Reflections on Fourth Sunday in Lent (B) from “First Impressions”

Scripture: 2 Chron 36: 14-17, 19-23 / Psalm 137 / Ephesians 2: 4-10 / John 3: 14-21

by Jude Siciliano, O.P. <jude@judeop.org>

Today’s gospel begins with Jesus addressing Nicodemus. Who is Nicodemus? The opening verses of chapter 14 introduce him, and set the stage for Jesus’ words to him. In today’s passage he has nothing to say, he is just a listener. But the passage has, what must be, the most quoted verse from the entire Bible. When TV cameras scan the crowds of sporting events, there is bound to be someone in the stands holding up a sign saying, “John 3:16.”

We hear that verse today, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not die, but may have eternal life.” It is not only a beautiful verse, but it may be the best and briefest summary of our faith. Too bad the next verse is not posted with it, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (v. 17).

Sometimes it sounds like the people who quote 3:16 want to throw in verse 18 as well: “Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has it already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” There, that’s a neat package isn’t it? Believe in Jesus, and you are saved; don’t believe in him and you are lost.

Since the person quoting that verse is usually a believer, they are implying that the other person is not saved, because they do not believe in Jesus. Or, don’t believe in Jesus the way the “quoter” believes in him. This exchange is an example of how dangerous it is to pull a verse out of its context in the scriptures. In this case, that practice condemns 2/3 of the non-Christian world! With you, I believe the world is saved through the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We do not believe that everyone who doesn’t believe, or never heard of the historic events, is condemned.

For example, recall the words in our Eucharistic prayer (#2) for the dead, “Remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and all who have died in your mercy.” Also remember, Matthew 25: 31--46, the scene of the last judgment. Those who fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, comforted the sick and visited the imprisoned were saved – even though they were not consciously doing their good works out of belief in Jesus.

Some of us are called to know God as revealed in Jesus Christ, and to live his life of service to others. We cannot take credit for that faith, it is pure gift, unmerited. We did not earn it, but we do take pride in it, and are grateful to God for it. We are reminded of that in Ephesians today, “For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you, it is the gift of God, it is not from works, so no one can boast.”

Today’s gospel is addressed to us who have received the call and maybe wonder what to do with it. In that quest, we all like Nicodemus, hesitant, and searching. So we ask again, “Who is Nicodemus?” John told us previously (3: 1-2): he is a member of the Sanhedrin , the Jewish high council. He came to Jesus at night. Maybe because he didn’t want to be seen; maybe because he is spiritually in the dark. He does acknowledge Jesus to be a great teacher and so he has come with questions -- life questions.

In today’s passage, Jesus is addressing the questions Nicodemus put to him about being “born again.” He must have been changed by his encounter with Jesus, because he appears twice more in John’s gospel: he speaks up for Jesus before the Sanhedrin (7:5); with Joseph of Arimathea, he buries Jesus (19:38--40).

We do not know if Nicodemus became a believer in Jesus. Maybe, with others, he was too timid to admit he believed in him. The gospel is written for us believers, called in service to the Lord. We have received the gift of faith. How do we use it? Do our lives witness to our faith. Or, do we shrink back when challenged to speak and act on what we profess we believe? In other words, do we just blend in with the world around us? Do we hang back in the shadows with Nicodemus, afraid to be seen with Jesus? Our faith in Jesus cannot be just in name, especially when living that faith might require difficult change.

John’s gospel describes a person who lives their faith in Jesus as one who, “lives the truth”; or “does the truth.” Creedal statements, just speaking the truth, is not enough – we have to do it. We have to act on what we believe, despite the cost.

That is what Ephesians reminds us today. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance that we should live in them.” We can be become God’s “handiwork” if we let God do God’s work in us. All is a gift of grace. Lent continues to remind us of that. We are called to follow Jesus and take up his cross. In Lent we pray and sacrifice to do just that.

Third Sunday in Lent, March 3, 2024

When is anger wrong and when is it appropriate? / What is God’s house in our time like?

John 2:13–25

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”

His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me.

At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.

