HOMILIES

Dear Audience,
For better understanding of the spiritual message behind this homily I kindly remind you to first read and contemplate the biblical texts before reading or listening to my preaching - a human reflection on the Word of God!

Second Sunday of Lent (Year C)

Feb 24, 2013

3780

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First Reading

A reading from the Book of Genesis (15:5-12, 17-18)

The Lord God took Abram outside and said: "Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so," he added, "shall your descendants be," Abram put his faith in the Lord, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness. He then said to him, "I am the Lord, who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession." "O Lord God," he asked, "how am I to know that I shall possess it?" He answered him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." Abram brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up. Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram stayed with them. As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.

When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. It was on that occasion that the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I give this land from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates."

(P) The word of the Lord.
(R) Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalms of David (27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14)

(R) The Lord is my light and my salvation.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The Lord is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afraid? (R)

Hear, O Lord, the sound of my call; have pity on me, and answer me. Of you my heart speaks; you may glance seeks. (R)

Your presence, O Lord, I seek. Hide not your face from me; do not in anger repel your servant. You are my helper: cast me not off. (R)

I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord. (R)

Second Reading

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians (10:8-13)

Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their "shame." Their minds are occupied with earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord.

(P) The word of the Lord.
(R) Thanks be to God.

Gospel

Gospel Acclamation

(R) Alleluia, alleluia!

From the shining cloud the Father's voice is heard: This is my beloved Son; listen to him. (R)

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (9:28b-36)

Jesus took Peter, John and James, and went up onto a mountain to pray. While he was praying, his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzlingly white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." But he did not know what he was saying.

While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my chosen Son; listen to him." After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen.

(P) The Gospel of the Lord.
(R) Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Homily

An excited little boy was telling his Dad about something that had happened to him in the school that day. His Dad said, "Slow down, my boy, you are talking too fast!" The boy responded, "Oh, no, Dad, I'm not talking too fast. Your listening speed is just too slow. ARE YOU LISTENING?"

Our relationship with God is that of Father and child. God the Father tries to tell us something always. But we the children perhaps tell Him to slow down saying that He asks too much of us too fast. Today He reminds us that He is not asking too much of us too fast but rather our listening speed is just too slow. Do we listen to Him?

Between last Sunday's gospel about the temptations of Jesus which reveal the humanity of Jesus and today's gospel about the transfiguration of Jesus which shows the divinity of Jesus, a lot has happened. Jesus travelled to many places with his disciples preaching and healing. People followed them wherever they went. During their time with Jesus, the disciples saw the goodness and kindness of Jesus and, they were constantly amazed by his remarkable insights and extraordinary miracles. But, they did not yet really understand who Jesus truly was even though they had all kinds of ideas about who He might be. Some thought he was John the Baptist; others Elijah and some others like Peter, believed that he was the Messiah. However when Jesus said that he, their Messiah, must suffer, die and rise again, they could not accept it. They perhaps were saying to themselves if God chooses to accomplish the work of redemption for mankind through great pain and suffering of their Saviour, then God could use suffering for His divine plan in us as well, and that would be unacceptable.

So Jesus took three of his disciples, Peter, James and John to the mountain to pray and while there, he revealed to them who he really is. He created an opportunity for the disciples to see something greater than what they were seeing with the crowd. He was transfigured before them. At that time, the disciples saw the whole heavenly court, particularly Moses and Elijah standing with Jesus, to confirm that Jesus was indeed much greater than Moses, the law giver (Ten Commandments) and the liberator of the people of Israel from Egyptian slavery and Elijah, one of the greatest prophets of all times. Therefore, the appearance of Moses and Elijah signified that Jesus embodied both Moses and Elijah, all the laws and prophesies, and therefore He is the Son of God.

As far as the disciples were concerned the transfiguration was very significant to them because their eyes were opened and they caught a glimpse of the true reality of Jesus, his glory and power. However, the high point of the story is a voice that came from the clouds, saying, "This is my chosen Son; listen to him." The disciples certainly knew whose voice it was - God himself was speaking. They had heard the voice before when Jesus was baptized: "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased." For the disciples there could be no more doubt about Jesus. He was God's Son. So we too are certain that Jesus is the Son of God. What is most significant to us in our faith, is the command of God to listen to His Son. The voice does not say "listen to me" but listen to him. In other words we are to listen to Jesus, the voice of God, the Word of God. Jesus' word is God's word. Imagine the blessing and grace we would have if we obeyed these simple words "listen to Him" always.

So do we really listen to him? If you have, when was the last time you listened to Him? How often have you listened to him? Certainly many of us lack the willingness and courage to listen to him. Instead we occupy ourselves with listening to all sorts of ideas from other people, ideas which are contrary to the Word and promises of Jesus. In today's second reading, Saint Paul reminds us that "many conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ and their minds are occupied with earthly things", but we must "stand firm in the Lord".

We do hear Jesus speaking to us in the Holy Eucharist. We hear him speak through the readings, hymns, prayers, homilies and people. We hear Him in our worship. He could be speaking to us in all kinds of situations and events in life, but are we really listening to Him? Yes, in fact, there are times we seem to be. But we tend to listen to only what we want to hear and not what we need to hear. We perhaps suffer from selective listening. We may like to hear the words of Jesus, "Love God and love your neighbor." But we may ignore his words if he asks us to love a certain person. It often depends on who the neighbor / person is. How many of us like to hear his words, "If you want to be my disciple… you must deny yourself… give up everything and follow me", or "if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you?" We are perhaps quite happy to hear, "Ask and you will be given" and "I am with us always." But when it comes to giving up our pride or sharing things with others in need, we may hear him but we may not really listen to Him. In other words, we ignore Jesus if his words disrupt our life. Because listening to His word involves sacrifice and suffering. We may also listen to Jesus at times. It may be easy to listen to Jesus when things are going well; when our problems are few or non-existent. What kind of spirit do we have when hardships hit our lives or tragedies strike us or trials come our way?

Listening involves more than just hearing sounds or hearing words that only favor our thoughts and wants. Let us pay attention to Jesus always because He is who He says He is, the Son of God, the Chosen One. If you have had no experience of listening to Jesus then something needs to be done. We need insight and wisdom to understand His Word. We need divine help and guidance for the moment of revelation. For that, first of all, we need to be alone with God; we need to sit in silence and prayer before the Lord. Second, we need to look at what the Bible says about our thoughts and actions. When we read or hear the Word of God in prayer, I am sure we'll discover why He says what He says. If we truly and humbly seek Him, He will always tell us something wonderful and comforting. And if we listen to Him or act according to His word, then we will have true peace and happiness.

(P) Amen.

God Bless You!

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