
Abraham) had been asked to leave his homeland and to go and live in a strange
place. If he did so, he was promised a great future for his family and
descendants. Without any further guarantees, Abram sets out. His readiness to
put his trust in God’s word became legendary in the tradition of Israel and is
echoed again in the New Testament. We are told that Abram:
…believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as
righteousness.
That is, Abram was ‘put right’ with God.
But although ready to do what God asked of him, Abram asked
for some confirmation. He was told to make an offering of some animals and to
cut the animals in half, putting one half on each side. At sunset, as Abram
fell into a deep sleep and as the sun set and darkness came on, a blazing
furnace and a firebrand (signs of God’s presence) came between the divided
offerings. From this experience Abram knew his trust in God was justified. He
never lived to see the day when his descendants were as numerous as the stars,
but if only he could see now how his God is worshipped “from the rising of the
sun to its setting” (Third Eucharistic Prayer) by countless people in every
corner of our planet!
Our transfiguration
There is still one thing we need to consider and that is how these
Lenten readings are to touch our own lives. The key linking the First Reading
and the Gospel is a passage from the Letter to the Philippians in the Second
Reading. The transformation or transfiguration of Jesus that the disciples
experienced was not simply something they were to see and experience as
happening to him alone. It was also an invitation for them to undergo a
transformation and transfiguration of their own.
Paul says in today’s reading:
…our citizenship is in heaven…
The goal and destination of our life is to be one with God;
there is no other goal.
And, Paul continues:
…it is from there [i.e. heaven, meaning from
God] that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will
transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of
his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to
himself.
How is that transformation or transfiguration to take place?
It is possible if we listen to Jesus and cooperate with all that he invites us
to be and to do, however much it may seem to go against the conventions we were
brought up on. It means especially listening to those words which caused such
difficulty for Peter and his companions and integrating them into our own
vision of life. It means having a total trust in walking his Way, a total trust
that only his Way brings us into full union with God, the source of all Truth,
Love, Happiness and Peace.
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Sunday, March 16, 2025
Second Sunday of Lent
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us read the scriptures
with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In
the light of the Word, written in the bible, You helped them to discover the
presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the
cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life
and of resurrection. Create silence
in us so that we may listen to Your voice in creation and in the scriptures, in
events and in people, above all, in the poor and suffering. May Your word guide
us so that we too, like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, may experience
the force of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are
alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice, and peace.
We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed the Father to us and sent
us Your Spirit. Amen.
Gospel Reading -
Luke 9: 28b-36
A Key to the Reading:
A few days earlier, Jesus had said that He, the Son of Man,
had to be tried and crucified by the
authorities (Lk 9: 22; Mk 8: 31). According to the information in the gospels
of Mark and Matthew, the disciples, especially Peter, did not understand what
Jesus had said and were scandalized by the news (Mt 16: 22; Mk 8: 32). Jesus
reacted strongly and turned to Peter
calling him Satan (Mt 16: 23;
Mk 8: 33). This was because Jesus’ words did not correspond with the ideal of the glorious
Messiah whom they imagined. Luke does not mention Peter’s reaction and Jesus’
strong reply, but he does describe, as do the other Evangelists, the episode of
the Transfiguration. Luke sees the Transfiguration as an aid to the disciples so that they may
be able to get over the scandal and change their idea of the Messiah (Lk 9:
28-36). Taking the three disciples with Him, Jesus goes up the mountain to pray, and while He is
praying, is transfigured. As we read the text, it is good to note what follows:
“Who appears with Jesus on the mountain to converse with Him? What is the theme
of their conversation? What is the disciples’ attitude?”
A Division of the Text as an Aid to the Reading:
• Luke 9: 28: The
moment of crisis
• Luke 9: 29: The
change that takes place during the prayer
• Luke 9: 30-31: The
appearance of the two men and
their conversation with Jesus
• Luke 9: 32-34: The
disciples’ reaction
• Luke 9: 35-36: The
Father’s voice
The Text:
Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain
to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing
became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and
Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to
accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep,
but
becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men
standing with him. As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus,
"Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for
you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
But he did not know what he was saying. While he was still speaking, a cloud
came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered
the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my chosen Son; listen to him." After the
voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They fell silent and did not at that
time tell anyone what they had seen.
A Moment of Prayerful Silence
so that the Word of
God may penetrate and enlighten our life.
Some Questions
to help us in our
personal reflection.
• What did you like
most in this episode of the Transfiguration? Why?
• Who are those who
go to the mountain with Jesus? Why do they go?
• Moses and Elijah
appear on the mountain next to Jesus. What is the significance of these
two people from the Old Testament for Jesus,
for the disciples, for the
community in the 80s and for us today?
• Which prophecy from
the Old Testament is fulfilled in the words of the Father concerning Jesus?
• What is the
disciples’ attitude during this episode?
