13 March 2022 – 2nd Sunday of Lent, Year C
13 March 2022 – 2nd Sunday of Lent, Year C
(1) Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
The covenant with Abraham, basis of Israel’s religion of trust
He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.
Responsorial: Psalm 26: 1, 7-9, 13-14
R./: The Lord is my light and my salvation
The Lord is my light and my help;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
before whom shall I shrink? (R./)
O Lord, hear my voice when I call;
have mercy and answer.
Of you my heart has spoken:
‘Seek his face.’ (R./)
It is your face, O Lord, that I seek;
hide not your face.
Dismiss not your servant in anger;
you have been my help. (R./)
I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness
in the land of the living.
Hope in him, hold firm and take heart.
Hope in the Lord! (R./)
(2) Philippians 3:17-4:1
Paul teaches the way of faithfulness
Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, 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. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
Gospel: Luke 9:28-36
Peter, James and John glimpsed the hidden glory of Jesus
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” ” not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came an overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
Listen to Jesus only
The scene is traditionally considered as Jesus’ transfiguration. It’s not possible to reconstruct with certainty the experience that led to this surprising story: we only know that the Gospel writers give it great importance, since it is told as an experience that gives a glimpse of Jesus’ true identity.
At the beginning, it notes the transformation of his face, and though Moses and Elijah come to speak with him “representatives of the law and prophets respectively” only Jesus’ face remains transfigured and shining at the centre of the scene.
It seems that the disciples haven’t grasped the reality of what’s going on around them, since Peter says to Jesus: “Master, it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three booths, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah”. He puts Jesus on the same plane and at the same level as the two great biblical figures. Each one is to have his booth. Jesus doesn’t yet occupy a central and absolute place in his heart.
God’s voice will correct him, revealing Jesus’ true identity: “This is my Son, the Chosen One”, the one who has his face transfigured. He mustn’t be confused with Moses or Elijah, whose faces are darkened. “Listen to him”. To no one else. His Word is the only decisive one. The rest should take us to him.
We need to recover in today’s Church the decisive importance of this Gospel story about Jesus as told in the bosom of the Christian communities from the beginning. These four writings constitute for Christians a uniquely basic source that we mustn’t equate with the rest of the biblical writings.
The Gospels aren’t teaching books that set out academic doctrines about Jesus. Nor are they biographies redacted to give detailed information about his historical trajectory. There is something that we can only encounter in them: the impact caused by Jesus on the first ones who felt themselves drawn by him and following him. They are “stories of conversion” that call for a change, for a following of Jesus and for an identification with his project.
That’s why they need to be listened to with an attitude of conversion. And it’s in that spirit that they should be read, preached, meditated on and kept in the heart of each believer and in every community. A Christian community that knows how to listen each Sunday to the Gospel story about Jesus in an attitude of conversion, that community begins to change. The Church doesn’t have any power for renewal more vigorous than that contained in these four small books.
Transformed by Prayer
For older Catholics, our experience of the Church has straddled two worlds, what things were like before and after the Second Vatican Council. We can rummage in the storehouse of our mind and compare things old and new. Can you remember how important private prayer was in that pre-Conciliar world, when people were more used to devotional practices than they are today. In the town where I grew up, called in to the church every day for a quick visit to the Blessed Sacrament. Of course, that was before television came and changed the shape of our evenings. Probably we weren’t any more virtuous than the people of today. Maybe we had nothing much to do in the evenings and we wanted to get out of the house and meet our friends.
All those habits of private prayer seemed to quickly disappear after the Council, though the modern means of entertainment had much to do with it. Change always demands its price, and even the liturgical changes after Vatican II somehow seemed to sideline private prayer. Here and there we can find signs of prayer making a comeback, as indeed it should. Inside each one of us is a need for prayer, trying to reach out to God. We feel that need to get away from distractions, to be alone for a while, to help make more sense of our lives. What else is that but an urge to pray.
