Third Sunday in Lent, March 20, 2022

God is mysterious but not malicious

Luke 13:1–9

At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.

He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!

Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. [So] cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’

He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”

Note:

In verse 3, we have the word repent, which in Greek is Metanoia. Meta means change in Greek, and noos is the word for mind (which could mean attitude, opinion, outlook, and maybe even your way of life).

So repentance is not about apologies, about feeling guilty and sorry; it is about a dramatic change in our orientation, our attitude. That is the kind of repentance Lent is all about, and it culminates in baptism for those who wish to change their stance toward God forever. This is why this is such a good reading for Lent. It is God’s mercy and graciousness that gives us the time and space to change for the better and produce good for the Kingdom. An awareness of this graciousness of God may help us find the patience and the kindness toward others and refrain from judgement of them as well.

Read another reflection on transformation (metanoia) as the real meaning of Lent >>

Music Meditations

• I Heard the Voice of Jesus say—Michael Card/Blarney Pilgrim (an Irish version in honor of St. Patrick’s Day)
• Amazing Grace—either the usual version or a traditional one sung by BYU Women’s Choir
• Open My Eyes, Lord
• God Hears the Cry of the Poor
• I Will Lift up My Eyes

Opening Prayer

Jesus, thank you for not giving up on us, for not giving up on me. Help me to see your compassion and your invitation to growth. Give me the resolve, the courage, and the energy to make my life fruitful for your Kingdom. Help me to realize that I sometimes have been a parasite, and give me a second chance.

Help me, Jesus, not to be judging of others whose choices are ones I cannot approve of. Help me to extend second and third chances to those who have hurt or disappointment me, while guarding my own physical and mental well-being. Help me to realize that those choices are theirs and not mine to make, and be patient while they learn.

Help me, Jesus, to be kind.

Companions for the Journey

This is a short writing from one of the Christian or non-Christian witnesses of our tradition—a person who embodies the theme of the gospel we are studying today.

This is from “First Impressions”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province, in 2007:

Imagine if there were modern forms of communication in Jesus’ day—radio, television and the internet. Judging from today’s gospel, there would be two items at “the top of the news hour.” People would also be calling friends and relatives, “Have you heard what happened?” Others would write email and text messages about the recent sad events. Upon hearing the tragic news people would say what we all tend to say at such times, “Oh, what a shame! How terrible! Oh, my gosh!”

What would the current news have been that would have stirred such responses? Judging from the beginning of today’s gospel there were two items on everyone’s tongues. While they didn’t have our modern forms of communication, Jesus’ contemporaries knew what had happened and they shared the news with Jesus. Bad news travels fast in any age. People told Jesus about the tyrant Pilate’s slaughter of Galileans who went to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice in the Temple. Apparently Pilate compounded the brutality by mingling their blood with the blood of their sacrifices. One can only imagine the details of what happened and the sense of outrage, impotency and humiliation the Jewish people would have felt about the murders that were compounded by sacrilege. Unfortunately, people then and now were accustomed to the harsh excesses of oppressors. At least Jesus’ contemporaries had a specific human to blame for this first piece of bad news.

Jesus mentions a second tragic event that his listeners also knew about; a tower in Siloam had collapsed and 18 people were killed. While the first item of bad news could be blamed on human malice; what would the people have thought about the second? In Jesus’ time they would have deduced that God was punishing sinners. It is not unlike what people say these days when tragedy strikes, “What did I do that God is punishing me so?” Jesus dispels this kind of thinking when he asks if his hearers thought the slaughtered Galileans were “greater sinners than all other Galileans.” Or, that the 18 Siloam victims, “were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem.” Tragedy didn’t happen to those people because they deserved punishment for their sin. To credit their deaths to their guilt lets others off the hook and leads to fallacious thinking. “I must be doing fine in God’s eyes since my life is so good.” People who are prosperous or healthy say they are “blessed.”

It is good to appreciate and be thankful for our lives; but today’s gospel suggests a caution. Our prosperity and well-being have nothing to do with our virtue, nor is it a reward for goodness. Jesus brushes aside such presumptuous conclusions and challenges his hearers to examine their lives and make changes where necessary. Bad things happen and we cannot put off changes we should be making, for we may not have the time we think we have. Life isn’t predictable and we can’t let our routines and regular daily patterns lull us into complacency. It may be later than we think. Each day is a special gift, but we have no certitude about what the day will bring. Life doesn’t come with guarantees. The real gift of God, Jesus says, isn’t our prosperity or that everything is going to go smoothly for us. Rather, God gifts us with mercy and time to change. To emphasize this point Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree. In the bible the fig tree often represents Israel (e.g. Jeremiah 24: 1-10). Fig trees required a lot of tending—like the care Israel required and received from God. It took three years for a fig tree to bear fruit—quite an investment of time, money, work and patience! When the owner of the orchard told his gardener to cut down the fig tree, it made perfect horticultural sense since it hadn’t borne fruit in the expected three years. “So, cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil.” The tree should have been replaced by a new one that would produce fruit in due time. But the gardener gets the owner to allow the tree another year. The fig tree is supposed to bear fruit to fulfill its purpose. A reprieve is given; but there is still a deadline.

