Texts taken from the “On Your Word” Missal January-February 2024

2nd Sunday of Lent (B)
2nd week, psalter cycle

FIRST READING

From the Book of Genesis  (Gen 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18)
In those days, God put Abraham to the test and said to him: “Abraham!” He answered: “Here I am!” Then he said: “Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you.” So they arrived at the place of which God had told him; there Abraham built the altar and arranged the wood. Then Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said: “Abraham, Abraham!” He answered: “Here I am!” The angel said: “Do not lay your hand on the boy, and do not do the slightest thing to him! Now I know that you fear God and have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son. The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said: “I swear by myself, says the Lord: because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand that is on the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the cities of their enemies. All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed my voice.” – The word of the Lord.

Commentary on the first reading

On Mount Moriah, a father and a son. On Mount Tabor, the eternal Father and the divine Son, also his only-begotten one. The father and son on the first mountain prepare for the ritual sacrifice; on the second, Jesus speaks with Elijah and Moses about his passion. The two scenes echo one another. Abraham’s faithfulness earns him God’s blessing; Christ’s faithfulness earns him the blessing of the Father, who calls him “chosen son,” that is, blessed. Jesus brings to completion what had been prefigured in Abraham. The difference is that Jesus carries out the sacrifice of himself to the very end, and the knife of men will sink into his flesh, causing his death on the cross. Then redemption will be accomplished, for the benefit of all people who will be freed from Adam’s ancient guilt. The faith of the patriarch Abraham is immediate, absolute, and unconditional, and this teaches us that it is precisely this docility that moves sacred history toward its fulfillment. Abraham is great not because he is the father of all Israel, but because he is the first son of God to carry out the works of the Most High with complete trust.

SECOND READING

From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Romans  (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 all of us, will he not also give us everything along with him? Who will bring an accusation against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies! Who will condemn? Christ Jesus died, rather, was raised, is at the right hand of God, and intercedes for us! – The word of the Lord.

Commentary on the second reading

We are called to reflect on, understand, and adore the Father’s love. He is good; indeed, he is absolute goodness, and he reveals his greatness by carrying out the most divine act imaginable: handing his beloved Son over into the hands of men, so that the human race might be redeemed and brought back into the bosom of the Most Holy Trinity, where love is total. Without this will, we could never imagine being united with God, but once we welcome divine grace, we can remain in the Trinity, in Christ, where there is no condemnation. Judgment was already pronounced two thousand years ago, and it was an acquittal. Beneath the cross, if we believe and obey the commandments, we receive forgiveness of sins, the devil is silenced, and the Father finds in Christ his children, who otherwise could never have been reunited with him. Therefore, the Father does not judge. The one who judges is Jesus, because he is the one who died on the cross for us. But the Father justifies us, having raised the Son and appointed him intercessor. Here the circle closes. Everything has been done, everything has been accomplished: all that remains is to believe, adore, and love.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Mark (Mk 9:2-10)
At that time, Jesus took with him 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, whiter than any fuller could bleach them. And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus: “Rabbi, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them, and 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 the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant. – The Gospel of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

Why does Jesus ask the three disciples to keep silent, even though he had called them to be witnesses of his transfiguration? Was this not something beautiful to share with everyone or to show to all by involving the other disciples? The three must remain silent because the transfiguration can be fully understood only after Christ’s resurrection, to demonstrate that the Jesus who died on the cross was the same one they had seen a few months earlier, enveloped in glory and speaking with Moses and Elijah. The scene on Tabor, entirely divine, is joined to the wholly human scene of the cross, because Jesus is God even when he dies on Golgotha and is human even when he is transfigured, shining in the glory of Mount Tabor. We need this certainty so as not to diminish the humanity of the Word before the greatness of his divinity and never to forget Christ’s divinity by considering him simply a vulnerable, suffering, weak man. Our whole life, then, will be nothing other than this slow, gradual, yet continuous passage (transference) from our human reality, arduous and limping, to divine reality, a transference that begins for us on the day we received Baptism.