Today’s gospel gives a remarkable insight into the nature of prayer. Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up the mountain to pray. We too have to find the high ground, remote enough to give us an overall view of our petty world with all its preoccupations. A mountain can give us that perspective, as indeed can a lake or a desert, places where Jesus also liked to pray.
Lent is a time for us to try and create a space for prayer somewhere in our lives. Only by prayer can we be transfigured and then try to transfigure our world. By reflecting deep inside ourselves we will transfigure our many and often complicated relationships. Prayer can transfigure our marriages, our homes, our work and our communities. The American writer, Thurber, at the end of one of his fables, penned this couplet: “All men should learn before they die,/Where they are going, from where and why.” Only in prayer will we find the answer to these questions.
Where we encounter God
The splendid vision in our Gospel today comes after Jesus had said that “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Lk 9:22). This was no good news to the disciples who expected Jesus, as the Messiah, to drive out the Roman army of occupation and restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6). Many of them would have begun to have second thoughts: Is Jesus really the expected Messiah? So a few days after, Jesus invites the three leaders of his group, Peter, James and John, to go with him up a mountain, to show them another angle on reality.
For many, mountains are a place of encounter with God. Moses encountered God on a mountaintop, and so did Elijah, and it was a favourite place of prayer for Jesus too. It was where the eyes of the apostles, their spiritual eyes, were opened and they caught a glimpse of a Jesus that their physical eyes could never see. Then they saw that the heavens were on the side of Jesus, and they heard the voice of the invisible God, “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him” (Lk 9:35). This was all the confirmation they needed, that Jesus was indeed the expected one, for heaven itself bore witness. Now they would listen to him and follow him all the way to his suffering and death in Jerusalem. No matter what happens they are now sure of one thing: God is with Jesus; final victory will therefore be his.
How often we experience absurdities in life, leaving us filled with doubt and with the question: Where is God in all this? Think of people who have experienced abuse, deep-rooted individualism and insensitivity from church officials, and they ask, “How can God be in this place?” and many of them give up the faith. Others are traumatized by their experience of social injustice and discrimination. They apply for a job but see people less qualified than they get the job because of having the right connections or the right accent. They see forceful people advancing in society through unfair means and they ask: Where is God when this is going on? Or you may know someone undergoing personal and family crisis like terminal illness, breakdown of relationship between husband and wife, between parent and child, between friends.
At times like these we need to climb the mountain of prayer and ask God to open our eyes that we may see. When God grants us a glimpse of eternity then we realize that all our troubles in this life are short-lived. Then we have the courage to accept the suffering of this life, knowing that through it all God is on our side. All it takes is a glimpse of heaven to empower us to take up our daily crosses and follow Jesus, knowing that the cross of Lent is followed by the victory of Easter.
God on the mountain, God in the valley
Our lives are a mixture of a ‘mountain-top experience’ and a ‘valley experience.’ Jesus’ prediction of his suffering and death followed by the transfiguration experience reveals this truth in no unclear terms. You can see thorns in a bush full of roses or roses in a bush full of thorns, no matter how you look at it you can’t change the truth that both, thorns and roses are before you. Life’s journey is through thorns and roses, mountains and valleys.
In the verses preceding today’s passage, Jesus already predicted his passion, suffering and death (the valley experience). He spoke about carrying one’s cross as a pre-requisite for discipleship.
Interpreted in our own life-context, the mountain-top experience is that of peace, happiness, prosperity, fame, success, physical well-being, stable relationships and a general feeling of fulfilment and contentment. The valley experience is that when things don’t seem going right in our lives, when failures and loses befall us, when we are fallen and forsaken, misunderstood and betrayed by others, when relationships threaten to break, when ‘tomorrow’ scares us in the face, when loneliness stalks us, when grief overwhelms us and life seems at its edge.