What a grace time can be for us… to have space and time to grow, mature spiritually, reform our lives, serve the Lord and remove the obstacles, big and small, between God and us and between us and others. These are the gifts God offers us by giving us more time. Daily life may seem routine and a hectic grind, but if we open our eyes and reflect, we might see the gracious hand of God reaching out to us through friends and enemies; in the large and small breaks in the routine; in the quiet moments and even the frenetic rush; and in the surprises. God’s patience with us is extraordinary. Look at what we humans put Jesus through and still God didn’t give up on us; we are graced with time.

However, the parable isn’t open-ended. Time does run out, not just in the parable’s future, but in our lives—sometimes in unexpected and even tragic ways. When that happens we might find ourselves emotionally and spiritually unprepared. That’s not what God wants for us, hence Jesus’ parable offers tolerance and patience before judgment. It is a good parable for Lent and it isn’t so much a threat as it is a grace: the year’s extension for the fig tree is a grace, because it offers reprieve with time to become fruitful; the warning is also a grace, because it can shake us out of our torpor and stir us to do something.

And isn’t Lent a good time for such a response from us?

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

“But unless you repent, you too will all perish”
(Unless you change your mind, your ways, you too will all perish)

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• Do I see human life as a gift?
• Can bad things happen to good people?
  Do I ever feel that if I am a good person, I should be rewarded by God with good luck?
• Do I always want God (or my religion) to explain bad events in my life?
• Have I ever equated tragedy with divine retribution?
  Do I sometimes wonder if somehow people deserve their bad luck?
• Do I blame people for certain illnesses they experience?
  Do I think of mental illness as a true illness or just bad behavior someone could reform?
  How do I tell the difference?
• What, in terms of my relationship to God, do I build my life upon?
• Is “wasting soil” a bad thing? What are some human examples of wasting soil?
• Do I ever dismiss another as a “waste of space”?
• If the fruit tree were a human, what would its expected “fruit” be? (repentance, finding a purpose in life, doing good for others, etc.)?
• What “fruits” are expected of me?
• What motivates me to be more like Jesus? (fear/hope/gratitude/mercy)
• The fig tree got another year—a graced time in which to do what it was meant to do, produce fruit. Do I look at my time on earth as graced time?
  What qualities do I need to cultivate in the time I have on earth to be more like Jesus?
• What are the growth areas in my life?
  Which have produced good fruit and which need to be cultivated further?
• Do I realize that God, like the gardener, is constantly working with me to help me be the most fruitful disciple I can be. What has God done to support me, to encourage me, to prune me?
  From John Harrington, S.J.: How do I relate to the justice and mercy of God in my own life?
• I am called to “repent”, to turn my life around.
  What do I need to change my attitude/mind about?
  What behaviors do I need to change?
  What is one way I can mirror the compassion and kindness of Jesus?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Adapted from Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

Jesus does not leave us unaided. As with the fig tree, He provides us with everything we need to bear fruit. There is an old story which describes Peter at the gates of heaven. The world has ended. The sheep have been separated from the goats; all the faithful have entered heaven and Peter is preparing to close the gates. Then he sees Jesus standing outside. ‘Master, he says, ‘what are you doing outside?’. Jesus replies: I’m waiting for Judas’.

Do I believe that Jesus waits for me too, beyond the end of time? Do I believe that Jesus understands that I must go to Him within my own time? Do I believe He created me in freedom, to live in the freedom He intended? Do I believe He will not force me to go in, but stands at the door and waits? Am I aware of his patience and his all-enveloping love? I speak to Him about where I am in my faith journey, in my life journey, trusting that he understands and cares.

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

I read Isaiah 55:8-9…

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

We live in a meritocracy. The world says: “Yes, I love you if you are good-looking, intelligent, and wealthy. I love you if you have a good education, a good job, good connections. I love you if you produce much, seek much, buy much. There are endless “ifs” hidden in the world’s love… The world’s love is and always will be, conditional. (Henri Nouwen)

How does this differ from God’s love?

We live in a world where prejudice is operative; people are dismissed or marginalized because of the color of their skin, their religious beliefs, their sexual orientation or their gender. Jesus hung out with prostitutes, tax collectors, Samaritans, a few Pharisees, sinners of all stripes. His closest friends were fairly dim about his teachings most of the time.

What does this tell us about Jesus’ value system?

There is a dirty little secret about a lot of religious people; they subscribe to a religious meritocracy. The unconscious scenario goes like this: If I follow the rules, am faithful in my prayers, and try very hard to live a life of goodness and charity, I kind of expect some sort of recognition from God as a result and am secretly, and sometimes not-so-secretly, outraged that my prayers aren’t answered, or when misfortune befalls me. My religiosity is supposed to be a sort of shield against misfortune or failure. Even the great Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins cried:

Thou are indeed, just, Lord, if I contend with thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just. Why do sinners’ ways prosper? And why must Disappointment all I endeavor end?

Then read scripture (Mt 5:45): This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, the good and the bad, the nice and the nasty. If I am honest, this is a little galling. This gospel is a call to repentance—to change my heart and change my thinking. How do I adjust my thinking, my expectations and my actions so that they mirror those of God more closely?

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

Read Luke 7:36-50 (The woman with a bad reputation who washes Jesus’ feet) Picture all the men coming together to dine at the house of Simon the Pharisee. Imagine the opulent room—tables laden with all sorts of delicious delicacies and wonderful wines, with well-dressed men reclining languidly at this feast. You look around at your friends and a few you might not know, including a scruffy-looking young man with well-worn robes and filthy feet. Who can he be, and how did he get invited to this Banquet?