Music Meditations

• “Your Words Are Spirit and Life” (composed by Bernadette Farrell and Craig Kingsbury) [YouTube]
• “Give Me Jesus” (sung by Fernando Ortega) [YouTube]
• “Psalm 19 (The Heavens Declare)” (The Psalms Project feat. Chris Heesch) [YouTube]
• The Law of the Lord is Perfect (The Psalms Project feat. Chris Heesch)
• “Christ in Me Arise” (composed by Trevor Thomson) [YouTube]

Opening Prayer

Excerpted from a Jewish prayer in A Lent Sourcebook from LTP Publications

Master of life and Lord of Lords, we do not rely on our own good deeds, but on your great mercy as we lay our need before you. Lord, hear! Lord, pardon! Lord, listen and act! What are we? What is our life? What is our love? What is our justice? What is our success? What is our endurance? What is our power? To you, most of our actions are pointless and daily life is shallow. Even our superiority over the beasts nothing… for everything is trivial except the pure soul which must one day give its account and reckoning before the judgement of your glory. Lord, hear! Lord, pardon!

Companions for the Journey

We are in the midst of our Lenten reflection and discipline. On our own, our inadequacies and sin seem to stare us in the face. We are looking in a mirror with ourselves looking back. We want to turn away with a sense of incompletion. Will we ever get our act together, we ask ourselves halfway through Lent? But the scriptures won’t let us get bogged down in self pity, or even embarrassment. They reveal a God of mercy and power today, something the scriptures continually do for us.

All four gospels have the story of Jesus cleansing the temple. The threes synoptic gospels have the event at the end of Jesus’ ministry, where it is an affront to the religious authorities. As a result they conspire to have Jesus killed. John has another purpose in mind. He places the story at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. It is Passover time when Jesus drives the merchants out of the temple area. At Passover time Jews traveled to Jerusalem to observe the feast with purification rituals and then festivals. Jesus is performing another kind of purification for a different temple.

What about those merchants doing business in the Temple precincts? They served an important function in the daily activities of the Temple. Animal merchants sold the creatures that were to be sacrificed. Jews could not use the Roman, or Greek, coins in the Temple because they had images on them with captions calling Caesar divine. It would be blasphemy to take those coins into the Temple. So money changers helped convert the “street money” into Jewish currency to pay the Temple tax. While necessary, prophets like Zechariah, yearned for the day when there would be “no longer traders in the house of the Lord” (Zech 14:21)

There are many reasons we build temples and holy places. Some are even erected for vain glory, paid for by the well-endowed and established. They have their name plates on the walls and pews honoring their generosity. There is much to cleanse in our temples that seem to favor one group of people over another. But temples are primarily built to honor the God we worship and who dwells among us. We go to those places, those “holy places,” to remind us how close God is, the God who listens to our prayers and is present among us everywhere, not just in buildings and memorials.

That’s what the Temple was for the Jews, the place where God dwelt in the heart of the community of believers. It drew the devout to pay tribute to God. The First Temple had been destroyed and, from the text, the Second Temple was still under construction in Jesus’ time. In the year 70 it was also destroyed by the Romans. (The main remnant is the outer western wall, the Wailing Wall, where today people from all over the world come to pray.) The physical Temple was destroyed. The true temple of God’s presence, Jesus Christ, would also be destroyed. But, as he promised, he would be raised up after three days.

Jesus referred to his body as a temple where the Holy Spirit dwells. We are joined to Christ through our baptism and so the body of Christians is also a temple of the living and present God. Lent offers a focused time to reflect on what makes our “house of prayer,” our bodies, unclean and in need of cleansing? What makes our church body unclean: recent sex scandals; divisions caused by attacks on the pope; local congregations’ attitudes towards newcomers; splits because of economic differences; clericalism, etc.?

The opposition to Jesus asked, “What sign can you show us for doing this? They wanted external proof of his authority. But their faith was not based on faith in Jesus and his mission. Later, in John (6:26-31), the crowds will see the sign of the multiplication of the loaves and will follow him. But they didn’t see the deeper significance of the sign when Jesus explained it to them. As a result his disciples “broke away and would not remain in his company any longer” (6:61).

There’s a Lenten reflection for us. Is our faith just skin deep, needing reassuring signs to keep us believing? Shall we invite the Spirit of Jesus to enter our temple to drive out what is superficial about our faith; what relies on daily reassurance and can even evaporate when life tests us with economic stress, sickness, family strife, aging, social disorder, etc?

Did you notice that Jesus doesn’t refer to his Father’s “temple,” but to “my Father’s house?” What do you think he is suggesting about what our place of worship should be like? Is it God’s house and has an “open door” policy. When Jesus drives the merchants from the Temple grounds his disciples recall a line from the Psalms (69): “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Jesus, a messianic prophet, has come to purify the “house” that is his people. Did you come from a family that welcomed guests and newcomers to your table? Was it a “house” where outsiders felt at home even though they did not have economic or social influence? Where guests were not of your family’s race, or national origins...yet felt welcomed and at home?

