Deacon Tom Anthony

Second Sunday of Lent
Lectionary: 26

Reading 1 Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18

God put Abraham to the test.
He called to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am!" he replied.
Then God said:
"Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah.
There you shall offer him up as a holocaust
on a height that I will point out to you."

When they came to the place of which God had told him,
Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.
Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the LORD's messenger called to him from heaven,
"Abraham, Abraham!"
"Here I am!" he answered.
"Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger.
"Do not do the least thing to him.
I know now how devoted you are to God,
since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."
As Abraham looked about,
he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.
So he went and took the ram
and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

Again the LORD's messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said:
"I swear by myself, declares the LORD,
that because you acted as you did
in not withholding from me your beloved son,
I will bless you abundantly
and make your descendants as countless
as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore;
your descendants shall take possession
of the gates of their enemies,
and in your descendants all the nations of the earth
shall find blessing—
all this because you obeyed my command."

Responsorial Psalm Ps 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19

R. (116:9) I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
I believed, even when I said,
"I am greatly afflicted."
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

Reading 2 Rom 8:31b-34

Brothers and sisters:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son
but handed him over for us all,
how will he not also give us everything else along with him?

Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones?
It is God who acquits us, who will condemn?
Christ Jesus it is who died—or, rather, was raised—
who also is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us.

Verse Before the Gospel Cf. Mt 17:5

From the shining cloud the Father's voice is heard:
This is my beloved Son, listen to him.

Gospel Mk 9:2-10

Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
"Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.

As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

 Would we be able to sacrifice our precious child to God if He so requested it? In reality, He would never require this but, through the First Reading in Sacred Scripture today, He was making a point. Abraham willingly brought Isaac forward to be the Sacrificial Lamp to demonstrate his love and obedience to God. At the last moment, God then had him replace Isaac with a ram. His love for us is this way that He would never request that which would cause us unnecessary pain and torment. God loves all of us and we are His children. He only wants the best for us and to experience the joy of an intimate relationship with Him. Yet, it is  He that has demonstrated that He indeed loves us more than we love Him. He gave up His beloved son to suffering and death so that we may obtain eternal life. It was a sacrifice that He willingly made for us. We are encouraged to place ourselves in the character of Abraham: Could we ever rise to the request of God to offer to Him what He offered to us? Again, the answer would be no and that is the point of the entire exercise. God did for us out of love for us what we could never do in return. It is through that knowledge that we should approach our relationship with Him. He is all giving and loving while we will naturally show restraint in our reverence to Him.

Why are we so afraid to surrender to God’s Will? It is partly because of Original Sin and our own pride that causes us to not fully commit to God. There will always be some level of doubt which will leave us lacking in our relationship with Him. But, where there is failure there is also an opportunity. As Christians, we are encouraged to recognize our shortcomings in order to overcome them. We should approach these faults by embracing them and contemplating them in relation to our overall relationship with God. Acknowledging where we fall short then can create an opportunity for us to improve on the areas necessary to better ourselves and strengthen our faith in God. Wherever we find ourselves in our life at this present moment, there is always room for improvement and growth. Concentrating on the growth opens a doorway to further knowledge and understanding of Him who created us. The goal, though maybe not obtainable until our death, is perfection in our relationship with God.

During this Season of Lent, when our faults are recognized, it is spiritually healthy to feel unworthy and downtrodden. This is part of surrendering to God. Jesus then can more readily enter into our hearts and begin the process of healing. In the beginning, there will be some sort of pain but it can be a good pain that indicates that we are healing. No healing be it physical, mental, or spiritual is without some sort of pain. It is then we unite ourselves with the Crucified Christ and understand the pain He experienced for us and us alone. God gave us His only beloved son as a testament to what He was willing to do for us. Surrendering ourselves to Him in much the same way can bring about a new chapter in our relationship with God. It can be viewed as a mutual suffering where we become bonded with Him who created us and longs for our redemption.

Paul reminds us that if God is with us who can be against us? The relationship we have with God is established through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. With God committing this act for us is a testament to what He is willing to do for us to insure our happiness and joy. There is nothing that He will not do for us. In a world of selfishness and self-centeredness, this act by God raises us all above that into a new way of living. Living our lives through the example of this sacrifice glorifies Jesus Christ. It also glorifies us as His children. There is no exemption from this. As long as God is recognized and Jesus’ death embraced, we are naturally transformed by these events into something more amazing then we could ever contemplate. An act of acceptance is all that remains to begin a process of perfection through the Love of God.

Deacon Tom