Suddenly, there is a commotion as a woman with an unsavory reputation bursts into the dining salon where the only women who are allowed are servants. Imagine their shock and outrage as she proceeds with her extravagant gesture, washing Jesus’ feet with her copious tears and drying them with her hair (!) before anointing them with costly perfumed oil from the alabaster jar she has brought with her. Can you almost see the smirk on Simon’s face as he contemplates how embarrassed Jesus would be if he knew who this woman really was? Imagine also his chagrin as Jesus discerns Simon’s thoughts and puts him in his place with a parable about forgiveness. Chiding Simon for his lack of generosity and lack of graciousness, Jesus points out those very qualities of generosity and graciousness in the woman before him and announces that her sins are forgiven because of her great love. Jesus turns and gently speaks those words we all long to hear: “Go in peace. Your sins are forgiven.”

What does this story tell you about God’s reaction to your own sins? What does it tell you about God’s compassion and mercy? Stand before Jesus in your heart, ready to let him see all your faults, and pray the following prayer reflection by Sister Miriam Therese Winter (from WomanWord, p.72):

Center me enter me mystical mystery. Cleanse me and quiet me, tell me Thou art the thin thread of hope that sustains my believing, the rush of content that enables my heart.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Make a phone call or send a message to someone in your life today who might need a second chance.

Homeless people, too, need our care and attention. Make a point to encounter a homeless person with genuine care and kindness this week, as you think Jesus might…

Poetic Reflection:

How does this poem by Denise Levertov capture the often barrenness of our reactions to Jesus’ presence in our lives as reflected in the way we treat others? In what way are we a barren fig tree? How can we teach ourselves to bear the fruit of God’s presence in this world?

“What the Fig Tree Said:”

Literal minds! Embarrassed humans! His friends were blurting for Him in secret: wouldn’t admit they were shocked. They thought Him petulant to curse me!—yet how could the Lord be unfair?—so they looked away, then and now. But I, I knew that helplessly barren though I was, my day had come. I served Christ the Poet, who spoke in images: I was at hand, a metaphor for their failure to bring forth what is within them (as figs were not within me). They who had walked in His sunlight presence, they could have ripened, could have perceived His thirst and hunger, His innocent appetite; they could have offered human fruits—compassion, comprehension— without being asked, without being told of need. My absent fruit stood for their barren hearts. He cursed not me, not them, but (ears that hear not, eyes that see not) their dullness, that withholds gifts unimagined.

Closing Prayer

Center me enter me mystical mystery. Cleanse me and quiet me, tell me Thou art the thin thread of hope that sustains my believing, the rush of content that enables my heart.

—Sister Miriam Theresa Winter

Transformation—The Real Meaning of Lent

This piece was taken from Once Upon a Gospel, by the distinguished homilist Father William Bausch, and is meant for 3 Sunday Lent C: “If you do not repent, you will perish as they all did”:

A thumbnail lesson for today: did you ever wonder how Lent began? It began in the early centuries, when, as more and more people wanted to become Christians, a formal process of preparation was developed for them, a process designed to culminate in the candidates’ baptism on early Easter morn. The arduous process, often lasting for years, ended with a final forty-day marathon of studying, fasting, scrutiny, prayer and charity before Baptism was finally administered at Easter. It was the final forty-day push for the candidates that became our standard Lent for all Christians. And the designated word “Lent” was a good one; It comes from an old word meaning “lengthen”. It refers to the lengthening of daylight, the start of spring and therefore new beginnings, the whole idea of Lent.

In the course of history, Ash Wednesday was attached to Lent as an official introduction, a name given by Pope Urban in 1099. It could start as early as February 4 or as late as March 10, depending on the Easter date, which in turn depends on the moon’s cycle.

End of thumbnail.

But now, we have to add that, unfortunately, during the course of the centuries, Lent’s purpose and meaning hopped the track as its main focus moved to penance to giving up something, to fasting. By defining penance and fasting as Lent’s exclusive purpose, we lost what it was really all about. The real purpose, the real goal of Lent goes back to Jesus’ words often translated as “Repent and believe the good news”. But the word translated as “repent” in the original Greek is metanoia, which really means “a change of mind and heart.”

In other words, Lent’s intent doesn’t have anything to do with penitence and fasting as such, but with changing our way of life. Fasting, penance, and good deeds are only the means, not the end. The end, the goal of Lent is transformation; to be a different person, to lose our self-centeredness and to lose the habit of measuring everything by our needs and feelings in order to become a caring, compassionate person.

Lent, then, is about a radical change of mind and heart, of learning to see the world as God sees it, of becoming—let me use an old word here—noble; of learning to withdraw from the relentless narcotics of consumption and greed, of me-first, and simply becoming a good human being—again, to use an old word—a saint. Once more, Lent is about transformation, when someday kindness and charity will become second nature to us.

Lent’s charter story is Ebenezer scrooge, an Easter rather than a Christmas figure. His terrible penitential visions were but the means for his transformation from a miserly skinflint to a compassionate human being. Scrooge is not the perfect Christmas character; he is the perfect Lenten pilgrim.