Jesus’ opponents want a sign that will authorize his actions. He returned with a challenge, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. The implication is that there are destructive forces already in the temple that would destroy it, like the negative forces that corrode our church. So, what sign will Jesus give them that authorizes his messianic actions? He promised he will raise up the destroyed temple in three days. He is not speaking of stone and mortar, but to the temple that is his body. He is looking ahead to his resurrection and to us disciples recalling his words. Jesus has authority in this “house” because he is resurrected from the dead. Who are we? We, the baptized, are the “home,” that welcome all to his table. We are by no means fully cleansed but, staying in the house of God, we are being cleansed as individuals and a church.

Further reflection:

• Commentary on John 2:13–25 from “Living Space” >>

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Zeal for your house will consume me

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

• Does the thought of an angry Jesus make me uncomfortable?
• There were two issues that might have angered Jesus as he saw what was going on in the temple precincts that day. First, people were using a holy, sacred place for commerce, desecrating it for profit; in addition, the prices charged for the sacrificial animals and the exchange rate to purchase coins acceptable in the temple were excessive, and very burdensome for the poor. Which do you think angered Jesus more?
• It takes time to make a whip of cords. What does that say about Jesus’ reaction to the goings-on in the temple precincts?
• Are people measured by what angers them?
• What makes me angry?
  Was my anger appropriate?
  When does anger become sinful?
  What disgusts me?
  Can disgust be sinful?
  How often is my anger the result of someone violating my air space, economic space, my rights?
  How often is my anger the result of mistreatment of others, such as the poor or the homeless?
• What things anger me because I think they anger God?
  What things SHOULD anger me because I think they anger God?
  What things anger me that do not, upon reflection, necessarily anger God?
• What is righteous indignation?
  In what instances do I express righteous indignation?
  How do I do so?
  Are these instances personal affronts or insults to me and mine, or are they caused by persons or situations endemic to our culture?
• What is the connection between anger and violence?
  Are you bothered by Jesus’ violent reaction in the temple?
• How hard is it to deal with anger appropriately?
• Have we ever known of churches or other entities that made a profit on people’s piety?
  What about the commercial aspects of many of our sacraments and Catholic funerals?
• Should personal/corporate profit and religion mix?
• When you see people exploiting others, does it make you angry?
  Can you think of any men or women who called out religious or civil authorities for the ways in which they gouged the poor?
  What sort of price did they pay?
• What is a Temple of God?
  How was Jesus referring to himself when he spoke of the Temple of God?
• In what ways am I a Temple of God?
  What do I need to cleanse from the temple that is my body so that it can house God?
• What do I think was Jesus’ purpose in coming into the world?
  What is mine?
• What do I understand “zeal for the Lord’s house” to mean?
  What can I do to cultivate same?
  Does this “zeal” impel me to action?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination

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

In imagination I stand in the Temple courtyard, as the young Rabbi from Galilee enters. I notice the courtyard, the sounds, the smells, the rattle of coins on the tables, the reek and cries of the animals. I watch Jesus, see the blood rush to his face. He has come to reverence the temple and to pray. Instead he finds all the focus is on business. Suddenly I sense a whirlwind of anger as he whips the hucksters and scatters their money. This is a new side of Jesus and it shakes me. I stay with it. What drives his anger? Have I ever been angry at a wrong or an injustice? How did I handle it? I speak to Jesus about the times I did not respond appropriately to injustice, either losing control or failing to be bothered enough to speak up for fer of reprisals. I speak to Jesus about the times I was angry but only on my own behalf, feeling dismissed, ignored or criticized harshly. I ask for strength to stand up for causes and people that need defending, and ask for forgiveness when my anger was immature or self serving.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Adapted from a homily by Fr. William Bausch:

Time to turn the tables and set up new ones! Here are five suggestions:

1. Love only what is worth loving. What in my life is worth my love? What is not?
2. Put first things first. What in my life do I prioritize?
3. Cultivate spiritual insight. What are the ultimate spiritual truths for me? Be honest. (Write them down and look at them all week)
4. Strive for integrity of conscience. What compromises my integrity? What rationalizations and excuses do I feed myself?
5. Enlist in a cause that benefits the community or the world, not just my family and friends. Pick a cause (suggestions: CRS, Catholic Worker House, Redwood City, Bread for the World. Your local PTA, Meals on Wheels, to name a few) How wil I support that cause, starting NOW?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Read the following excerpts from Psalm 139, expressing that we are also a temple of God. Then write your own psalm, asking Jesus to tell you things about yourself that will help you grow in Him. Ask Him to still your mind and heart so that you can hear His words:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!

