Some thoughts about the Transfiguration

On the second Sunday of Lent we meditated on the transfiguration of Jesus. We know the story. Jesus showed some of his glory to three of His disciples. It was like an aperitif. Jesus gave them a foretaste of the beauty of his glory.

Luke wrote: "While (Jesus) was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white". It is a fact that Luke is using human words that cannot describe the Divine reality. In fact, the transfiguration of Jesus is only a spiritual aperitif.

Why did Christ’s disciples need a spiritual "aperitif"? 

In the region of Caesarea Philippi, shortly before His transfiguration, Jesus asked His disciples: "Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah of God.” Then Jesus added: "The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." This idea of a Messiah who must suffer and die was not their project. For Jews believed that the Messiah should be victorious in order to free them from the Romans. Jesus knew that he had to teach them and explain this mystery.

"Follow me!"

 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time. (Lk 4, 1-13)

“SEND ME!”

 A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke (Lk 5:1-11)

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. This is the Word of the Lord.

At the beginning of Chapter 6, Prophet Isaiah reports that he saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne in all his glory surrounded by Seraphim crying to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!” At this sight he saw himself a sinner, “a man of unclean lips”. “Woe to me”, he said, “I am doomed!” One of the Seraphs then touched the prophet’s mouth with a live coal taken from the altar, removed his wickedness and purged his sin. He then heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” Without really understanding the extent of the mission Isaiah answered: “Here I am. Send me!” (Is 6, 1-8).  
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Beg our mirthiful Father for the grace of humor

I enjoyed reading this.

 

.... We can learn a lot from Jesus, and – perhaps to Jim’s surprise – we can learn a lot from Mr. Gaffigan. If we take our faith so “seriously” that we clam up during a children’s liturgy, then we might be missing the mirth of God the Father’s tender heart. Becoming heated because the first graders didn’t reread the General Instruction of the New Roman Missal or memorize their favorite passages from Sacrosanctum Concilium before taking the ambo for the Universal Prayer might make us “smart”, but it doesn’t make us super-Catholics. Before we get wound up with all the in-fighting of the Church or the out-fighting with everyone else, beg our mirthiful Father for the grace of humor. Humor holds together the beauty and the absurdity we feel while living our Catholic faith. So, sing without restraint with your first grader because, as G.K. Chesterton noted while ending his book Orthodoxy, perhaps God’s greatest secret is His mirth.

Jacob Bearer comments on Jim Gaffigan’s book on family life, Dad is Fat

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You are children of the Most High, all of you!

A reading from the gospel according to Mark (Mk 2, 1-12)

When [Jesus] returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

This is the word of the Lord.

One short word, pronounced by Jesus in today’s gospel selection, caught my attention: “Son”, he said. 
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The Holy Innocents

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew (2, 13-18)

When the Magi had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

This is the Word of the Lord.
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Revolution of Tenderness

In an interview to a Catholic weekly magazine (‘Credere’),  Pope Francis responds to a question about the female face of the Church, saying it is not easy to understand the maternity of God, so he prefers to speak of the tenderness of God as our mother and father. If we are open to this revolution of tenderness, the Pope says, we ourselves will become more tolerant, more patient and more tender, learning not to treat people as objects. The Pope gives the example of an employer who lays off his workers over the summer so that he doesn’t have to pay the extra pension or social security costs of a full time worker. If we are able to put ourselves in that other person’s shoes, the Pope says, then things change and we stop thinking about the money in our own pockets.

Read report  here

Read interviedw in Italian here