So, at the end of Lent we are not to tally up on our spiritual scoreboard how many thing we gave up or how many devotions we took part in, how many good deeds we did. At the end of Lent what matters is if all these things brought a change of heart and mind, a transformation.

And that brings us to our final point. Transformation indeed is the goal of Lent, but the truth is that transformation is a slow quiet affair that usually takes place as a result of repeated small moments, not the one-time big ones, and we’ve got to get over our fantasies that it will be otherwise. By that I meant that, like Christian Walter Mittys, we tend to fantasize that someday we will be part of a mighty drama and all the world will applaud and we will be different as a result. We will discover a cure for cancer. Out of nowhere we will step in front of the president or pope and take the bullet. We will pray over a person and they will be cured. We will find a way to reverse global warming. We will be nominated the American Idol of the year who on TV announces to a stunned world that we are giving up fame and fortune to become a priest or nun to work among the poor in Africa. You name your own fantasy, but there you are, on the cover of Time Magazine, transformed from nobody to somebody.

It’s fun, but a futile fantasy.

Transformation is seldom instant; very few St Pauls are knocked down by a vision. Rather, transformation is a result of many little acts of kindness, unnoticed charities, secret prayers, quiet compassions. We are conditioned to think that our lives revolve around the great moments, But truly great moments often catch us unaware, beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

Transformation, friends, is the goal of Lent and it is Lent’s small acts of kindness that get you there.

Second Sunday in Lent, March 13, 2022

Transfiguration event for the Apostles and for us

Luke 9:28b–36

About eight days after he said this, he 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.

Then 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.

Note:

The event takes place in Luke after Jesus’ sermon on the plain, and after a couple of chapters of both healings and criticisms, and some parabolic teaching. Chapter 9 begins with Jesus commissioning the twelve and sending them out to spread the good news. It continues with the return of the apostles and the miracle of the loaves and fishes, and leads up to the transfiguration with the first prophecy of the passion. Jesus’ last words eight days before the transfiguration were: I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.

Music Meditations

• How Great Thou Art sung by Chris Rice
• The Ground by O. Gjeilo sung by Phoenix Chorale
• The Lord is my light, my Help my Salvation (Psalm 27) Christopher Walker
• Yahweh I Know You Are Near—Christian Song

Opening Prayer

From Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

Jesus, how often have our eyes been closed in sleep as we walk with you through life? How often are our ears closed to the Word you speak to us through our daily conversations? May your word become awake, alive and active in us as we travel the road together with you. All we do our whole lives long is go from one little piece of holy ground to the next. Lord, give us the strength to keep going in between.

Companions for the Journey

This is a short writing from one of the Christian or non-Christian witnesses of our tradition—a person who embodies the theme of the gospel we are studying today.

This commentary, from “America”, the national Jesuit weekly, is by Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., professor of New Testament at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass.

The distinctive way in which Luke tells the story of the transfiguration highlights his perception of Jesus’ identity as the prophet of God par excellence and adds to his picture of the time of Jesus as the center of salvation history.

First, a prophet speaks for God and so must be close to God. At this decisive moment in Jesus’ public ministry, Luke notes that Jesus went up to a mountain to pray. Indeed, at most of the pivotal moments in Jesus’ career, Luke notes that he was at prayer. The source of Jesus’ prophetic ministry is the Holy Spirit, and his relationship with the Father is fostered through prayer.

Second, Jesus stands in the tradition of the prophets of old. That is why Moses (representing the law) and Elijah (representing the prophets) appear in the narrative. Moses was God’s spokesman, and God had promised to raise up another prophet like Moses (Deut 18:15, 18). Elijah had spoken on God’s behalf and did signs and wonders, as Jesus would also do. And in some Jewish circles Elijah was expected to return from heaven as a preliminary to the revelation of God’s Messiah.

Third, Jesus and the two prophets speak about Jesus’ immediate future. According to Luke, they were discussing “his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.” That clearly refers to Jesus’ suffering and death. But by using the word exodus, Luke alludes to Israel’s passage from slavery to freedom under Moses and suggests that Jesus’ passion and death will lead to his exaltation (resurrection and ascension) and to the possibility of freedom and right relationship with God for us all.

Fourth, it is the fate of prophets to be misunderstood and rejected. In this case, Jesus the prophet is misunderstood by his own disciple, Peter. As his suggestion to build three tents for the prophets reveals, Peter mistakenly identifies the present experience of Jesus’ glory in the transfiguration with the fullness of God’s kingdom. In doing so Peter wants to prolong the experience of glory and to bypass the suffering associated with the mystery of the cross. Finally, the heavenly voice identifies Jesus as “my chosen Son,” and says, “Listen to him.” The admonition to listen to Jesus as God’s prophet echoes the directive in the promise of the new prophet like Moses in Deuteronomy 18.

The identity of Jesus the prophet of God and the Holy Spirit are inextricably linked. Jesus the prophet is led by the Spirit. Indeed, during Jesus’ public ministry, the power of the Spirit is focused on Jesus. Where Jesus is, there is the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection the Holy Spirit has been made available to us all, and so we form a prophetic, Spirit-led community of faith. As the church of Jesus Christ, we are led by the Holy Spirit and so constitute the people of God.