Poetic Reflection:

Often people use the story of Jesus’ cleansing the temple as an excuse for their intemperate responses to what others do. Mary, Queen of Scots, had a different prayer:

Keep us, O God, from all pettiness.
Let us be large in thought, in word, in deed.
Let us be done with fault-finding and leave off all self-seeking.
May we put away all pretense and meet each other face-to-face,
Without self pity and without prejudice.
May we never be hasty in judgment, always generous.
Let us take time for all things, and make us grow calm, serene, and gentle.
Teach us to put into action our better impulses, to be straight-forward and unafraid.
Grant that we may realize that it is the little things of life that create differences,
That in the big things of life we are one.
And, Lord, God, let us not forget to be Kind.

Where do I need to be patient with others who are ruining their lives or the lives of others?

Poetic Reflection:

This is a slightly different take on how Jesus feels about the behavior of humans:

Slowly, slowly
Comes Christ through the garden
Speaking to the sacred trees
Their branches bear his light
Without harm

Slowly, slowly
Comes Christ through the ruins
Seeking the lost disciple
A timid one
Too literate
To believe words
So he hides
Christ rises on the cornfields
It is only the harvest moon
The disciple
Turns over in his sleep
And murmurs:
“My regret!”

The disciple will awaken
When he knows history
But slowly, slowly
The Lord of History weeps into the fire

—Thomas Merton “Cables to the Ace” (stanza 80)

Closing Prayer

Keep me, above all things, from sin.
Stanch me in the rank wound of covetousness
And the hungers that exhaust my nature with their bleeding.
Stamp out the serpent envy that stings love with poison
And kills all joy.
Untie my hand and deliver my heart from sloth.

Set me free from the laziness that goes about disguised
as activity
when activity is not required of me,
and the cowardice that does what is not demanded,
in order to escape sacrifice.

And then to wait in peace and emptiness and oblivion
Of all things.

—Kyrie by Thomas Merton in Book of Hours

Commentary on John 2:13–25 from “Living Space”

John 2:13-22

“LIVING SPACE”—A SERVICE OF THE IRISH JESUITS

Today’s reading from John’s Gospel is the account of Jesus cleansing the Temple. The synoptics report this event just before the Passion, but John puts it much earlier, just after the story of the wedding feast at Cana.

We are told Jesus had gone up to Jerusalem from Galilee because the Passover feast was near. When he entered the Temple area he found people selling oxen, sheep and doves to be offered by pilgrims as sacrifices. There were also money changers because Roman currency could not be used in the Temple and had to be changed for Jewish shekels. Jesus was not at all happy about these activities.

He made a small whip of cords and began driving out those selling animals and overturned the tables of the money-changers, saying:

Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace! Of course, what the sellers were doing was not against any law; in fact, it was a necessary service. The problem was that commerce like this should have been done outside the Temple area, just as we would not be happy to see the Sunday newspapers being sold inside the church building after Mass. Hawkers tend to get as close to the action as they can and that is what was happening here – but it was still inappropriate.

Some of the Jews, however, challenged Jesus. “What sign can you show us authorizing you to do such things?” What Jews were these? Were they priests or officials of the Temple who were getting a ‘cut’ on the hawkers’ profits and turning a blind eye to their selling inside the Temple precincts?

Jesus gave them a strange answer:

Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

The Jews took him literally saying:

This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days? This was the mighty Temple of Herod which, even after 46 years, was not yet quite finished.

But, as John comments, Jesus was talking about the Temple of his Body. And it was only after the Resurrection that the disciples came to understand the meaning of Jesus’ words. They are words we need to remember today.

In the New Covenant, there is no Temple building. The Temple is now the Christian community which is the Risen Body of Christ. Jesus is saying, “Whoever sees you, sees Me.” So it is important in today’s celebration that we recall who we are, and how we are to be seen to be the Temple of Christ’s Body for the world.

Second Sunday in Lent, February 25, 2024

Be still, and pay attention to the presence of God in your life

Mark 9:2–10

After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.