• Has there been a
transfiguration in your life? How have such experiences of transfiguration
helped you to fulfill your mission better?
• Compare Luke’s
description of the Transfiguration of Jesus (Lk 9: 28-36) with his description
of the agony of Jesus in the Garden (Lk
22: 39-46). Try to see whether there are
any similarities. What
is the significance
of these similarities?
A Key to the Reading
for those who wish to
go deeper into the theme.
The Context of Jesus’ Discourse:
In the two previous chapters of Luke’s Gospel, the
innovation brought by Jesus highlights the tensions between the New and the Old
Testaments. In the end, Jesus realized that no one had understood His meaning,
much less His person. People thought
that He was like John the Baptist, Elijah or some other prophet (Lk 9:
18-19). The disciples accepted Him as the Messiah, but a glorious Messiah,
according to the expectations issued by the government and
the official religion of the temple (Lk 9:
20- 21). Jesus tried to explain
to His disciples that the journey foreseen by the prophets was one of suffering because of its commitment to
the excluded, and that a disciple could only be a disciple if
he/she took up his/her cross (Lk 9: 22-26). But Jesus did
not meet with much success. It is in such a context of crisis that the Transfiguration
takes place. In the 30s, the experience
of the Transfiguration had a very important significance in the life of Jesus
and the disciples. It helped them overcome the crisis of faith and to change
their ideals concerning the Messiah. In the 80s, when Luke was writing for the Christian communities in
Greece, the meaning of the Transfiguration had already been deepened and
broadened. In the light of Jesus’ resurrection and of the spread of the Good
News among the pagans in almost every country, from Palestine to Italy, the
experience of the Transfiguration began to be seen as a confirmation of the
faith of the Christian communities in
Jesus, Son of God. The two meanings are present in the description and
interpretation of the Transfiguration in Luke’s Gospel.
A Commentary on the Text:
• Luke 9: 28: The
moment of crisis.
On several occasions Jesus entered into conflict with the
people and the religious and civil authorities of his time (Lk 4: 28-29; 5:
21-20; 6: 2-11; 7:30, 39; 8: 37; 9:9). He knew they would not allow Him to do
the things He did. Sooner or later they would catch Him. Besides, in that society,
the proclamation of the Kingdom, as Jesus did, was not to be tolerated. He
either had to withdraw or
face death! There were no other alternatives. Jesus did not
withdraw. Hence the cross appears on the horizon, not just as a possibility but as a certainty (Lk 9: 22).
Together with the cross there also appears the
temptation to go on with the idea of the Glorious Messiah and not of the
Crucified, suffering servant, announced by the prophet Isaiah (Mk 8: 32-33). At
this difficult moment Jesus
goes up the mountain to pray, taking with Him Peter, James,
and John. Through His prayer, Jesus seeks strength not to lose sense of
direction in His mission (cf. Mk 1: 35).
• Luke 9: 29: The
change that takes place during the prayer.
As soon as Jesus
starts praying, His appearance changes and He appears glorious. His face
changes and His clothes become white and shining. It is the glory that
the disciples imagined for the
Messiah. This transformation told them clearly that Jesus was indeed the Messiah expected
by all. But what follows the episode of the Transfiguration will point
out that the way to glory is quite different from what they imagined. The Transfiguration
will be a call to conversion.
• Luke 9: 30-31: Two
men appear speaking with Jesus.
Together with Jesus and in the same glorious state there
appear Moses and Elijah, the two major exponents of the Old Testament,
representing the Law and the Prophets. They speak with Jesus about “the Exodus
brought to fulfilment in Jerusalem.” Thus, in front of the disciples, the Law and the Prophets
confirm that Jesus is truly the glorious Messiah, promised in the Old Testament
and awaited by the whole people. They
further confirm that
the way to glory is through the painful way of the exodus.
Jesus’ exodus is His passion, death and resurrection.
Through His “exodus” Jesus breaks the dominion
of the false idea concerning the Messiah spread by the government and by
the official
religion and that held
all ensnared in
the vision of a
glorious, nationalistic messiah. The
experience of the Transfiguration confirmed that Jesus as Messiah Servant
constituted an aid to free them from
their wrong ideas concerning the Messiah and to discover the real meaning of
the Kingdom of God.
• Luke 9: 32-34: The
disciples’ reaction.
The disciples were in deep sleep. When they woke up, they
saw Jesus in His glory and the two men
with Him. But Peter’s reaction shows that they were not aware of the real
meaning of the glory in which Jesus appeared to them. As often happens with us,
they were only aware of what concerned them. The rest escapes their attention.
“Master, it is good for us to be here!” And they do not want to get off the
mountain anymore! When it is question of the cross, whether on the Mount of the
Transfiguration or on the Mount of
Olives (Lk 22: 45), they sleep! They prefer the glory to the cross! They do
not like to speak or hear of the cross.