We who live now, in the time of the Holy Spirit and the church, can hope to participate in the glory previewed in the transfiguration of Jesus. In writing to the Philippians, Paul reminds them and us that at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ “our lowly body” will be conformed with “his glorified body.” In the meantime we are to recognize that although “our citizenship is in heaven,” our task in the present is to “stand firm in the Lord.”

Read another reflection on the Transfiguration of Jesus >>

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

This is my chosen Son; listen to him.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• Where would you go to be alone with God?
• Have you ever had an experience that changed your outlook on life for the good?
  Did you see God’s hand in that experience?
• From Sacred Space:
  Have you ever seen one you love in their full dignity?
  Can you think of such a moment?
• When is a person transfigured?
  When the hidden potential of a person comes to light?
  Or when we are transfigured enough to see the hidden potential in another or in a given life situation?
• What is the role of prayer in making us aware of God’s presence in our lives?
  Which prayers work best for me?
  Which types of prayers get in the way?
• Have I ever experienced events that impacted MY relationship with God?
  Was I always aware of the significance of these events at the time?
• What does the Transfiguration suggest to me about how God might be trying to be present to me?
  Am I ready for the change in my life that might result from such an experience?
• Have there been any “God moments” in my life? Did they change me in any way?
• I look back on the last several days. Have I seen the spark of divinity in myself or in others?
  Did I notice it at the time, or only realize its import after the fact?
• Can I cultivate a special way of seeing, to go beneath the surface of my daily life and see the Holy that resides between the routine and the sameness?
  How much of my life is on autopilot?
  Is there so much noise and rush in my life that I have no time for prayer and reflection?
  Was God ever “here” and I missed it?
  How can I be more attentive to the still, small voice of God in my life?
• Has there ever been a time when I experienced a personal transformation or transfiguration?
  Have I ever had a “mountain top” experience when I felt God was close and spoke a word to me?
  What effect did that experience have on my life?
• Have I ever been like Peter, wanting to prolong the glorious moment and trying to ignore the very real outcome of this experience?
• What did I learn about myself in “low” (as opposed to mountaintop) experiences?
• Is the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) present in my life?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

This writing from Oscar Romero (found in Lent, A Sourcebook for Forty Days, by Liturgy Training Publications) could very easily apply to the world in which we are living right now, with the tragedy in Ukraine, the displacement and hunger of those peoples and others affected by climate change and by poverty that is the result of unjust economic systems. How is your Lent awakening your sense of social justice and concern for the poor and war-torn?:

This Lent, which we observe amidst blood and sorrow, ought to presage a transfiguration of our people, a resurrection of our nation. The church invites us to a modern form of penance, of fasting and prayer, perennial Christian practices, by adapted to the circumstances of each person.

Lenten fasting is not the same thing in those lands where people eat well as is a Lent among our third World peoples, undernourished as they are, living in a perpetual Lent, always fasting. For those who eat well, Lent is a call to austerity, a call to give away in order to share with those in need. But in poor lands, in homes where there is hunger, Lent should be observed in order to give to the sacrifice that is every day life the meaning of the cross.

But it should not be out of a mistaken sense of resignation. God does not want that. Rather, feeling in one’s own flesh the consequences of sin and injustice, one is stimulated to work for social justice and a genuine love of the poor. Our Lent should awaken a sense of social justice.

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Lent is, for many of us, a “time on the mountain” where we pray, disengage a little from the world and purify ourselves to live as better human beings. But these readings suggest that we, like Jesus and the disciples, need to come down from that mountain at some point and tend to the needs of a wounded people and a broken world. Spend some time thinking about the tension between contemplation and action that we all experience. Which do you prefer? Is there a way for you to achieve some balance between the two? Make some specific resolutions to follow during the Lenten season.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

Imagine that you are one of the disciples on that mountaintop with Jesus. Try to picture in your mind the amazing scene that must have occurred. How do you feel about what you are experiencing? What does it tell you about Jesus? What would your first words to Jesus have been? Have you ever had an experience in which you suddenly saw someone very familiar to you, say a friend or a relative, in a very different and exalted way? How did you feel—awestruck? Proud? Jealous? Bored? Would the disciples feel any differently about their friend? What are they missing here? What lesson is there in this experience for you?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Spend 15 minutes a day this week alone and in silence to see if you can become more aware of God speaking to you.

Poetic Reflection:

Read the Following poem by Thomas Merton. Do you think that Jesus heard, in silence, the very stones speaking his name? Have you been silent and attentive enough to listen to the love of God burning in your heart, and indeed burning everywhere around you?

“In Silence”

Be still
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
To speak your

Name.
Listen
To the living walls.
Who are you?
Who Are you? Whose
Silence are you?

Who (be quiet)
Are you (as these stones
Are quiet). Do not
Think of what you are
Still less of
What you may one day be
Rather
Be what you are (but who?) be
The unthinkable one
You do not know.

O be still, while
you are still alive,
And all things live around you
Speaking (I do not hear)
To your own being,
Speaking by the Unknown
That is in you and in themselves.

“I will try, like them
To be my own silence:
And this is difficult. The whole
World is secretly on fire. The stones
Burn, even the stones
They burn me. How can a man be still or
Listen to all things burning? How can he dare
To sit with them when
All their silence
Is on fire?”

