SECOND OF LENT - 2022

LENT 2022

 DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

From the bright cloud the Father’s voice was heard:
‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’ MT 17:5

GENESIS 15:5-12,17-18 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Abraham had a towering faith, an invincible faith, even though God's made promises to him were not fulfilled long into his old age, but when God continued to assure him that his descendants would be as impossible to count as the stars in the heaven, he believed.  Wow.

We ask for something in prayer and expect an instant answer and when You delay in giving us what we ask or give us something entirely different from what we had asked, we lose heart, we sulk, we grumble, and we refuse to talk to You. Our faith evaporates like the morning dew.

But if we took the time to become familiar with Your Word in the Testament of God both in the Old and the New, we would come to know You and love You. We would trust Your Word. We would pant to know Your will and embrace it no matter how difficult and we would rejoice, and exult in Your love for us and the glorious destiny that awaits us.  

You, my Beloved, the Son of God, are the Father's covenant with us. It seals us in Your Blood. It redeems and sanctifies us and makes us children of God. What more could we ask for or desire except perfect obedience to Your will.

You are our Lord and our God. We are knit together by the Creator and the breath of God is breathed into our spirit and we live a life of grace and truth for we are members of Your Body.

Birds of prey will not attack or destroy us for You keep constant vigil over those who are marked by the Sign of the Cross, it is a Sign that guarantees us a share in Your inheritance as God's adopted children.

PHILIPPIANS 3:17-4:1 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

It isn't audacious for St. Paul to say to us to take as our models all who follow his rule of life, to study their lives, as his own is studied, for they lived exemplary lives conformed to You - the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

This sentiment is echoed by a poet who says practically the same thing in these lines, 'Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.'

Every single person who has been baptized into Your Body from the time You established Your Church is called to be a saint. We are called to be holy and perfect as You O Lord and the Father, are holy and perfect. And every one of us, at our passing, should leave behind footprints that others can follow confident that they will lead them to the Kingdom of God.

St.Paul's lament is the lament of all holy women and men in our present age, all who are striving to live and raise families in a dark and evil age. Sometimes the battle seems lost and like Paul and so many after him tears of sorrow are shed because many who are called by Your Name, many who are called to be shepherds, are behaving as the enemies of the cross of Christ. They are destined to be lost. They make foods into their god and they are proudest of something they ought to think shameful; the things they think important are earthly things. His lament is prophetic because such is the case in our age as well.

But this is the hope of all who witness to the Truth and shine Your Light in the world, knowing that we are only pilgrims and not citizens of the world and are that: 

For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the saviour we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body. He will do that by the same power with which he can subdue the whole universe.

Beloved, in this glorious season of Lent, may we examine our lives and get rid of all that keeps us from being authentic Christians so we remain faithful to the end. So then, my brothers and dear friends, do not give way but remain faithful in the Lord. 

LUKE 9:28-36 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Many of us clamor to belong to the inner circle but we are not prepared to make the necessary sacrifices required of Your closest most ardent, followers.

Why Peter, John, and James and not any of the others? Why not? Perhaps the Father in His wisdom chose them and that was good enough for You. You always embraced the will of Your Father. 

You ascended the mountain to pray and there You were transfigured. Prayer ought to be that kind of experience for all of us for we know that many holy men and women through the ages have experienced spiritual spousal union with You. 

Peter, John, and James were witnesses to Your divinity when the brilliance of the glory of the Son of God was made visible to mere mortals. They revealed that as You prayed, the aspect of his face was changed and Your clothing became brilliant as lightning and You had two celestial visitors, Moses and Elijah sent by God to strengthen You and to reveal to the three, Your divinity, and they were blown away. Their eyes were blinded at the brilliance of Your radiance and they were overcome with fear, trembling, and awe.

It says that their eyes were heavy with sleep but they stayed awake at the extraordinary scene even though they were unable to comprehend or absorb what was before them. We read of another instance when their eyes were not only heavy with sleep at the Garden of Gethsamane when You urged the same three to keep watch with You and to pray, but they actually did sleep. 

They were witnesses to Your divinity at the Mt. of Transfiguration and they were witnesses to Your humanity in Your agony in the garden, both were unbearable to their human sensibilities. Nevertheless, they witnessed the heavens being parted and being given a glimpse of the glory of God. This took place not only to strengthen You for the Sacrifice You would soon undertake on our behalf and for our sins but to strengthen them as well when faced with the horror and scandal of the Cross.

Peter was so bewildered at what they were witnessing he began babbling about building three tents, for You, Moses, and Elijah. Wouldn't we all love to stay cozily on the mountain with You? Who does not want the highs? But our lived faith experience is in the valleys and along narrow and difficult roads, it is here that we are purified, sanctified, and purged of dross before we can enter into Your Presence.

Let us carry in our hearts, for as long as we have breath in our bodies, the voice of God, Your Father and ours who says to us always, ‘This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him.’