Further study:

• Comparison of the Transfiguration Story in the Synoptic Gospels >> [PDF]

Music Meditations

• “The Ground” (“Pleni sunt caeli”) (composed by Ola Gjeilo)
• “Be Still and Know” (Steven Curtis Chapman) [YouTube]
• “Open My Eyes, Lord” (by Jesse Manibusan) [YouTube]
• “Christ in Me Arise” (composed by Trevor Thomson) [YouTube]

Opening Prayer

Not to the wise and powerful of this world, O God of all blessedness, but to those who were just like us
did you reveal in Jesus the promise of Your kingdom.
Gathered here, like the disciples on the mountain, we long to listen as You reveal Your promise in Jesus.
Grant us the ability to hear and follow Jesus, Your son.

Companions for the Journey

Adapted from “First Impresssions”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

Let’s work with the notion of “transfigured.” When is a person transfigured? When some quality comes to the surface; when hidden potential comes to light. The disciples are shown more than the surface of Jesus, more than the carpenter. Jesus’ real identity shsines through and he invites us to do the same this Lent. We have been taught to cover up, adapt ourselves, our behaviors and expectations, to suit the thinking of our surrounding world. We fit in, stifle our true identity. What is beneath the surface? Do we really desire to be kind and accepting to others, generous and humorous, more our true selves? Divinity hides beneath the surface, we were baptized into union with Jesus and that has enabled us to perceive and act differently—if only we wouldn’t cover up that life within us. We don’t have to live our lives according to the expectations of others, we don’t have to submerge our true selves. This story is filled with light, except for the disciples who doze in shadows, who have missed the true presence of the One in their midst. The Gospel encourages us today, no matter what we have been told about ourselves, to see the spark of divinity in us, to imagine the possibilities, to open ourselves to others and the possibility of helping to create a better world. We also need a special way of seeing, a special light, to see beneath the surface of our daily lives. Is it possible that the holy resides beneath the routine and daily sameness? We don’t live with rarefied visions on mountains, we live on the flat surfaces, the grind of daily labors and struggles. Because of Jesus, we can see these plain events of daily life as suffused with the light of the Holy One. Resurrection has already begun and our lives are already transformed for those who look beneath the surface, for those who have heard this story of the Transfiguration and taken it to heart. Jesus was transfigured and that tells us that nothing about our lives is ever the same.

At a recent group sharing of this Gospel account, a woman participant tells her own transfiguration story. She was raised in a small town environment. There she knew all her neighbors and people were pretty much alike. She now works at a church with a youth program that does a summer outreach to a soup kitchen in inner city Philadelphia. Last summer she was asked to go as one of the adult leaders. She said that she had usually categorized people into two groups, weeds and wheat. The people she expected to meet at the soup kitchen would assuredly fall into the “weeds” category, she thought. But working in the soup kitchen and getting to know the people from the streets who came in for food and companionship changed her perspective. She says it was her “transfiguration event.” She got to know and like the regulars. She heard their stories and realized that the only thing separating her from their life was income. One man she met used to, “go to work in a three-piece suit.” “The people there were a family, caring for one another,” she says. She learned how they never wasted any food that was given them and would bring leftovers to friends on the streets. This summer she is volunteering to go back again. No one requires her to go, she says she wouldn’t miss it for the world. Now she sees people in a whole new light. That’s the power of a Transfiguration experience.

How will the transfiguration play itself out in Jesus’ life? He will not look different, nor will his clothes always be “dazzling white.” His transfiguration will continue to happen in his acts of ministry to them; people will be transfigured before him. Sinners will transfigure and turn back to God; the poor and outcast will transfigure into royal guests at Jesus’ table; the powerless will be transfigured by God’s power; women will be transfigured and counted as equals; those who sought riches and power at any price, will be transfigured into his detached and gentle followers; and the sick will become healthy; the mute eloquent in God’s praises and the blind will see Jesus resurrected and in a new light.

Will we disciples be transfigured today as well? Will our focus shift from notions of a cozy and removed religion to a more open and inclusive one? Will we see our church more like “tent dwellers” on a journey together, than edifice builders? Will we co-travelers remain flexible and adaptable to the needs we see around us and respond with Jesus’ self-sacrificing spirit? (“What would Jesus do?” Are teenagers still wearing those initialed wristbands, “WWJD?”) We pray that the Transfiguration would rub off on us. We want more of God’s presence to shine through us so that people will come to know God’s goodness and love for them through our daily service in Jesus’ name. We hope that through us, those who feel outside or alienated, will be transfigured also and come to know the God we have come to know through Jesus.