Closing Prayer

From Faith: Daily Prayers for Virtue, by Wayne Simsic:

Jesus, you say “I am the way”. Transform me. Come alive in me so that I can become like you and serve as a guide for others. Let me experience the truth of your message and the power and presence of God in that message. In darkness, be my light. In struggles, be my serenity. In my life, be my love.

A Reflection on the Transfiguration of the Lord

Luke 9:28-36
Matthew: 17:1-9
Mark 9:2-10

From “Living Space,” a service of the Irish Jesuits:

The Transfiguration of the Lord commemorates an event in the life of Jesus as recorded by the Synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. It is not recorded in John’s gospel. One each of the three Gospel versions is read according to the Liturgical cycle of Years A, B, and C. However, the three versions are very similar and occur in the same context of the Gospel account, so one reflection will be given to cover all three. 

In all three Synoptic gospels the story of the Transfiguration occurs in the same context and that context is significant. We are in the middle of the Gospel account and things have been building up to a climax. As the disciples spend more time with Jesus, as they hear what he is saying and see what he is doing, they must have been asking, “Who is this Rabbi to whom we have attached ourselves; who is this Jesus?” Strangely, the answer comes from their own mouths.

One day, when Jesus was with them, he asked them, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (He was using this strange title of himself.) Based on what they must have been hearing from people around them, they said there were various speculative answers – John the Baptist (resurrected from the dead), Elijah (ditto) or some other of the prophets. Jesus then pressed them further: “But who do you say I am?” It is then that Peter speaks up: “You are the Messiah, the Christ.” It was a peak moment in their relationship with Jesus. And an exciting one. How their imaginations must have begun to work on what it meant to be so closely associated with the Messiah, the King who would be the Savior and Liberator of Israel! What glories and privileges awaited them! But almost immediately Jesus begins to speak in a very different way. For the first time (it will happen three times altogether) he tells them what is future is going to be. And it must have come as a terrible shock. Jesus told them he was going to suffer greatly, be rejected by the leaders of their own people, be killed and then rise again after three days. They could not believe their ears. How could this happen to the Messiah? How could their own leaders do such a thing? And what would it mean for the dazzling future they saw dangling before their eyes? The impetuous Peter immediately stepped forward: “This cannot happen to you!” he cried. He can hardly have expected the reaction of Jesus: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me!” And while they are recovering from this, Jesus continues by saying that not only will he himself suffer but, if they want to be his disciples, they will have to be ready to walk the same road. “Those who wish to follow me must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.”

It is in this depressing situation of disillusionment and incomprehension that the Transfiguration takes place. We are told that six days later (eight days in Luke) Jesus took Peter, James and his brother John up a high mountain by themselves. The identity of the mountain is not given and it is not important. In the Scriptures, mountains are holy places and special things always happen there – we think for instance of Mount Sinai (Moses), Mount Carmel (Elijah), the Sermon on the Mountain, the Feeding of the 5,000, and Calvary (Golgotha) was a hill outside Jerusalem. There before them Jesus is suddenly transformed, dazzlingly bright. They can hardly look on him. Suddenly there appear with him Moses and Elijah. They represent the whole Jewish tradition of the Law and the Prophets. They are seen talking with Jesus. The message is clear. They fully endorse what Jesus is doing and saying and the future he has foretold about himself. Peter becomes utterly confused. He suggests the building of three shelters – one each for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. As Mark comments, “He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.” But that was not all. Just then, a cloud came down and covered them. This was not just a change in the weather. To the biblical mind it spoke of only one thing – the presence of Yahweh himself. And then out of the cloud came a voice; it could only be the voice of One Being. “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” Here now is the supreme endorsement of the Son by his Father. “Listen to him.” Yes, listen, even when he says things that you don’t like, things that you do not yet understand. It is a confirmation of all that has gone on before – the real identity of who Jesus is and the reliability of everything that he says will happen to him and what is expected of them.

It is a special moment of encouragement which will help carry them through the difficult days ahead. They already have the answer to the question, “Who is Jesus?” But now they have to learn the answer to a more important question, “What kind of Messiah is Jesus going to be?” They will not fully appropriate that until after the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus when they will boldly continue his mission and not hesitate to carry their cross in doing so. Let us follow in their footsteps. That is where true happiness and fulfilment lie.

First Sunday in Lent, March 6, 2022

What are my temptations?

Luke 4:1–13

Filled with the holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry.

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.

The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and their glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish.

“All this will be yours, if you worship me.”

Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.’

Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and: ‘With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him in reply, “It also says, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’”

When the devil had finished every temptation he departed from him for a time.

Music Meditations

• On Eagle’s Wings—Michael Joncas
• The Lord Is My Shepherd—John Rutter, Cambridge Singers
• Psalm 22—The Psalm Project

Companions for the Journey

This is a short writing from one of the Christian or non-Christian witnesses of our tradition—a person who embodies the theme of the gospel we are studying today. This commentary is from “First Impressions”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province.

The temptations are at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry when he begins his journey, his walk with us. He extends an invitation for us to join him—to walk the way he walks in the world. Today’s gospel takes place after Jesus has just been baptized by John in the Jordan. No sooner has the walk started than Jesus meets the Tempter. The devil challenges how real Jesus’ immersion among is will be. Will he command the stone to become bread? In other words, will he know physical hunger and pain, as well as the same longings of the heart we do; or will he just use his powers and satisfy his needs and wants at whim? Will he choose to attract followers by spectacle, by filling their bellies with nothing more lasting than a quick meal? If he fell for the temptation, he would have skipped over the physical and emotional pain we all must have at one time or another. In addition, he would have attracted followers who would have stayed on as long as the free lunch lasted; only until it got too painful to follow him.