They want to make sure of the moment of glory on the
mountain, to extend it, and they offer to build three tents.
Peter did not know what he was saying.
While Peter was speaking, a cloud descended from on high and
covered them with its shadow. Luke says that the disciples became afraid when
the cloud enfolded them. The cloud is the symbol of the presence of God.
The cloud accompanied the multitude on their journey through the desert (Ex 40:
34-38; Num 10: 11-12). When Jesus ascended into heaven, He
was covered by a cloud and they no longer saw Him (Acts 1: 9). This was a sign
that Jesus had entered forever into God’s world.
• Luke 9: 35-36: The
Father’s voice.
A voice is heard from the cloud that says: “This is My Son,
the Chosen, listen to Him.” With this
same sentence the prophet Isaiah had proclaimed the Messiah-Servant (Isa 42:
1). First Moses and Elijah, now God Himself presents Jesus as the
Messiah-Servant who will come to glory
through the cross. The voice ends with a final admonition: “Listen to Him!” As the heavenly voice speaks,
Moses and Elijah disappear and only Jesus is left. This signifies that from now
on only He will interpret the scriptures and the will of God. He is the Word of
God for the disciples: “Listen to Him!”
• The proclamation
“This is My Son, the Chosen; listen to Him” was very important for the
community of the late 80s. Through this assertion God the Father confirmed the
faith of
Christians in Jesus
as Son of God.
In Jesus’ time, that
is, in the
30s, the expression Son of Man
pointed to a very high dignity and mission. Jesus Himself gave a relative meaning to the term by saying that
all were children of God (cf. John 10: 33- 35). But for some the title Son of
God became a resume of all titles, over one hundred that the first Christians gave Jesus in the
second half of the first century. In
succeeding centuries, it was the title of Son of God that the Church
concentrated all its faith in the person of Jesus.
A Deepening:
• The Transfiguration
is told in three of the Gospels: Matthew (Mt 17: 1-9), Mark (Mk 9: 2-8) and Luke (Lk 9: 28-36). This is a
sign that this episode contained a very important message. As we said, it was a
matter of great help to Jesus, to His disciples and to the first communities.
It confirmed Jesus in His mission as Messiah-Servant. It helped the disciples
to overcome the crisis that the cross
and suffering caused them. It led the communities to deepen their faith in
Jesus, Son of God, the One who revealed the Father and who became the new key to the
interpretation of the Law and the Prophets. The Transfiguration continues to be
of help in overcoming the crisis that the cross and suffering provoke today.
The three sleeping disciples are a reflection of all of us. The voice of the
Father is directed to us as it was to them: “This is My Son, the Chosen; listen
to Him!”
• In Luke’s
Gospel there is
a great similarity
between the scene
of the Transfiguration (Lk 9: 28-36) and the scene of the agony of
Jesus in the Garden of Olives (Lk 22: 39-46). We may note the following: in
both scenes Jesus goes up the mountain to pray and takes with Him three disciples, Peter, James and John.
On both occasions, Jesus’ appearance is transformed, and He is transfigured
before them; glorious at the Transfiguration, perspiring blood in the Garden of
Olives. Both times heavenly figures appear to comfort Him, Moses and Elijah and
an angel from heaven. Both in the Transfiguration and in the Agony, the
disciples sleep, they seem to be outside the event and they seem
not to understand anything. At the end of both episodes,
Jesus is reunited with His disciples. Doubtless, Luke intended to emphasize the
resemblance between these two episodes. What would that be? Perhaps it is to
show that understanding takes time
and effort, even for
the Apostles, so we should persevere and not be asleep, especially at those crucial
moments in our lives when He is revealing Himself to us personally. It is in
meditating and praying that we shall
come to understand the meaning that goes beyond words, and to perceive the
intention of the author. The Holy Spirit will guide us.
• Luke describes the
Transfiguration. There are times in our life when suffering is such that we might think: “God has abandoned
me! He is no longer with me!” And then suddenly we realize that He has never
deserted us, but that we had our eyes bandaged and were not aware of the presence of God. Then everything is
changed and transfigured. It is the transfiguration! This happens every day in
our lives.
Psalm 42 (41)
“My soul thirsts for the living God!”
As a dear longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for Thee, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I
come and behold the face of God?
My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to
me continually,
"Where is your God?" These things I remember, as I pour out my
soul:
how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to
the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude
keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted
within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my help and my
God.
My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember Thee
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep at the roar of Your torrents; all Thy
waves and breakers have gone over me.
By day the Lord commands His steadfast love; and at night His song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: "Why hast Thou
forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the
enemy?" As with a deadly wound in
my body, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually, "Where is your God?"
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted
within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my help and my
God.
Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank You for the word that has enabled us to
understand better the will of the
Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to
practice what Your Word has revealed to
us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the
Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
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