Texts taken from the Missal “On Your Word” March-April 2022

2nd Sunday of Lent (C) 
2nd week of the psalter

FIRST READING

From the Book of Genesis (Gen 15:5-12, 17-18)
In those days, God brought Abram outside and said to him: “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can count them.” Then he added, “Just so 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.” “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.” He 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 that passed between the pieces. On that day 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.” – The Word of the Lord.

Commentary on the first reading

The covenant ceremony established between God and Abram has a bloody aspect, as was customary among the peoples of that time. In some way, God “adapts” to the ancient ritual so that its seriousness is clear to man. Essentially, an animal is taken and sacrificed by dividing it into two parts, as if to say that the same thing would happen to the two parties if either one failed to uphold the agreement made. This is a symbolic gesture, which Abram immediately understands, but it also contains a veiled reference to the definitive covenant that God would make with humanity in Christ. We must always read all of Scripture with reference to Jesus… One day, this bloody death (the animal divided in two) would belong to the Lord himself, no longer through ritual animals, but in his body, which would be offered in a bloody sacrifice on the cross. From the first covenant with Abram would come the Promised Land; from the second covenant would descend Christ’s unshakable and eternal gift of the Mass, which takes away the sins of the world.

SECOND READING

From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Philippians (Phil 3:17 – 4:1)
Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who act according to the example you have in us. For many – I have often told you and now tell you even with 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 our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power 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, beloved! – The Word of the Lord. 

Commentary on the second reading

There is an inseparable bond between the cross and glory. We reach glory by passing through the cross accepted and lived with love, but while we suffer, the foretaste of glory has already been poured into our hearts. Jesus followed this same path, and we who are in him live his very life. Suffering is caused by the sin that still exists in the world, but after Christ’s resurrection, eternal life enters every smallest sigh that is offered. Although we carry the weight of our sorrows, we are already “citizens” of heaven. Do we feel it? We are crucified and risen at the same time! It follows, then, that every one of our pains can be glorified. The martyrs bear witness to this, contemplating, in death, the glory of Christ at the right hand of the Father, as Saint Stephen says while he is being stoned. But this also happens before death. Therefore, there is no trial or suffering that can crush and overcome us: everything has already been transfigured by Christ, who lives in glory with the marks of the Passion on his hands, side, and feet. Every suffering offered, then, is a step toward heaven.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 9:28b-36)
In those days, Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying, his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling 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 that we are 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. And 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. –
The Gospel of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

Every year, the Second Sunday of Lent presents us with the Gospel of the Transfiguration, narrated by the three Synoptic Evangelists (this year it is Luke’s turn). Why is this passage invariably read during Lent? The reason is simple: so that we never forget that the Jesus who will undergo every kind of suffering and trial, culminating in the “disgrace” of the cross, is the same one who, surrounded by glory, lives immersed in the light of the Father. The three apostles need to see that in Christ there is truly “something more” than the power to work miracles or to teach with authority. And they see it: the Lord is at once within time and beyond time (he speaks with Moses and Elijah, making them his contemporaries); he speaks and listens directly to the Father, who calls him Son: he is truly God! With Jesus, then, we too overcome time and trials; we too speak with the people of the past who are in glory. In Jesus and with Jesus, we too can carry our cross with our eyes fixed on that wonderful whirlwind of love that awaits us, and then every cross will seem bearable to us, indeed desirable, so that we may enter God forever.