HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

(Mt.17,1-9)

Rev. Alexander Díaz

We are celebrating the Second Sunday of Lent, and the liturgy of today is somewhat different from all other Sundays it invites us to sacrifice, mortification, and the change of life. This Sunday is most to reflect about our lives.

Today is the Tabor Sunday, of the Transfiguration, the glorious manifestation of Jesus to his friends, when they had finished climbing a massive mountain.

Jesus invites us to make a stop on the way, to accompany Him to a high mountain and see how it transforms before us; his face like the sun, his garments white as light.

I've always liked the image of Peter and the other apostles because I stop and think how impressive that situation would have been, that Peter always the most daring, could only think to say: "How good it is to be here!”

And then he added that they should make three tents, forgetting about his colleagues and himself. It must have been a shocking experience. It does not appear to have caused them fear at any moment or dread. Rather, the opposite. They heard or felt the voice of God inviting them to hear the voice of His Son, Jesus. Once again, the invitation to listen and open our hearts to the Word, which must always be the center of Christian life.

Everything happened on a high mountain. When I went there a few months ago, at this mountain, I began to think on how this route of Peter with His three closest friends, climbing the tall mountain on foot, must have taken them at least three to four hours, and they must have had a good physical preparation, because it is in this context that Jesus invites us to reflect on our lives.

Life is like that, it's like climbing a tall mountain, where we encounter so many difficulties, where we have to remove the stones and debris that obstruct our path to move forward and conquer that mountain.

When you climb the mountain and do not have the proper training there are times in which we desire to leave that achievement unfinished, and return to the plain path again, it does not require sacrifice and pain, it is easy to leave everything and live comfortably, but that is not to be a Christian, that's to be a coward who never conquers anything.

But after climbing the mountain, glory and the transformation follows, transfiguration, to which we are called, and why not say, forced by baptism, the big question today is:

Which are the transfiguring experiences in our live and our social environment?

This event is dormant when we are able to get so close to Jesus and go with him in the silence of prayer and contemplation in the Eucharist. Behold, the glory of God is neither more nor less than to enjoy our encounter with Jesus in fullness, to feel close to Jesus, who is friendly and loving. This way the love God has for us is revealed. The time we wasted looking and begging for love in all the wrong places.

This transfiguration is realized when viewed in the most poor and needy to the privileges of God; it’s also another experience of transfiguration. The disciples felt like beggars before the great event of salvation, they felt empty of salvation, and that’s why they wanted to stay and make three tents to continue the enjoyment. When you feel and experience the glory of God, you don’t want it to be over, we want it to continue and be full.

See my life as God sees me is another transfiguring experience because God is present in real life, as I am.

"Many times us Christians claim that God is in our lives, but not in our real life, but into the perfect life for which I am called. We fight because we are not as we would like to be and we get discouraged because we cannot have God to be in our ideal life. And this is true: God is never what we would be or how we want to be ... God the Father is just what we are today with our realities and miseries, our weaknesses and mistakes. If many brothers and sisters in faith would take into account this point they will suffer less and be more fulfilling Christians: God is not the ideal to which I am called. God is here today, at this moment, with me, accompanying me in my weaknesses, encouraging me, giving me life.

The Christian life is full of attempts of transfiguration, but it is those moments that mark the path we must follow. We can taste the greatness of God when we do not despair, hence the experience of the living Christ so he may not go unnoticed for so many. They are unable to capture the transfiguration because they have no time for God. "(Mario Santamaría Bueno, homilies for every Sunday, 2005)

As we need to change and transfigure our lives, by letting us get dragged by the Master, who wants to go with us to this difficult mountain of life, He truly walks with us, sadly many people doubt God because they do not see Him, we can perceive the Lord in his greatness, in his infinite love, in his glory. The Christian life is to live and tell others the experience the encountering of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, on the way to the cross, glory and suffering intersect, human weakness and the greatness of God. It is a precise blend of what is human events. It’s a constant reminder to our weak humanity. There is no glory without the cross, there is no redeemed cross without Christ. Jesus, the Master, the brother, the friend, gives us grace and strength of transforming our lives, and walks at your side to be transformed into true children of God and true Christians.