Now Jesus is resurrected and we have heard the full story. His transfiguration was no momentary flash-in-the-pan; no “fool’s gold.” His presence in our lives doesn’t always shine through nor is it obvious. But his life has taught us that if we look more closely we will see him in his many disguises, in the poor and those who are part of our daily lives. What a surprise! He is also present and transfigured before us as we hear his word; forgive and embrace one another in peace and then receive his sacramental presence in the Eucharist. Like the disciples, we have been led “apart” by ourselves with him whenever we participate in a liturgical celebration. Now we return to where we will also find him, in his clever disguises in our daily lives.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

This is my beloved 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

• Do you think the Transfiguration impacted Jesus’ own understanding of his relationship to God or how he was to live his life?
• Do you think that Jesus had dramatic experiences of God on a regular basis throughout his life? Can we?
• How will this transfiguration play out in Jesus’ life? Will he look or act different after the transfiguration?
  Was, it instead, a transfiguration moment for the disciples, when they saw Jesus for who he actually was?
• How long did the peak experience stay with them?
  How long do our peak experiences, insights stay with us?
• Like the disciples, do we have to be startled, amazed or very frightened to realize the presence of God in our midst?
  What are some of the possible ways to be aware of God in all things?
• From Jude Siciliano, O.P.:
  Have you ever had an experience that changed your outlook on life for the good?
  Did you see God’s hand in that experience?
• 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?
• “Truly, Yahweh is in this place and I never knew it…This is nothing less than a house of God, a gate of heaven!” (Genesis 28:16–17)
  Jacob’s sentiments could be ours. What does it take to see the presence of God in our midst?
  What are the distractions that keep us from doing so?
• For the most part, the “real” Jesus stays hidden from us. Every once in a while his presence in our lives becomes visible. What are some of the disguises Jesus wears? (The poor, the immigrant, the addict, the filthy homeless person, my irritating sister-in-law?)
• 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?
• 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?
• 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?
• Like the disciples, do I sometimes wish to prolong some peak moments in order to avoid the real work of living my life?
  Which do I prefer: dramatic, transformational experiences, or the quiet daily living out of my relationship with God?
  What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style:

“We had the experience but missed the meaning. An approach to the meaning restores the experience in a different form.” (T.S. Eliot)

Finding God in all things is a big part of Ignatian spirituality. But finding God in the boring parts of life is easier said than done. Here are five ways (aside from the Examen) to find God in all things.

• Micro-Awareness—This is not just trying to be aware of the present moment, but rather letting each small action you take become your primary purpose in the moment. If you let something as simple as pushing the power button on your computer or walking up the stairs be done with intention and awareness (rather than letting routine get the best of you), you’ll find a new holiness in those mundane tasks.
• Journal—Writing down the experiences of your day as well as your thoughts and feelings is a kind of Examen, but oftentimes the act of writing uncovers unseen moments of God’s presence you initially missed.
• Do something the “old fashioned way”—Technology and fast expectations can often close the door on our awareness of God. For a change, walk to someone’s desk instead of calling, hand-write a letter instead of e-mailing, walk to the store instead of driving, or take the train instead of flying. The change of pace may give you a more meaningful interaction or experience. And slowing down lets you acknowledge God’s presence more easily.
• Listen—When was the last time you really listened to someone without trying to think of what to say next? You’ll be surprised what you hear if you actually listen—to a friend, to the natural sounds around you (try turning off the radio when you drive), or to your own conscience. God speaks when we pause long enough to listen.
• Say “God is here”—Practice saying “God is here” the next time you are irritated by someone, feel overwhelmed by obligations and tasks, feel bored and listless, feel ignored. In fact, make a point of saying “God is here” several times a day so that you get in the habit of simply noticing the presence of God in your life. Sometimes saying “God is here” is the best way to snap into an awareness that God dwells not just within you but alongside you in every moment, mundane or grand.

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style:

Father Garth Stanton wrote a reflection that invites us to see that we are truly God’s beloved:

Our brother once had a cloud overshadow him up on a mountain.
The message was simple—an affirmation that he was the beloved.
There is no “more”, there is no “less” in God. Can we not see that we are also the beloved?
Do not be frightened. Dare to be loved that much. Pour out your heart on a mountaintop.