The devil has more to offer Jesus. Having shown Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world” the devil makes an offer many humans have, to one degree or another, accepted: Jesus can gain power and influence by worshiping at the altar of power, compromise and deals. In rejecting this temptation, Jesus chooses to live an ordinary person’s life, to undergo the subjection endured by his neighbors in an occupied land. He will walk the path of the oppressed. Those without name recognition will see in him one who is totally faithful in his choice to be human.

The devil goes on: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘God will command the angels concerning you, to guard you....’” It is tempting to think that a proof of God’s love for us is a comfortable and pain free life. Certainly this notion of a protected life, of expecting to be spared of all pain and disappointment as God’s beloved, would be a temptation throughout Jesus’ entire life, especially as he endured his passion. Where is God when we are suffering? I thought God loved me. If God really loved me I wouldn’t be in this pain.....failed at this project....been betrayed by those I trusted...etc. But there doesn’t seem to have been an escape clause written into Jesus’ being one of us. He didn’t get out in the nick of time; and so his followers must resist the temptation to opt out when the path of discipleship brings suffering. Nor would Jesus try to attract people to him by shows of divine favor. There would be no quick rescue by God when the forces of evil closed in on him; no angels to show up to protect him. That’s just not what it means for us humans, and so that’s not what it will mean for Jesus as he fulfills his word to be one with us.

Having listened to the tempting offers made by the devil, Jesus turns away from the tempter and towards us. Like us he will stumble and get hurt, know hunger and see his project collapse. He will risk all, placing his message into the hands, not of the powerful, but ordinary people like us. He takes a chance on them, trusts his future to them. The devil has asked him, in effect, “Will you walk totally with these humans? Take their journey to the end? Avoid easy outs, and a flashy success story? Jesus’ response, as evidenced in today’s gospel, is “Yes I will.” The rest of the gospel shows us he walked the talk.

A man I know went to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. As he entered the room, he saw broken and needy people. His response, “I am not like one of those people.” Too bad, if he had admitted his need and identified with the others in the room, he might have been able to change his life. Lent has begun for us. It is like entering a room that contains others like us: people who have strayed from their commitments; fallen or stumbled; made new resolutions kept them with only some success. All in this room of Lent need forgiveness, all of us need, to one degree or another, to make adjustments in our life’s game plan. We all need to “walk the talk.”

No one forces us into this Lent. We need to choose it for ourselves. We look into this new room we are entering, this Lent, see the folks around us and say, “I am like these people. I too need to face myself and be true to my better self.” It is tempting to pull out, or enter this season half-heartedly. But if we desire to “walk the talk” of being Christians together, then we need this Lent to reorient us. Lent helps us find our true self. Jesus did that in the desert. By denying who he was not, he affirmed his true identity—one sent by God to walk our human path in fidelity to God, even in times of failure and pain. What he did, we can do, because our baptism has given us the gift of the Spirit, the same Spirit that was Jesus’ in the desert when he chose to walk the talk with us.

Read another reflection on the temptations of Jesus >> (adapted from a chapter in The Hidden Jesus by Donald Spoto).

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Jesus…was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• When our mental or emotional resources are thin, what temptations might we be prey to?
• How do I define “the devil” in my life and what does “the devil” tempt me to do or not to do?
• Are my temptations similar to Jesus’ (money, power, relevance)?
• In our money-centered culture, we are bombarded with more and more inducement to acquire, own, possess STUFF. (We are subjected, through various media, to over 5000 advertisements a day.) How does this kind of milieu tempt us to want more?
• If not “bread”, what do you hunger for?
• Where does corruption in government and industry fit it? How can we avoid being part of it?
• Does fasting help us discipline ourselves to seek only what we need?
• Can the scriptures “feed me” during Lent?
• What of my money/possessions am I willing to give away? How generous am I, really?
• What is the role of power in our society? Who has it, and how does that person keep it?
• What personal power do I have over my environment, over my everyday life, over my friends and relatives?
• Who has power over me? Do I resent it? Has power ever been misused against me?
• From “First Impressions”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:
  Do I feel the Church has ever used its power inappropriately to coerce people into observance and conformity?
• Have I ever withheld approval, affection from someone to assert my power over that a person?
  Have I ever, in effect, said: “My needs are more important than yours”?
  Have I ever been a victim of this kind of abuse of power?
• How can I transform power into service?
  What are some of the positive aspects of power vis-à-vis helping others?
  What are some of the negative ones?
• Have you ever tried to “force God’s hand”, to make God prove in some way that you are important to God?
• Was there ever an incident or time in your life when you sort of asked God to PROVE his love for you by granting you a favor or by avoiding something negative?
• If I am a good person, do I expect God to reward me with health, good fortune and happiness?
• Do I engage in Lenten practices to make God love me more/
  How do I make God love me more?
• Where in my temptations have I felt the guidance or presence of the Holy Spirit?
• What is the role of trust in overcoming life’s temptations?
  In whom do I trust?
  In what do I trust?
  How do I inspire trust?
• Has there been a time in your life when the experience of being tempted taught you something about yourself?
• The gospel says that the devil departed from Jesus “for a time”. Have I ever found myself subject to the same old temptations, again and again?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

