2nd Sunday of Lent—Fr. Leo Schneider
Christmas was the major celebration that began our new liturgical year. In that feast we celebrated that Christ, the Son of God, took on flesh. Luke’s gospel never shies away from the human side of Jesus Christ. In taking on flesh, Jesus makes himself one with every human being past, present and future with the purpose of uniting our humanity to his divinity. Jesus, Son of God, and we sons and daughters of God by adoption.
Jesus mission then, is to unite us with his divinity. Through him, the gift of the Holy Spirit draws us into the inner life of the Holy Trinity. Baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit we sign ourselves with the cross often to remind us of our true identity in God.
It is prudent that the Church gives us the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus on this second Sunday of Lent, that we might keep our spiritual goal always before us. The Transfiguration of Christ is a foreshadowing of the Resurrection of Christ into heaven, His promises to all who put their faith in Him.
If we were to look at an icon of the Transfiguration side by side with an icon of the Resurrection we would see more than striking similarity. Both portray Jesus in the middle wearing a dazzling white robe and an aura of intense light emanating from him. The light shines on those who are around him drawing them into his divinity.
To pray with these icons is to hear and feel God’s call to each of us to hear his voice. To take of first importance in our lives the voice of Christ in our hearts vivified by the Scriptures and the Sacraments. God is saying anew to each of us today, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”
By God’s grace and our desire we are invited to immortality in God’s Kingdom now and forever. Today, we are asked by God himself to take that invitation seriously and live by every word and grace that comes to us through the gift of incarnation. Let us ask God to dwell in us so His love, may be our love and His peace, our peace.