As a response to this reflection, write your own letter to God, telling Him all that is in your heart.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style:

“The Sacraments”

I once spoke to my friend, an old squirrel, about the Sacraments—
he got so excited

And ran into a hollow in his tree and came
back holding some acorns, an owl feather
and a ribbon he had found.

And I just smiled and said, “Yes, dear,
you understand

Everything imparts
His grace.”

—St. Francis of Assisi

What mediates and imparts a sense of God's presence in your life? Pray your gratitude and joy.

Poetic Reflection:

Thomas Merton was a mystic who spent much of his time in solitude in a small hut on the grounds of the Abbey of Gethsemani, in Kentucky. This poem by Thomas Merton, reflects on the blessings of silence and attentiveness.

Merton tells us that even the stones speak, that they know who we are, and that they can tell us our own True Name if we can be still enough to hear them. The only way you can Listen to the stones of the wall which try to speak your name is to let go of who you think you are (avoiding the superficial answers to that question as the poem poses) and fall into the stillness where all things are burning. For this is the fire that will set us free. In silence we learn to PAY ATTENTION. WOW! (Commentary adapted from R. Housden in Ten Poems to Set You Free).

”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?”

Poetic Reflection:

This poem, by Denise Levertov, a former Stanford professor, captures our all-too-frequent obliviousness to the presence of God Merton spoke of in the previous poem:

“On a Theme by Thomas Merton”

“Adam, where are you?”
God’s hands
palpate darkness, the void
that is Adam’s inattention,
his confused attention to everything,
impassioned by multiplicity, his despair.

Multiplicity, his despair;
God’s hands
enacting blindness. Like a child
at a barbaric fairgrounds—
noise, lights, the violent odors—
Adam fragments himself. The whirling rides!

Fragmented Adam stares.
God’s hands
unseen, the whirling rides
dazzle, the lights blind him. Fragmented,
he is not present to himself. God
suffers the void that is his absence.

Closing Prayer

We especially pray for all those in need of your guidance and your comfort at this time.
[Pause to recall the names of those you want to pray for.]
We pray for a world in need of your call to serve others and the natural world.
[Pause to recall the issues you want to pray about.]
Give us ears to hear and eyes to see.

First Sunday in Lent, February 18, 2024

A personal test / the meaning of Metanoia

Mark 1:12–15

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,
and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan.
He was among wild beasts,
and the angels ministered to him.

After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Music Meditations

• “On Eagle’s Wings” (by Michael Joncas and Craig Kingsbury) [YouTube]
• “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” (sung by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir) [YouTube]
• “The Lord’s Prayer” (sung by Andrea Bocelli, feat. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir) [YouTube]

Opening Prayer

Remember that your compassion O Lord, and your love are from old. In your kindness remember others in need of your compassion as well [here recite some names aloud of those for whom you wish to pray]. In your kindness remember me, because of your goodness, O Lord.

Companions for the Journey

By Jude Siciliano, O.P. From ”First Impressions” 2015, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

People who have had to make significant changes in their lives—break a habit, an addiction, or adopt new ways of living—know that such big transformations don’t happen easily. They require interior fortitude and determination, courage, persistence and more—an interior change of heart and mind.

Today Jesus asks for such significant changes from those who have heard him preach. After he was baptized by John, he spent time in the desert and underwent temptations. He was tested and, accompanied by the Spirit, came out strong and determined. Jesus announces the coming of the reign of God and he invites others who hear him to commit their lives fully to God and God’s ways. He preaches “Metanoia”—“Repentance”—which requires change of mind and heart. He doesn’t want some superficial or cosmetic change. He isn’t asking for a few minutes, hours, weeks, or months of our time which, when completed, we can return to our previous ways of living. Perhaps we have given up wine or desserts for Lent. Then we hope to hang on till Easter when we can pop the cork and slice the Easter cake. No, repentance isn’t just for a part of the year. It is a full-time, on-going commitment to change. Metanoia asks us to turn away from whatever distracts us from God and to turn to the embrace of the One who is infinite love. Such total change can easily be postponed till a later more “convenient time.” We say we will start a more serious pursuit of God later on—after we finish school, when we have a family, after retirement, “When I’ll have more time to give to prayer and good works.” But Jesus is speaking in the present, not future tense. “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.” Now is a “Kairos moment.” Now is a graced time when we will receive the help we need to respond, to make a turn in our lives towards God. That doesn’t mean big changes are easy or accomplished in a short period of time. Metanoia means we will have to dedicate our lives to transformation. In truth it will never be a completed process, but if we listen to Jesus today we need to start, or start again, becoming followers of Christ.