“Let us never forget that the ordinary way to contemplation lies through a desert without trees and without beauty and without water. The spirit enters a wilderness and travels blindly in directions that seem to lead away from vision, away from God, away from all fulfillment and joy. It may be almost impossible to believe that this road goes anywhere at all except to a desolation full of dry bones—the ruin of all our hopes and good intentions” (Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation)

What desert are you experiencing in your life at this time—love, creativity, friendship, family, accomplishments, compulsions, insecurities? How is this wilderness experience inviting you to place your trust in God? Do you trust in the Spirit enough to give yourself totally to God? What have you held back? What are you afraid of?

—from Songs of Life, Psalm Meditations from the Catholic Community at Stanford, by Anne Greenfield

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

Read Luke 4:1-11 (The testing in the desert).

Forty days in a desert. Just imagine it. What does it look like? How hot is it during the day? What sounds are there? Does it smell? Are there any animals? Are you hungry? What do you do all day?

Night in the desert: the lonely sounds of an animal in the distance. Are you cold? Afraid? Lonely? Bored?

This is the time when Jesus was most vulnerable, and so He was tempted. Jesus was tempted to use his talents to provide for his own needs; He was tempted to test God’s love; and finally, He was tempted to forsake his trust in God in return for earthly power. How did he react? Are these temptations at all like our human temptations? Have you ever been so tempted? Have you been able to turn to God in these times of temptation? Has God been a source of strength and comfort? Close with a personal prayer thanking God for the strength you have been given to trust during the dark times.

—from Songs of Life, Psalm Meditations from the Catholic Community at Stanford, by Anne Greenfield

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Give something away. Now.

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

A major theme of this gospel section is Jesus’ trust in his Father’s love and care. This was a big part of the religious tradition into which Jesus was born and in which he operated. Some of this is found in the psalms. Read Psalm 91 below, then transpose “he” into “you” and “you” into “me” so that you are imagining God speaking directly to you and that you are speaking directly to God about your trust in him.

(example of transposition of first verse: I dwell in your shelter, Almighty one, and I will rest in your shadow)

1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,  my God, in whom I trust.” 3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. 9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, 10 no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him  and show him my salvation.”

Literary Reflection:

Father Michael Kennedy. S.J.’s take on todays gospel:

Hey Look Again
(1st Sunday of Lent)

Sometimes we find Out later that the very Thing we were so sure about Is not only not true it is so Far from truth that we feel Stupid and used and really Very hopeless about our own Gifts of discernment and Our ability to read Any situation or Even people

Maybe we finally Have to admit that When evil presents itself In our lives it comes in with Great appeal and often disguised As noble and worth pursuing rather Than as something that must be Avoided at all costs for it is very Hard to spot a satan when he Puts his arm around you while Gently saying nice things and Offers you enough power And wealth to fulfill Your dreams

But we can only See through deception if We also look with the eyes of our Hearts and souls for we need not ask What would Jesus do but what would He have us do and would we always Be in tune with the Gospel with Love at our center for if the Action or the seducer are not In line with the Sermon On the Mount we need to Hear Jesus say to us Hey look again

Poetic Reflection:

A reflection on temptation from Pastor Dan, a Lutheran Pastor and Blogger from Anchorage, Alaska:

Sometimes you know Deep down inside you just know But you have to test Children do it all the time Test They know But they just want to really know Who’s in charge Are things the same And they test The people Israel knew They had their time For forty years they wandered And were put to the test And they knew the story Each line by heart To say one line Said them all And they lived that time And answered the question Who’s in charge? After forty days Jesus was hungry And they knew they had been there too they knew the hunger they knew the pain and they felt each moment when the temptations came and the forty years of their wanderings came back and they remembered that time and they remembered their lack as they whined and groaned and fell into sin at each temptation again and again and answered the question who’s in charge? If you are who you say then tell these rocks And the question rang Tell them to be bread so you can eat The devil sang And the question came out loud and clear And Israel knew it Knew it deep in their hearts Because they lived it And they prayed it Each day of their lives Shema The Lord is our God The Lord is one But still that question it needs to be near and the question rang out who’s in charge here and the answer came as did manna from above that we don’t live on just bread but we live on each word that comes from our God who’s in charge but that wasn’t enough and Jesus was taken to the temple in Jerusalem and the devil said it’s time to test God and the claim that you’re really the son so jump from this temple jump down and show the world that God’s really true God said you’d be safe So prove it. Now Jump Maybe I’ll stop bugging you too… And Israel remembered How they had tested their Lord And the question rang out loud and clear And Jesus snapped back Don’t put God to the test And the question…… Who’s in charge here Next Jesus was led To the top of the mountain To see all the kingdoms below And Israel remembered Shema Israel They remembered their own calf of gold As Moses was taken on high They knew They remembered How miserable they failed in their task And Moses had seen What the people had done And again the question was asked It’s yours You can have it You can be their messiah Just bow down and worship me now And Jesus responded Satan! Go to hell! For it is written Worship and serve only God Remembered Israel They remembered their prayer Shema The Lord is our God The Lord is one