Contents: Volume 2
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2nd Sunday of Lent
Year A
March 5, 2023
1. --
Lanie LeBlanc OP
2. --
Dennis Keller
3. --
4.
--(Your reflection can be here!)
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1.
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Lent 2 A 2023
In
our Gospel selection today, the three apostles and we are
told to "listen" to Jesus by the "voice from the cloud" that
called Jesus "my beloved Son". No wonder the apostles and we
are afraid. THIS IS A COMMAND PERFORMANCE, not really just
an invitation, given rather directly by God!
The Scriptures tell us clearly what Jesus said and did and
what we are to do to follow him. Our second reading also
says: "Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the
strength that comes from God." We are also told that it is
not our works, but rather the grace of God that will help us
lead a holy life and fulfill this command to bear this
hardship.
Jesus's task of redemption was possible because of his
complete trust in the Father. Our task to share this Good
News is likewise possible. It is possible only, however, if
we truly realize that it is not what we do, but rather it is
the grace of God that initiates any goodness and brings it
to completion through us in God's time and in God's way.
For me, it is usually the when and the how that trips me up!
I can rely on God's graces, but I most often want it sooner
than is in God's plan... and with what I had in mind in the
first place. Jesus told the apostles to wait to tell anyone
about the Transfiguration... talk about having to wait and
"recalculate"!
Lent for me this year is about more prayer, more slowing
down, more patience, more trust... and less of everything
else that might get me off track. I surely have to listen to
Jesus more. Let us pray that each of us will readily receive
the abundant graces that are ours for the taking.
Blessings,
Dr.
Lanie LeBlanc OP
Southern Dominican Laity
lanie@leblanc.one
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2.
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Second Sunday of Lent March 5, 2023
Genesis 12:1-4;
Responsorial Psalm 33; 2nd Timothy 1:8-10;
Gospel Acclamation Matthew 17:5; Matthew 17:1-9
The mysteries that challenge my intellect in reading our
Scriptures is often overwhelming. I, along with many others,
just don’t get the message. It’s some comfort to observe
Peter’s reaction to the Transfiguration of Jesus. He
obviously hadn’t comprehended Jesus’ preaching, healing, and
accompaniment of all he met. Peter hasn’t processes those
events. His reaction is more like, "Hey, this is really
great! This is what Jesus is all about, this is why we are
attracted to follow him. Let us stay here forever. It is so
very cool!" Peter, and likely James and John, have ignored
Jesus’ announcement of his impending death, the terrible
death on Calvary preceded by the horrific experience of
Gethsemane. They don’t get, fail to understand this
magnificent transfiguration is for Jesus. Through the lived
experiences of Moses and Elijah Jesus is confirmed that
what’s about to happen is the Father’s will. Moses is there
to encourage him as God encouraged him in those forty desert
years. But Moses, like the majority of us, even after a face
to face with God, fails to get his ego out of the way of
God’s working. Moses has a tough time of it. Even God’s
presence in the meeting tent couldn’t take away Moses’
frustration, suffering, and anger at the complaining and
threats the tribes so released from Pharoah’s slavery. At
Meribah, both Moses and Aaron let the complaining of the
nation boil over. The complaining, murmuring, angry shouts,
and threats from the thirsty people pushed Moses and Aaron
over the edge of their faith. We need water, why did you
take us away from the Nile to die of thirst in this terrible
desert? Moses had it. He conferred with God who told him to
bring water from the rock. Moses, really angry with the
people for their screaming and shouting at him, yelled back
at the assembled crowd: "Listen to me you rebels! Are WE to
bring water for you out of the rock?" Ah! There’s the sin of
Moses. He takes to himself and Aaron the power to bring
water from the rock. In his frustration at being victimized
by the crowd, he tried to set himself as he and Aaron
bringing them water. "Are WE to bring water from this rock?"
It was God and faith in God’s presence that provided water.
Because of their usurping God’s power, Moses and Aaron were
not allowed to enter the promised land. Just this one slip
of the tongue, this one claim of divine power and all was
changed. Aaron died and was buried in an unmarked grave in
the mountains. Moses was allowed to see the promised land
from the top of a mountain. He died and was buried in an
undisclosed place in the mountains. Moses was the
intermediary between God and the people. Moses brought and
explained the Law of God to the people. That Law was not
meant to be restrictive but an ethic of living that would
lead to a fulfilling life. Yet in later years the Law was
usurped into a set of mandates instead of the roadmap to
peace and justice. That Law would not take away suffering,
warfare, famine, or even failures in love. But living under
the Law was necessary for peace in individual spirits, a
full life, well lived, happiness, and a vibrant supportive
community. In this Transfiguration of Jesus, Moses shows up
with Jesus both as approval of his ministry and support in
what lay before Jesus when he entered Jerusalem. In Moses’s
presence and conversation Jesus was encouraged and confirmed
in his entering Jerusalem and in completing his mission.