When you know that suffering is going to come upon you, it is but natural that your face will look gloomy and pale and people can notice it. But here at the Transfiguration Jesus is looking radiant in glory (the mountain-top experience). This scene suggests that when we take up our cross in God’s name we receive strength and grace from the Lord to carry it. The voice of God “This my beloved son in whom I’m well pleased, listen to Him” is not just an endorsement of the Jesus-mission of redemption but an affirmation that God is always “well pleased” when we are willing to carry our cross and follow Him. When you are busy carrying your cross become also sure God is busy weaving a crown for you. Your crown is not somewhere beyond the grave, but in this life itself.
In our human experience, we are tempted just like Peter, James and John to desire the mountaintop experience and avoid the valley experience. But we really must live the valley experience if we want to see the glory of God in our lives. It is in the valley valley experience that we discover our frailties and the follies of our intelligence, when inflated egos are punctured and we discover our great need for God.
When we find it hard to trust God in the valley experience of your life, we could think of little chickens under the wings of a hen. There is darkness under its wings, the little chicks cannot see anything, yet they feel the warm, reassuring protection of their mother. As the Psalmist puts it, “The Lord will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings we will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and your rampart.” (Ps 91:4).
Whether in the valley or on the mountain-top, we need the affirmation of God, for the God in the valley is the same God on the mountains.
Readings: 13 March, Second Sunday of Lent…
“Whether in the valley or on the mountain-top, we need the affirmation of God, for the God in the valley is the same God on the mountains.”
And this affirmation is given in a known presence/reality of His Holy Spirit.
“But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.”
So, we pray to our Father by going to the inner room of our hearts where behind a closed door (Undisturbed) in secret (Sincerity) where others are not aware that we are praying with silent petitions and exhortations, in whatever time or place we might be.
“Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret (Sincerity) , will reward you.”
With His Grace via the Holy Spirit as we receive grace when we have sincerity of heart before Him without which it is not possible to form a true relationship with Him as The Holy Spirit can only dwell within an honest/humble heart.
We are taught to pray without ceasing, which could be described as trusting in God from moment to moment, we do this when we see ‘all’ through the eyes of faith, trust in God is not just about words, rather it is a movement of the heart, that induces a shared honest relationship with Him, and underpinning this relationship, is our humility before Him. (St Bernard, Humility: a virtue by which a man knowing himself as he truly is, abases himself.)
When we place our trust in Him, no matter how broken (Sinful) or feeble our attempt/effort might be, we will receive grace in the ‘present moment’. If we continue to do this in humility our faith/trust will be strengthened, as we slowly ‘die to self’ while taking up our daily cross (Brokenness), The Holy Spirit will show/lead all honest seekers “how to find and experience God”.
Then led by the Holy Spirit we will be able to say the words of this teaching and actual mean them.
So, you also, when you have done everything commanded of you, should say,
“We are unworthy servants”.
The Holy Spirit prompts us to cry out Father! With His beloved Son as His Holy Spirit inspired/gave His Beloved Son the prayer which glorifies His Name as we are taught to say in Unity of Purpose while being guided by the light of the Holy Spirit to reflect and absorb the words within the prayer.
Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name (sacrosanct, worshipped, divine, INVIOLABLE )
thy kingdom (Of Grace) come (via your Holy Spirit, then)
thy will, <(Will) be done,
on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread (While with your Mercy we would be fed)
Forgive us our trespasses as we (Also) forgive those who trespass against us
Lead not into (*The Test of) temptation but deliver us from evil.
*Our Father does not lead us into temptation but he does permit us to be put to the test.
Job1:6-12: Job’s afflictions began from the malice of Satan, by the Lord’s permission, for wise and holy purposes.
Proverbs 17:3 A crucible is for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart.
Matt 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
So, pray not to be put/’led to the Test/of temptation’ as He was, rather, Father protect/keep us ‘awake’ and ‘deliver us from evil’.
Because: When Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping, He asked Peter “Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?” then teaching him and all of us also to Watch and pray so that you/we will not enter into temptation For ‘the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’
So, here I am Lord, “your most unworthy servant”.
kevin your brother
In Christ
Readings: 13 March 2022 – Second Sunday of Lent
Key Message:
Sufferings and prayers lift us up to the feet of Almighty God!
