20/03/2011 - 2ND SUNDAY IN LENTEN SEASON - Year A

1Reading Gen 12,1-4a Psalm 32 2Reading 2Tim 1,8b-10 Gospel Mt 17,1-9

Last Sunday we had a look at the disobedience of Adam, today we give a look to the obedience of Abraham instead. God asks him to commit himself "Leave your land...towards a land I will show you", promising him his blessing. But Abraham was to renounce every thing: property, social security, economical security, affections, to anchor himself with the Word of the one who was speaking to him. Obedience is the full expression of a trust in an invisible God: and Abraham moved out.
Abraham's obedience is the prophecy of the life of Jesus. He is the obedient par excellence, the one who trusted himself completly, totally, in God during his life. Today we contemplate him on the mountain while speaking to Moses and Elajah, the two who have lived their faith in an exemplary way. They are the ones who spoke with God, they have listened to him and obeyed him. They speak with Jesus, as if to tell him that he was about to fulfill their expectations, even so, that he is the one whom they have prophesized with their lives. He is the new Moses who is to lead the people to the end, he is the Elajah who offers to the people the authentic faith in the one true God.
Moses had elevated the bronze serpent in the desert, a prophecy of the one who was to be lifted up for the salvation of sinner. Elaijah on mt. Carmel, offerred a pleasing sacrifice to God, which was accepted by fire, a prophecy of the true sacrifice of Jesus, which God accepted by raising him up from the dead. God is pleased with his Son, and commands the three disciple to listen to him. He is the one who shall give them the eternal and living Word, the creative Word, the Word that enlightens man's journey. "Listen to him", said the voice from on high, a voice that wants to resound in our ears too.
The weeks of Lent are an invitation to listen to Jesus. We are to listen to him in silence. Jesus himself told them to keep silent. Before telling what they saw and heard and what they have experienced on the mountain, they needed to reflect, they needed to let that vision and that Word bear fruit deep down in them and change them. We too are to listen to the Word in silence. Certainly we are called to bring forward the Gospel to those with whom we come across, but we are to show them the Gospel we ourselves live, which we ourselves bring to life by our thoughts and concret actions of love and faithfulness. When infront of us there is only Jesus, like as he was before Peter, James and John, then our life itself is a gift for those with whom we meet. Silence is also the most beautiful way with which we can get closer to the Passion of the Lord, that Passion that brought us salvation and which is the way for all those who want to reach the fulness of life. Fulness of life is the fulness of love, of our own gift, something we achieve when we die to ourselves, leaving behind our same desires.
We get close to Easter in silence, a silence in which we welcome Jesus who immerse himself in the baptism of his passion. In this silence we too welcome the adversities and challenges that life offers to offer them to the Father alond the sacrifice of Jesus. This is what the apostle invites us to. "With the poser of God, suffer with me for the Gospel".
We want to take seriously this invitation, and wont run away from the pain of what it costs to love faithfully. Let us try to do voluntary renounciations in union with the love offerring of all the Church. Fasting, and not only abstinence from meat, a longer time of listening to the Word, taking part in prayer meetings and teachings, visiting and helping the sick, trying to get closer to people who suffer: these are flowers that decorate our way to the Pascha of the Lord, and lights that give life to our lives as lives that move in faith, the same faith that Abraham embraced.

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