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The Second Sunday of Lent
predmore.blogspot.com
February 25, 2018
Genesis 22:1-2, 9-18;
Psalm 116; Romans 8:31-34; Mark 9:2-10
Lent is meaningful to us because
it makes us confront the reality of suffering and death. It causes us to
examine the tension we face with death always around us, and we realize we want
to transform our ways and move closer to God. We hope that our actions, aligned
with God’s grace, will transform us into the people we and God want us to be.
The transfiguration of Jesus was God’s glory breaking forth from Jesus’ human
form. We want God’s glory to break forth from our actions as well.
Death reorients our choices. Abraham
was faced with a peculiar choice when God asked him to obediently sacrifice his
only son. He had a choice – to cut off the promise God gave him of a long life
with many descendants or to follow what seemed like a nonsensical request by
God. He chose what God specifically asked of him and because of that, God
continued to bless him all the more.
In the moments following the Transfiguration,
Jesus tells his disciples that he has to obey God’s will, which involves
suffering and death. Though the disciples found this message difficult to
comprehend, the messianic suffering of Jesus was part of God’s plan. The transfiguration
that occurred on top of the mountain would be a preview of the transfiguration all
believers will receive during the resurrection of our bodies.
In both stories, we notice that God
is very near to Abraham and to Jesus. God blessed Abraham by saying, “Because
you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless
you abundantly.” During the Transfiguration, God says to the disciples, “This
is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Both these incidences involved great risk,
but because both men listened to God and obeyed God’s will, they were rewarded.
The disciples are now asked to listen.
Listening is the first and most
decisive act of obedience. We cannot know God’s will unless we listen and
listening involves more than using our ears. It means paying attention to the
signs of the times. It means noticing how near God is to us and trusting that
God is prompting us to make both easy and difficult daily choices in line with
God’s will. It means learning to listen with our whole selves.
Listening and acting upon what we
hear is risky, but we have to look beyond the hardships as we realize God is
always near. This is a God who abides. When we look to God’s interests above
and beyond our own, God has the opportunity to bless us in ways we cannot
anticipate.
Above all this Lent, let us realize
that the words of St. Paul are meant for us. “If God is with us, who can be
against us.” The whole universe then is stacked in our favor. Jesus intercedes
for us; God acquits us. In everything God has done for us, God promises to be
close to us in all things – through hardships, suffering, and even death – and when
we do so, we never do it alone.
Scripture for Daily Mass
First Reading:
Monday:
(Daniel 9) We have rebelled against you God and sinned, but you have remained
faithful to us in the covenant. You, O Lord, have justice on your side.
Tuesday:
(Isaiah 1) Wash yourselves clean and make justice your aim. Obey the commandments
and take care of your neighbor.
Wednesday:
(Jeremiah 18) The people of Judah contrived against Jeremiah to destroy him by
his own words.
Thursday:
(Jeremiah 17) Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings. More tortuous than
all else is the human heart. The Lord alone probes the mind and tests the
heart.
Friday:
(Genesis 37) Israel loved Joseph best of all, which created resentment among
his brothers, who later sold him into slavery for twenty pieces of silver.
Saturday:
(Micah 7) God removes guilt and pardons sins and does not persist in anger.
Gospel:
Monday:
(Luke 6) Jesus said, “Be merciful,” and “Stop judging because you will be
judged by the way you judge.”
Tuesday:
(Matthew 23) The scribes and Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of
Moses. Be wary of someone’s teaching if they have no integrity between their
words and actions.
Wednesday:
(Matthew 20) As Jesus went up to Jerusalem, he told his disciples, “Behold. The
Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests, condemned to death, handed
over to Gentiles, an crucified, and will be raised on the third day.”
Thursday:
(Luke 16) A rich man dressed in purple garments died shortly after Lazarus, a beggar.
In heaven, Lazarus was rewarded and the rich man was tormented in hell. He
appealed to God to spare his family, but was told that they would not listen to
Moses or to anyone who was raised from the dead.
Friday:
(Matthew 21) Jesus told the parable of a vineyard owner, who entrusted the land
to servants, but these men seized the land and possessed it. They killed the
servants and the heir. When the owner returned, he cast the wretched men into a
tormented death.
Saturday:
(Luke 15) Jesus is accused of welcoming sinners and eats with them. He then
tells the story of the prodigal one who was well received by his father upon
his return. The one who was lost has been found.
Saints of the Week
March 1: Katherine Drexel (1858-1955), was from
a wealthy Philadelphian banking family and she and her two sisters inherited a
great sum of money when her parents died. She joined the Sisters of Mercy and
wanted to found her own order called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to
work among the African and Native Americans. Her inheritance funded schools and
missions throughout the South and on reservations. A heart attack in 1935 sent
her into retirement.
This Week in Jesuit History
·
Feb
25, 1558. St Aloysius Gonzaga received tonsure at the Lateran basilica. Within
the next month he would receive the minor orders.
·
Feb
26, 1611. The death of Antonio Possevino, sent by Pope Gregory XIII on many
important embassies to Sweden, Russia, Poland, and Germany. In addition to
founding colleges and seminaries in Cracow, Olmutz, Prague, Braunsberg, and
Vilna, he found time to write 24 books.
·
Feb
27, 1767. Charles III banished the Society from Spain and seized its property.
·
Feb
28, 1957. The Jesuit Volunteer Corps began.
·
Mar
1, 1549. At Gandia, the opening of a college of the Society founded by St
Francis Borgia.
·
Mar
2, 1606. The martyrdom in the Tower of London of St Nicholas Owen, a brother
nicknamed "Little John." For 26 years he constructed hiding places
for priests in homes throughout England. Despite severe torture he never
revealed the location of these safe places.
·
Mar
3, 1595. Clement VIII raised Fr. Robert Bellarmine to the Cardinalate, saying
that the Church had not his equal in learning.
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