Second Sunday of Lent

First Reading

Genesis 22,1-2.9-13.15-18

It happened some time later that God put Abraham to the test. 'Abraham, Abraham!' he called. 'Here I am,' he replied. God said, 'Take your son, your only son, your beloved Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, where you are to offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I shall point out to you.' When they arrived at the place which God had indicated to him, Abraham built an altar there, and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son and put him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven. 'Abraham, Abraham!' he said. 'Here I am,' he replied. 'Do not raise your hand against the boy,' the angel said. 'Do not harm him, for now I know you fear God. You have not refused me your own beloved son.' Then looking up, Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. The angel of Yahweh called Abraham a second time from heaven. 'I swear by my own self, Yahweh declares, that because you have done this, because you have not refused me your own beloved son, I will shower blessings on you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will gain possession of the gates of their enemies. All nations on earth will bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed my command.'

Psalmody

Psalm 116

Antiphon

Let all peoples praise the Lord.

O praise the Lord, all you nations,
acclaim him all you peoples!

Strong is his love for us;
his is faithful for ever.

Second Reading

Romans 8,31-34

After saying this, what can we add? If God is for us, who can be against us? Since he did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for the sake of all of us, then can we not expect that with him he will freely give us all his gifts? Who can bring any accusation against those that God has chosen? When God grants saving justice who can condemn? Are we not sure that it is Christ Jesus, who died -- yes and more, who was raised from the dead and is at God's right hand -- and who is adding his plea for us?

Reading of the Gospel

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Mark 9,2-10

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain on their own by themselves. There in their presence he was transfigured: his clothes became brilliantly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus. Then Peter spoke to Jesus, 'Rabbi,' he said, 'it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.' He did not know what to say; they were so frightened. And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and from the cloud there came a voice, 'This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.' Then suddenly, when they looked round, they saw no one with them any more but only Jesus. As they were coming down from the mountain he warned them to tell no one what they had seen, until after the Son of man had risen from the dead. They observed the warning faithfully, though among themselves they discussed what 'rising from the dead' could mean.

 

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Homily

"Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves." Sunday is the day of the Transfiguration. Jesu sis at the centre; our eyes are all turned to the altar that is Christ, our ears attentive to his voice. It is Jesus who acts first of all in the holy liturgy: he gathers us together for prayer and thus he allows us to enter that spiritual conversation to which the evangelist introduces us when he shows us Jesus "talking with" Moses and Elijah, then with the intervention of the very voice of the Father and in the end through Peter's words. Yes, by all of us having our gaze fixed on Jesus we are transfigured in the sense that we become more like Jesus, luminous with his same love, his same passion: we thus transfigure our own lives, and also those of the poor, the dramatic lives of peoples who are crushed by war and hunger. Everything starts from the mountain, from Jesus, from the liturgy, from prayer, by involvement, by irradiation of that face. For this reason, presence in the holy liturgy - the physical liturgy above all - is the condition to be transfigured, to be able to say with the apostle: "It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." The evangelist Mark reminds us of this in the notation that closes the scene of the transfiguration: the three, at the end of the vision, "saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus." Those three could return to the plain of life with Jesus. They did not need anyone else. All we need is the Gospel.
The Gospel of the Transfiguration puts on our lips, no matter if we are confused too, the same words of Peter: "It is good for us to be here." It is good to be on the Tabor that makes of us a people. It is good to be here together with the many elderly people, the youth, children the sick, the poor, foreigners who through us are transfigured into a people for they are welcomed and loved. In these days of Lent let us not turn our eyes away from Jesus, let us not stop to listen to his words and to serve the poor; they will be days of transfiguration in which we will remember Jesus' exhorting words to the disciples: "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."