2nd Sunday of Lent Cycle A Year I

"Do not tell anyone of the vision until the Son of Man rises from the dead"
The mystery of the Jesus' Transfiguration gives Christians a glimpse of what they will be after death - a new life in Christ's glory. This mystery teaches that death is not the end of mortal life but an eternal state of life with God.

Our daily lives are often engrossed in the difficulties and the sufferings connected with our states of life and our relationship with others. But this is really a distraction from the eternal destiny Jesus is presenting to us through His Transfiguration. A life with Jesus in His glory awaits us. Jesus shares this truth with His apostles Peter, James and John. He also shares it with us. But before this reality that awaits us, there is the reality of the Cross - a gift and mystery Jesus calls us to share also with Him. The Cross is a great suffering, but that is not the end. As we shall see in the discipline of Lent, Christ's suffering leads to our salvation and redemption (and to His glory in the Resurrection).

Going back to the Transfiguration event, we see Peter, James and John so caught up in the glory presented before them that they wanted to build three tents and stay permanently on the mountain together with Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Jesus said that they were not to remain there but to go down the mountain. Though this Transfiguration event gives us a glimpse of Jesus' resurrection and our own eternal destiny, like Peter, James and John, we need to go down the mountain of our comfort zones, and continue in the little "calvaries" and "crucifixions" of daily life and ordinary work. If we review our Christian journey to God, we will realize that it is indeed strewn with little "calvaries" and "crucifixions". The consolations and comforts we sometimes receive from God in our Christian journey, helps ease the sufferings we have to go through in the realities of our states of life. But if we deny our self for love of God, share in the Cross of His Son Jesus, and follow all His commands and counsels, we will obtain meaning in the life He has gifted us with.

Lent is a time for us to consider in more depth the life our Lord has lived for us. It is a path that all of us are called to follow. He was born in a simple stable in Bethlehem and buried in a grave of one of His followers. His parents were simple but lived a very holy and virtuous life. Jesus grew up in an obscure town of the Roman Empire. He never was schooled as most of us are schooled in big colleges an universities. He lived His life by teaching, preaching, and healing people from their malaise and illnesses. This life that Jesus lived was not without misunderstanding or rejection and suffering - even from among His own apostles and disciples. Towards the end of His life He faced a really terrible trial which He had to endure to obey His father's will.

As we continue the discipline of Lent, we can let the mystery of the Transfiguration vision challenge us to go down from the "mountain" from which God consoled us with His presence, and return to the reality of suffering which we have to go through and which we have to help others go through also. The vision of the Transfiguration should not let us be stuck with the consolations God gifts us with, but to return to reality and be sensitive to the desolations others may be experiencing at this time. Let this vision of the Transfiguration give us a lesson: teaching us to keep silence and to learn how to reflect on the suffering which Jesus had to go through so that we may also share in the life He wants to gift us with - a life that gives light to our darkness, and renews our spirit so that we too will follow His path of obeying God's will in the very ordinary things we do everyday.

1st Sunday of Lent - Cycle A Year I

Resisting and saying No to temptations

There were three temptations given by the Evil One to Jesus:
1. to trust in mammon rather than the word of God
2. to test God's power
3. to trust in riches and the power of this world

In all three temptations, Jesus said No to the Evil One. The Church, in imitation of Christ, and in her vocation to follow Him, is aso called to say No to the same temptations in her life as the Body of Christ. Though the Church is a divine institution by the power of the Holy Spirit, occasions and events in her history witness to human mistakes and errors committed by some of her members. To correct the mistakes she committed in history, John Paul II made a gesture, as a representative of the Church, and asked forgiveness from God for all the mistakes the Church as an institution composed also of human beings, committed in her historical life.

As individuals, we too are called to say No to the temptations which beset us everyday in ordinary living. Our strength to resist the temptations of the Evil One is in Christ. It is the Spirit of Jesus that can help us struggle against all the evils facing our daily lives. What can strengthen us to resist evil and sin is a disciplined life of prayer and the regular reception of God's grace in the sacraments. Lent is a special time for us to take this opportunity. We can give more time to practice not prayer but also follow the traditional practice of the Church: abstinence, fasting and spiritual and corporal works of mercy. May this season of Lent bring Christ much closer to our minds and hearts, so that His Spirit may permeate every area of our lives.

Salt of the Earth and Light of the World

Ever since God entered our human history through His Son, Jesus, the world experienced a transformation. There is a big difference now compared to the pre-Christian eras. Christians made a positive difference to human civilization. From John the Baptist to all the followers of Christ, human civilization experienced a spectrum of spirituality that we can say has become the "salt of the earth and the light of the world". And the majority of Christians are like Jesus and John the Baptist - simple men and women living ordinary lives but "salting" the earth and "lighting" the world in commonplace and small ways.

When Jesus preached the Good News to the world at the time, He taught His apostles to preach that same Good News to others - Good News that would have quite a strong impact on many cultures and civilizations. It was His Apostles that were the original "salt of the earth and light of the world". The Church shares in this mission through Jesus and His apostles. After the Holy Spirit descended upon Mary and the apostolic community on Pentecost Day, the Church now continues the mission of the Light of the world, by being a light to the nations.

Before the Holy Spirit came down upon the apostles in tongues of fire and with a strong wind, the community at Jerusalem felt orphaned by Christ and thus lacked the strength and the courage to preach what the Lord had taught them to preach. They lived in the Cenacle, that Upper Room, where they ate the last supper with the Lord. But when the Holy Spirit became present to them with the power of a great wind and illumined their minds with gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and the fear of the Lord, they were instantly instantly were filled with God's Light.

The gospel this Sunday invites us to truly believe in Jesus and the Gospel He had taught us. Only when we understand, believe in Christ, and practice His gospel in daily living can we also be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We need not make a positive difference by changing our states of life or moving into a new neighborhood or making new friends. We can be so right were we are: in our families, in the places where we work, in our parishes and right within our neighborhood. It always begins with one small step of charity. If we practice charity in the many ways it can be done, then this will make us what Jesus, our true Light, calls us to be: "the salt of the earth and the light of the world".