Takeaway from the first reading:
God promised the impossible blessing for Abraham. And Abraham believed that God would make impossible things possible for him. This trust of Abraham in God made God consider Abraham as “faithful”.
There is a rich meaning that pertains to our life too. Like all of us, Abraham was also longing for a blessing. For Abraham, it was the gift of a child. Even before God could bless Abraham with a child, Abraham was happy because he trusted that God was going to make his promised blessing a reality. After receiving the promise of the gift of a child, Abraham waited for 25 years to be blessed with a child. Abraham was 75 years old, when he received the promise for the blessing of the child. Only when Abraham was 100 years old, Isaac was born to him.
Father Abraham did not wait to receive the gift of a child to be happy. Knowing that God was going to bless him with a child made him happy during his waiting period too.
Do we get frustrated during our waiting period or do we happily trust in God to make His promises come true?
Waiting happily for our blessings makes God happy!
Takeaway from the second reading:
The Apostle Paul leads by His faithful life. He walked the walk and talked the talk. He was walking his life beautifully according to the teachings of our loving Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing else apart from our loving Lord Jesus concerned Him. Even when he was imprisoned, or when a deadly snake attacked him or when he was abandoned by his own friends, he was concerned only on how to spread the Gospel of our loving Lord Jesus Christ to the gentiles. Nothing else bothered him. His desire was always to complete his mission. Hence, his thoughts were always revolving on spreading the Gospel.
In our current state of life, is it possible for us to have the mind of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul had?
Answer: Yes.
But how?
Answer: What would my Lord Jesus have done if He was in my state of life?
When we answer this question it will make us think like God thinks.
For example, if we are a parent of a kid, then we should do what our loving Lord Jesus Christ would have done if He was the parent for our kid. There are lots of references in the Bible and also our church has provided us with real life examples with the help of Saints.
1. We see in the New Testament, when children were brought to our Lord, He placed His hands on them and blessed them. We should also keep blessing our kids, as soon as we get up and whenever they come to us.
2. The Book of Proverb says, “The father who spares the rod, spoils the child”. “Teach them from young, so that they may not follow evil ways when they grow old”. So God is asking us to discipline our kids when they are young.
3. Takeaway from the life of saints: Saint Monica did not give up on her son, Saint Augustine, even though he was following evil ways. Other people had given up on Saint Augustine, but his good mother never gave up on him. She did not have anyone to whom she could go for help to mentor him. All that she had was our Jesus. The tears and prayers of Saint Monica transformed her son from sinner to Saint Augustine.
Saint Monica followed the footsteps of our Lord Jesus. As our Lord Jesus prayed for the souls of His disciples to be saved, Saint Monica prayed for the soul of her son to be saved.
There is no great burden that prayer cannot carry.
Takeaway from the Gospel reading:
The Gospel says, “Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.”
Though Peter, James and John were feeling sleepy, they stayed awake just to pray. Because they gave importance to prayer, they received a special blessing.
Prayer inherits great blessings. When we pray in spirit we are able to understand the plan of God our Father Almighty. Our Father asks in the Bible, “Will I do anything without revealing it to Abraham?” God considered Abraham as His own friend. God respects friendship. So He wanted to discuss it with Abraham.
In today’s Gospel too, when our loving Lord, Moses and Elijah were in a discussion, the Almighty Father also joined the discussion. He did not wait for the “Summary of the discussion”. The crucial part is God Almighty Father did not talk only with our Lord Jesus, Moses and Elijah, but He also talks with the Apostles (Peter, James and John). Hence, God our Almighty Father loves to talk with us.
Prayer lifts up a person to be a friend of Almighty God.
Just like our Lord Jesus, let us be committed to spend time with God!
