As we continue to celebrate Lent, it’s important that we keep the goal of our journey before us. The gospel of the transfiguration is read on this lenten Sunday each year, to remind us to hold firm to a vision of glory, on dark days. Easter and its joy will follow this season of penance, just as the resurrection followed the passion and death of Jesus.
What must be cast aside? The story of Abraham and Isaac is full of high drama. The demand that Isaac be sacrificed seemed to utterly contradict God’s promise that the boy would pass on Abraham’s line into the distant future. It was a radical trial of faith, and no greater test of obedience could be set. Abraham’s heart was pierced by the boy’s innocent question, “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?..
Perfect, but not Perfectionist.
If we hear that someone is a perfectionist, it can conjure up in our minds someone who is very demanding and rather fussy about getting everything right down to the last detail. When Jesus says at the end of today’s gospel, “Be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect,” that is not what he means
Autonomy and Responsibility.
Ezekiel calls us to persevere in doing good across a lifetime. In Matthew’s gospel Jesus roots the discernment of good and evil in the depths of the human heart. We must do more than keep a set of rules, stopping short of murdering others; we must aim to be at peace with them and not harbour anger or resentment. Jesus names the objects of our patience and kindness: they are our brother and our sister.
Taking risks.
Esther risked going to the Persian king on behalf of her people. She knew the initiative could cost her life, yet if she just hid in her ivory tower while her people were destroyed, she would be haunted with guilt. How often in life people prefer to turn a blind eye when a risky action is called for.
Exemplary Ninive.
How marvellous that the once pagan city of Nineveh can come to believe in God, proclaim a fast, pray for forgiveness, to become a model of goodness for all the rest of us! Hope can come from unsuspected quarters! Jonah adds that when God saw the repentance of Nineveh, he “repented of the evil he had threatened to do to them.” If God can change his mind, how can we be rigid in condemning others?
Jesus on prayer.
The gospels often portray Jesus at prayer, sometimes even suggesting the content of his prayer. But only once is Jesus presented as teaching his disciples a prayer for them to pray, and that prayer has become known to us as the Lord’s Prayer. It has had a privileged place within the Christian tradition because it is the only prayer Jesus explicitly taught us to pray…
Live sparingly, for love’s sake.
Today’s Scriptures focus is on issues of life and death, of hunger and thirst, of nakedness and imprisonment. They help us examine our conscience on basic issues, on sharing and not defrauding…
Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Lent. All over the world today, people of all ages are beginning their preparation period for baptism at the Easter Vigil. Like them, we begin our own preparations for Easter, looking forward to renewing our baptismal vows and being blessed with Easter water.
Shun not the Struggle.
One way of looking at life is to see it as a struggle between sin and grace, selfishness and holiness. Our time on earth will be successful in the measure that we put aside sin and try to live by the grace of God. Today’s Scriptures show two contrasting reactions to temptation. The first humans, Adam and Eve, are imagined as preferring their own inclinations to the will of God.
Lord of the Welcomes.
The converted tax collector is not treated as a second-class citizen, simply for coming late into the Lord’s circle of friends. How refreshing to hear Christ’s warm welcome of Levi echoed in the words of pope Francis, in his call for the doors of the church to be open wide so that all may enter…
Fasting of another kind.
We normally link fasting with food. To fast is to deprive ourselves of certain foods for a period of time. But in the first reading Isaiah defines fasting more broadly. He understands it as leaving aside all those ways of relating to people that damage and oppress them and replacing such ways of relating with working for justice on behalf of those in greatest need…
Denial of Self?
Jesus says that if we want to be his followers we have to be ready to renounce ourselves. Lent is traditionally a time for self-denial. We ask ourselves what it is we need to let go, to give up, in order to follow the Lord more closely…
Transience.
Ash Wednesday could hardly make more visible and tangible the transience of things and our mortality. We start Lent in humility, close to the ground, close to our earthiness: remember you are dust and to dust you shall return. But we do not gather on Ash Wednesday just to commemorate the transience of creation. The ashes used this Wednesday are the residue of last year’s Passion Sunday palms…
Misunderstanding.
In the gospel today, Jesus seems very frustrated with is own disciples. In spite of all he has said and done in their presence, they still do not really understand who he is or what he is about. They are misunderstanding his words and not grasping the real significance of his deeds, such as his feeding of the multitudes.
Appreciating the ordinary.
St Mark refers more often to the emotions of Jesus than any other evangelist. In today’s reading, Mark states that Jesus responded to the Pharisees’ request for a sign from heaven “with a sigh that came straight from the heart.” That sigh led to the question, “Why does this generation demand a sign?” We can almost sense the frustration of Jesus in that sigh, straight from the heart.
‘Whatever you do at all, do it for the glory of God.’ The words are St Paul’s, from today’s second reading. We gather here to give glory to God , marking the Day of Prayer for Temperance and preparing for the Lenten Spring.
Leprosy of the soul.
When approached by the leper, he could have turned away, as most people would have done. Instead, Jesus stood his ground and engaged with the leper, reached out to him not only by word but by action…
Missionaries to the Slavs
Cyril and Methodius were brothers from Macedonia in Greece who in the ninth century preached the gospel in Moravia, modern day Czech Republic, Slovakia and parts of Hungary…
Paradise Lost and Found.
One might take the first reading as describing paradise lost, while the gospel tells of of paradise regained. In the “paradise lost” story , the man and woman now feel shame at their nakedness, while up to the time of their sin in the garden they had felt no unease in each other’s company, but felt their whole selves as created to the image of God and as very good….
