The Second Sunday of Lent

The Second Sunday of Lent

predmore.blogspot.com

March 10, 2019

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 9:28-36

Trust your daydreams. Trust your religious experiences because our tradition has a whole legacy of God appearing to us when we are not most alert and attentive. We first see it in the story of Abram. He ponders the nighttime sky and becomes mesmerized as he counts the stars. The Lord tells him that his descendants will be more numerous than the stars in the galaxy. After Abram offers his sacrifice at dusk, he falls into a trance and the Lord commits to a covenant by accepting his holocausts.

In the Gospel, Peter, James, and John are awakened from their sleep to witness the Transfiguration of Jesus. This is the moment when they recognize the significance of the ministry of Jesus – that he is going to lead the people to a new Exodus in Jerusalem. Jesus is pointed out to be greater than the Law of Moses and the Prophetic actions of Elijah combined. After they hear God speak to them to declare the specialness of Jesus, they clam up and remain silent. They keep the vision and this moment to themselves.

I think we do the same as the disciples. We have faith moments when we know God communicated to us clearly, but we don’t share it with others. Because we keep it to ourselves, we doubt that God actually communicated to us. We have clarity and conviction about the experience, but it might sound odd to others if we share it with them, so we keep silent. Once we talk about it with a spiritual director, we may dismiss it or try to diminish its relevance. I want you to accept it and believe it. It happened. We often do not know how to honor our religious experiences.

Abram met God after a trance and the three disciples saw Jesus transfigured after they woke up. St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, had his biggest revelation from God after a period of daydreaming. After spending days in penance and prayer in a cave near Barcelona, Spain, he sat on a riverbank just to pass the time. He finished praying and started daydreaming. It was in this daydream that his most important mystical experience happened. He remained where he was and he had the experience that God was teaching him the mysteries of the world, just like a schoolteacher helps a student gain knowledge in a classroom.

My best religious experiences have been during that liminal time of waking up in the middle of the night and becoming fully conscious. Ignatius will invite us to respect our daydreams because it is the subconscious part of our world where God is always active. The mind is freer, and it is not restricted by the rational part of us that wants to control every moment. Our mind is often disconnected to what is happening with our bodies and emotions. Mindful meditation reconnects us to the world around us and we become more aware of the ways God is operating in our lives. This is the place where our soul is freest, and God is able to interact with us on our human terms. Yes, you are having a God moment. Our desires are able to be set free and these good desires lead us to better understand God’s will for us. We diminish these thoughts because they only come from our daydreams and not from our rational side, but it is the place where we can actively experience God. You might not be able to adequately explain it to others but do trust that God is reaching out to you. Let those moments transfigure you.

Trust God in these experiences. Jesus learned to trust God during his earthly ministry. All these small moments led to his ascent up that mountain where he was revealed to be God’s beloved Son. This was the pivotal moment when Jesus turned his attention to Jerusalem. His earthly ministry of preaching and healing concluded, and he was to reveal God’s actions most clearly during the Passover. He would lead the people through a new Exodus that he did not yet understand. All those small, individual God moments gave him the fortitude to be obedient to his faith. Because of it, he won salvation for us.

Our moments of daydreaming, our experiences of coincidences, those moments of hope and courage will transform our faith if we accept and honor them. The Cross looms on the horizon and we will not escape it, but we do have the experience of Jesus leading our Exodus – away from sin, suffering, and death – to the heart of a merciful, understanding God. Hold onto those moments of consolation. God will remember us through them.

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 17: Patrick, bishop (389-461), is the revered Apostle of Ireland and patron saint of many U.S. dioceses. He is credited for bringing the faith to all of Ireland. He was abducted and enslaved at age 16 by pirates and taken to Ireland where he worked as a cattle herded and shepherd in the mountains. He escaped after six years and eventually returned to his native Britain where he became a priest. Pope Celestine sent Patrick as a missionary to Ireland to evangelize them. Though he was under constant risk from hostile pagans, he converted many of them and developed a native clergy by the time of his death.

March 19: Joseph, husband of Mary is honored today for his support of Mary in their marriage. He is portrayed as a righteous man who obeys the will of God. Therefore, his ancestry is upheld as a virtuous stock through which God’s promises come true. We seldom contemplate his marital relationship to Mary and his responsibility to love and raise Jesus as his son. He was a descendent of King David and a carpenter or builder by trade. In Matthew's dream sequence, Joseph was embarrassed by Mary's pregnancy before their marriage, but went through with the wedding because he was a righteous man. He considered dissolving their marriage because of Mosaic Law, but is told in a dream to take Mary as his wife and to raise Jesus as his own. He is honored as the earthly father of Jesus.

March 23: Toribio of Mogrovejo, bishop (1538-1606) was a Spanish law professor in Salamanca who became the president of the Inquisition in Granada. As a layman, he was made the Archbishop of Lima, Peru and became quickly disturbed at the treatment of the native populations by the European conquerors. He condemned abuses and founded schools to educate the oppressed natives. He built hospitals and churches and opened the first seminary in Latin America.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Mar 17, 1964. The death of Joseph O’Callaghan. He was awarded the US Medal of Honor for heroism as chaplain on the USS Franklin, off Japan on March 19, 1945.

·      Mar 18, 1541. Two letters arrived from Lisbon from Francis Xavier. One was addressed to Ignatius, the other to Frs. LeJay and Laynez. They were written just before his departure to India.

·      Mar 19, 1836. By imperial decree, the Society was allowed to re-enter the Austrian dominions.

·      Mar 20, 1602. The first "Disputatio de Auxiliis" was held before Clement VIII. The disputants were Fr. Gregory de Valentia SJ and Fr. Diego Alvarez OP.

·      Mar 21, 1768. In Spain, at a special meeting of the Council of State in the presence of King Charles III, the Suppression of the Society was urged on the pretense that it was independent of the bishops, that it plotted against the State, and that it was lax in its teaching.

·      March 22, 1585: In Rome, Fr. General received the three Japanese ambassadors with great solemnity in the Society's Church of the Gesu.

·      March 23, 1772: At Rome, Cardinal Marefoschi held a visitation of the Irish College and accused the Jesuits of mismanagement. He removed them from directing that establishment.