Tips to do the takeaways:
1. When we do a certain activity for 40 days, it becomes our habit. Let us focus on spending time alone with God, every day morning during this Lenten season.
2. Almighty Father declares our Lord Jesus as “My Son; My Chosen”. But our Lord Jesus, Son of Almighty God, suffered and died on the cross. When we suffer intensely, we may think that we are not loved by God or we are not seen by God. Actually our Almighty Father says to us “you are My chosen one”.
3. During this Lent, we can offer little sacrifices like not making faces when people are against us, not complaining, always maintaining a warm welcoming atmosphere, doing things which we do not like to do and so on. Jesus appreciates any little act of love.
4. The Apostles liked to sleep but they kept themselves awake and prayed. So they received a major blessing. Not submitting to one’s own feelings and doing the right thing makes us faithful.
5. In times of temptation, trusting God without worrying makes God pleased with us. If we do not have a job, trusting in God and claiming His promises will enable us to get a good job.
Almighty Father sent His only Son only for us. Is His hand too short to take care of us?
Readings: 13 March 2022 – 2nd Sunday of Lent, Year C
In Sophia University’s well-stocked and user-friendly library I open a volume of Massillon’s sermons at random, expecting to find some drab and mouldy stuff. But no, he was an electrifying preacher and a master psychologist, who was considered relatively mild in his day but would be quite severe by our standards. I actually opened the volume by coincidence at his sermons for le Grand Carême. The one for the second Sunday of Lent can be found at page 139 here: https://archive.org/details/massillonssermo00massuoft/page/n8/mode/1up?view=theater&q=lent Here are a few paragraphs:
‘The cross is the only inheritance left by Christ to his Church. Our union with him in Heaven depends on our suffering with him on Earth (II. Tim., ii. 22). This is the spirit of our vocation, and the foundation of our hope. This alone distinguishes us from the idolatrous nations who know not Christ. Take away from the morality of the gospel the maxims of the cross, self-denials, humility, the renouncing of our own will, and a thorough contempt of the world and of all its fleeting pleasures, and we might have learned the rest from the philosophers, whose doctrines abounded with moral precepts, and inculcated the necessity of a strict guard against vice and excess.
‘The cross, therefore, of Jesus, properly constitutes the grand characteristic of a Christian, and is the great road to salvation, which he has marked out to his disciples. I say the cross of Jesus for the world has its crosses, our passions have their crosses and we possess the art of forming to ourselves crosses of various kinds that are purely imaginary. These, however are the crosses of concupiscence. They are the punishments due to our passions, and not the remedies of our crimes. They are the sad consequences of vice, and not the rewards of virtue. And yet, we submit to them all; but, from the cross of Jesus we turn away with precipitation and disgust. We refuse to suffer any thing for his sake: we neither resist our passions, our humours, our caprices, nor make the sacrifice of our disorderly inclinations or unlawful pleasures. We carry the cross of our passions, the cross of our discontents, the cross of our hatred and envy that is to say, the cross of the world and of the Devil, and we attempt not to ease ourselves of the load. Alas! the cross of Christ is pleasant and much lighter, and we throw it from us; the cross of Christ imparts happiness to those who carry it, and sweetens the crosses of the world, and we will not give it preference; the cross of Christ is the price of eternity, and we think it beneath our notice.
‘What infatuation is this? How long shall we be the dupes of our own illusions, and shut our eyes to the light of Heaven? Why will we not be convinced that the Lord sweetens the yoke we carry for his sake? We have experienced that the yoke of the world is a yoke of iron, which overpowers and destroys: we believe that the wages of sin is death; and why will we not believe that the grace of God is everlasting life?