Then there’s Elijah. What a prophet he was living and
working in the break-away nation of Israel! In the Northern
Kingdom, the influence of Jezebel had seduced Israel away
from the God of the Exodus in favor of the fertility,
agricultural gods that were Baal and Astarte. Elijah set up
a contest to prove whose god was the true and real God. The
priests of Baal lost their lives. Jezebel wanted revenge and
swore to take Elijah’s life. Elijah escaped into the desert,
burdened by his failure to win back Israel for God. He
prayed to die. Instead, he was fed and sent to the Mount
Sinai of Moses’ Law. There he begged to see God. Was this
for Elijah a request to confirm his faith? Did the outcome
of the contest with the priests of Baal shake his belief in
God and God’s presence? Even though God’s intervention in
the contest was clear, yet doubts must have flooded his
spirit. God placed Elijah in a cave. There came great
violence in nature but God was not in the bluster and show
of power. At last there came a gentle whisper of a breeze.
God instructed Elijah to hide his face until God passed by.
Elijah would be permitted to see God’s back. And then came
God, not in terrible power, in shaking of earth’s
foundations. God came by the mouth of the cave as a slight
breeze, a gentle blowing of wind that rustled no leaves,
picked up no dust. What a lesson for us! God is in the
smallness, in the gentleness, in the quiet of a scarcely
felt breeze. Both Moses and Elijah felt their failures. Yet
for both it was apparent God’s plan reached fulfillment
despite their ego, despite their doubts. So, it would be
with Jesus. So it is for each of us, Jesus would enter
Jerusalem in triumphant procession, as a King entering his
reigning city. And just days later he would be judged worthy
of death by the authorities of faith and of civil
governance. Jesus certainly appeared to be a failure. But we
should not misunderstand God’s plans. In the messages of
Moses and Elijah and all other prophets of the Covenant of
Sinai and in our life-times, the covenant of Gethsemane and
Calvary we ought to realize God’s plan takes suffering that
comes to us through the malevolence of others or
incompleteness of nature transfiguring it into an
opportunity for God to save us.
If
we think about the first reading we’ll see the necessity of
faith in the working of God’s plan. Abram and Sarai were
doing quite well in Ur of the Chaldees. They were living a
full life. God came to Abram and told him to go out from the
land of his father, go out to an undisclosed place. It was
as though God was telling Abram, "Trust me! If you do as I
tell you, you’ll become a great nation, your name will be
remembered forever, and through you, I will shower blessings
on those you bless and curse those you curse." But even more
incomprehensible God tells Abram, "All the communities on
the earth shall find blessing in you." This is so beyond
tribal understanding and culture of the Iron Age. This is a
promise that would strike a citizen of that era as
impossible. There were no jets, no internet, no video chats.
How could Abram understand what God was telling him? The
final line of that first reading is beyond human belief.
"Abram went as the Lord directed him." What an act of faith
that caused Abram and Sarai to leave all they knew and
venture out to an unknown place. Genesis marks for us the
wanderings of Abram and Sarai till they came at last to the
land of Canaan. Along the routes, Abram built altars to the
God who called them. And oh, God renamed Abram to Abraham.
The name applied to Abram who was childless in advanced age
meant the Father of a Great People – great in the sense of
multitude.
On
the mountain of Transfiguration, Jesus received the Father’s
stamp of approval for his final effort. That final effort is
a revelation of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Human life is guided by the Law and the prophets. And in the
final era of humanity, it is guided by the Father. "This is
my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased: listen to Him."
It is as though God’s presence is summed up in the words,
the healings, and the suffering and death of Jesus. Well,
not exactly completed with the dying. The final work of God
through Jesus is the Resurrection. In that new creation of
Jesus, we have the final phase of our own living. Through
our living on this earth, we come to listen to Jesus and
follow in the Way he demonstrates and teaches and heals. His
presence, his efforts, his teachings, his healings, his
incomparable suffering in Gethsemane and Calvary we have a
model about what being children of God is about. If we go
through this Lent focused only on the pain and the suffering
we’ll miss how God’s will works. Our sufferings, our
sacrifices in this Lent are the ways we arrive at Easter. If
we fail to climb the mountain with Peter, James, and John as
they follow Jesus, our Easter will be just an event for
brightness and celebration. If we climb the mountain to
understand the Father’s work for all persons – the "all
communities in the story of Abram and Sarai" – through the
Law, through the Prophets, and in the final era through the
presence and work of Jesus – then our Easter will be more
than a moment in life. Then Easter will be the beginning of
enhanced living now and a beginning within our spirits of
new meaning, purpose, and joy-filled peace. That’s a
foretaste of the meaning and impact of the Resurrected
Jesus. He enters the locked up room of our hearts then and
gently whispers as the slight breeze of Elijah – "Peace be
with you!"
Dennis Keller
dkeller002@nc.rr.com
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3.
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4.
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