PEACE-LENT 2023: Second Sunday of Lent
March 5: Genesis 12: 1-4; 2 Timothy 1: 8-10; Matthew 17:1-9
The message is plain and clear, when the three readings are taken together. The first reading invites us to reflect from the perspective of Abraham, one of the pioneers in our faith. The epistle presents Jesus as the Lord of light who shines on us. The Gospel presents to us that Jesus is the Light, our Light who shines! And putting these together we can understand what peace is for the world today - it is simply, reflecting God, reflecting the light of God.
Speaking about the timing of this event of transfiguration, at times we think that the passion of Christ began when he accepted the cross, or when he was arrested, or at the most when he began to sweat blood in the garden of Gethsemane. But that interpretation is bit faulty, don't you think? Jesus' life was one long stretch of passion! Already at the temptation, the beginning of his ministry, as we saw last week, his passion had begun. All through his life Jesus chose to suffer - for the sake of the will of God, for the sake of the mission entruste to him and for the sake of the children of God entrusted into his salvific care. Misundertsandings, rejection, maltreatment, hatred and animosity - there was no dearth of these all his life. But he was not moved! It is amidst these hurdles and hinderances that this event of transfiguration takes place - and that has a very specific message to us, in three simple affirmations that go to explain how we exude peace when we simply reflect God.
The first affirmation is that the Glory of the Lord is always present within us. All that Jesus had to do was to merely go up the mount by himself. The Glory of the Lord is ever present within us and all that we need to do is to make time to be by ourselves. Amidst the din of daily life and trying responsibilities, we may not manage to really be by ourselves. Even our prayer moments could be so filled with thoughts and preoccupations that we fill them so much with words, figures and plans which take away the space that we could share alone with God, who wants to speak to us!
Being by ourselves... is an important spiritual exercise towards peace... call it meditation or contemplation or merely prayer or retreat or recollection or whatever. It is when we are by ourselves that we can really turn to that glory of the Lord which resides within us, and that leads us to peace!
The second affirmation - Understanding the Glory sends us back to the daily life. Experiencing the glory of the Lord is not to get stuck there, reminds us Jesus. Peter's spontaneous response is usually what we wish in life - when we experience the Lord's presence close to us, may be at a miraculous happening, or a mysterious turn of events, or a joyful coincidence. But in fact it is merely a preparation for a moment that is trying, for a moment when difficult things happen, for a moment which cannot be explained in normal logic, for a moment when we need an extraordinary strength to remain faithful. The transfiguration of Jesus would have been running through Peter's mind all the time during the moments of darkness - the death of Jesus, the crisis of faith and the hidden life in the upper room. That is why he writes in his letter about this event (2 Pet 1: 17-18). Peter wanted to remain in that glory when he saw but Jesus reminds him to return to his daily life!
Spending time with God, is not to remain there in that sanctuary, rapt in glory and praise, but it is to return to our daily life and live it more meaningfully; it is to take that experience into the daily life and make meaning out of it. It is to identify that light of the Lord glowing within us and allow it to emerge, shine from within. That is a manifestation of the peace within.
The third affirmation is that the Glory of the Lord sheds new light to our days. The experience on the mount could have strengthened Jesus to walk with assurance towards Jerusalem. The experience of the disciples would have given them a new insight into who Jesus was. In a life filled with normal commitments and extraordinary sufferings, the experience of God's glory can clarify and illumine our path, preparing us to live them with newer meaning and fresher strength. St. Paul reminds us of that in the second reading today, asking us to derive strength from the Lord to bear our share of hardships. Every Eucharist we celebrate is a transfiguration event, and it is an invitation to learn to live our life with increased meaning and commitment. Should we remain the same after a Eucharistic Celebration, either we have not been by ourselves on that mount or we have been blind to that resplendent glory that shone.
Listenting to the Voice that resounds at every Eucharist that we participate: This is my beloved Son, Listen to Him" - that is the key to true peace. In listening and obeying that voice we gather the real meaning of our life. If we manage to gaze at the glory of the Lord and listen to the voice of the Lord, our life will be transformed and transfigured. We shall become reflections of God!
To turn to the glory that resides within us, to return strengthened to live our life with increased commitment and to continuously learn the real meaning of the life of faith: that is the way to peace, that the Word presents to us today. Let us realise that true peace is in short, reflecting God and let us intensify our Lenten Journey and may the Spirit inspire us ahead.