‘Ah! be no longer deceived; open your eyes to the light which the Sun of Justice throws around you. Now is the time to arise from sleep. The graces which flow from the cross during this season offer you resources which you may not perhaps enjoy another time. The example of the whole Church invites you, and the prayers of all the elect are offered up in your behalf. The saints crucify their flesh by fasting and retirement; and their voice, like the voice of innocent blood, ascends to the throne of God, not to solicit his judgments, but to draw down his mercies. Be not, then, discouraged by the idea of difficulties, but have confidence and good will. If the corporal mortifications of Judith alone in Israel reconciled the Lord with his people, and averted the effects of his just indignation, what may you not expect from so many faithful souls, who in every quarter of the globe offer up their prayers and austerities to Heaven for the pardon of your sins? What may you not expect from so many holy pastors who contribute their supplications and labours to gain you to Christ, from so many pious solitaries, from so many chaste virgins, who in the recesses of their retreat mourn like the dove, and endeavour to disarm the anger of the Lord, and change the thunders of his vengeance into the mild dews of benediction and grace?
‘Every assistance, my dear friends, is offered you. And will you still refuse to enter into the bosom of the clemency of your God? Will you oppose the efforts with which the whole Church endeavours to recall you to a more Christian and holy life? Are you obstinately bent on perishing, at the time that the whole congregation of the just are stretching out their hands to save you from shipwreck? What more can the Lord do for you? He tortures you with remorse of conscience, and you resist the motions of his grace. He offers you the abundant resources of religion, and you refuse their aid. He unites in your favour the prayers of all his elect, and you render them useless by your obstinate impenitence. He proclaims, by the mouth of his ministers, the promises and the threats of his law, and they are effaced from your minds the moment they are pronounced. What more can he do for you? The only remaining access to your heart is punishment. He must chastise you. He must execute the threats of his indignation. This is his last resource. He has spoken in vain; now he must strike, in order to compel you to listen to his voice.
‘Having, therefore, filled up the measure of our iniquities, he has at length poured out the bitter chalice of his wrath on our guilty heads. He has abandoned his inheritance; he has delivered up the kingdoms of Christianity to the rage of our mortal enemy, the prince of darkness. He has permitted the dissemination of the most pernicious principles, of doctrines the most destructive of society, of harmony, of peace, and of all our beloved worldly enjoyments. He has permitted the flames of war to ravage nations arid destroy kingdoms. He has not spared even the seat of Christianity itself. He has empowered misery, wretchedness, and want, to fix their empire on the ruins of prosperity, happiness, and abundance, and to heap their horrid gifts with profusion on their devoted subjects.
‘Yes, beloved friends, his wrath has burst over our heads. The enormity of our crimes has ascended to the tribunal of his justice. He has looked down from his high sanctuary, says the prophet (Ps., ci. 20), and he has beheld the faithful without morals, the nobility without religion, the ministers of the altar without piety, and the fairest of our creation without chastity and without modesty.
‘He has looked down from his high sanctuary, and he has beheld adulteries, fornications, blasphemy, and impiety, honoured and applauded in the midst of his people; rapines and injustice covered with the specious title of lawful gain and traffic ; the most extravagant excesses authorized by the example of the great; and profusion and luxury everywhere increasing with public calamities. He has looked down from his high sanctuary, and he has be held the corruption of the whole human race. He has seen them bend their servile knee to mammon, and offer up their sighs and tears, their prayers and supplications, at the unhallowed shrine of the golden calf. He has seen the false deity, the molten god, the object of universal adoration. He has seen religion despised, and treated as the lowest weakness; and the few that still continue to pay their adoration to him, he has seen coming to him with divided hearts, and confining their worship to mere exterior homage, to a few prayers pronounced with their lips, whilst their minds are given up to tepidity, to sensuality, to hatred, animosity, and discontent. In a word, he has seen himself dethroned from the hearts of his people, and faith almost banished from the Earth.’
Massillon thinks it right that we should constantly be depressed, disturbed, distraught at the thought of our sins. Even on Easter Sunday he preaches about the dangers of ‘relapse.’ The Church, in setting the Transfiguration before us today, wants us to live the Cross as illuminated by the Resurrection, and avoid sinking into morose penitentialism without a joyful window on the great expanse of the New Creation.