There are powerful forces in the world that would discourage and prevent us from responding wholeheartedly to Christ and his ways. Call these forces satanic, or the allure of stuff, power, fame, indifference, domination, sensual satisfaction, etc. Hard forces to resist. But we are not alone as we once again undertake a Lenten journey. Through our baptism God’s Spirit is with us and enables us to live according to God’s ways—to accept the kingdom Jesus proclaims. As we once again hear Jesus’ call to repentance we realize it isn’t a call just about us and our individual lives. We ask ourselves what in our homes, at work, local, and parish communities needs to be changed. In those places we are called to repent the ways we treat others, consume and waste, set ourselves apart and above others and remain indifferent to the well-being of our sisters and brothers.

Do we think Jesus was above being tempted; that he was exempted from the trials and struggles common to us humans? Some hold that Jesus was not really tempted, but was setting an example for us. The homiletician and Bible scholar, Fred Craddock, says, “Just to set an example is not setting an example.” He goes on to say: “Such approaches, however sincere, rob Jesus, the Scriptures, the gospel and life itself of reality.” (“Preaching through the Christian Year: Year B,” Valley Forge, PA, 1993, page 141).

Mark has already indicated how we can make the changes we must. He begins Jesus’ ministry with the stamp of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit that accompanied Jesus through his 40-day trial is also given to us at our baptism.

Mark’s gospel is scant on details and he rushes to tell and describe the good news Jesus has brought to us. Still, in his rush, Mark tells us that Jesus paused before beginning his ministry for 40 days of solitude and prayer in the desert. He wasn’t completely alone, the tempter was there, but unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark doesn’t give details about the nature of the temptations.

We do get the point from Mark that Jesus needed time in solitude and prayer in order to deal with the difficult options he had to make to confront the forces of evil that besiege humanity. We may not have time for even a day’s desert retreat, but still, we also need to figure out how to spend time alone listening to God. What we might discover in such prayer is what Peter emphasizes: that our baptism is not an empty or superficial ritual but, “an appeal to God for a clear conscience.” Baptism opens our minds and hearts to God and begins in us a whole new consciousness of the God life offered to us in Christ. Through our baptism we participate in the life, death and resurrection of the Lord. By itself suffering has no meaning or value, but with Christ, our suffering, especially when it is the result of our commitment to the gospel, transforms suffering into joy because, as Peter reminds us, baptism “saves us now.”

In Jesus the “right time” has arrived. Jesus invites people to accept the rule of God. The Old Testament expressed God’s rule over Israel as its “King” and over the whole world. Yet, this rule was not yet realized and the prophets voiced Israel’s longing for it in images of expectation and hope. Formerly, John the Baptist preached, “One more powerful than I is to come…” (1:7), and today we hear Jesus speak of the kingdom coming near—its arrival is imminent. In Jesus God’s rule is present—and yet we Christians pray, “Thy kingdom come,” for its future completion. John preached judgment and people responded by confessing their sins and being baptized. Jesus preached the gospel, good news and an appropriate response for us this Lent would be joy over God’s graciousness towards us.

Further reflection:

• Commentary on Mark 1:12–15 from “Living Space” >>

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

The Kingdom of God is at hand. Change your heart and hear the good news.

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

• What are the temptations I experience from forces averse to God’s plans for my flourishing and the flourishing of others in my life?
• When and how can prayer be a “wilderness” time?
  Does it bring us in touch with the evil as well as the good in ourselves?
• What are some “deserts” that crop up in our own lives?
  What kind of harmony exists in a desert of any kind—physical, emotional, spiritual?
• Why do you think the Spirit drove Jesus into the desert?
  What did He find there? (Do not rely on the other gospel accounts; just use the words of this gospel and your own imagination)
  Why do people of prayer need to go away to a retreat or even take a solitary walk?
• What do you think were the wild beasts that Jesus encountered?
  What are the wild beasts that you have encountered in certain times of your life?
  Are any wild beasts prowling around your life right now?
• How did the angels minister to Jesus?
  Do you think they kept him from being hungry, cold or lonely?
  Are there spiritual forces in my life which nurture me?
• How do I define “testing”?
  How does adversity “test” us?
  How does such “testing” show us what we are capable of, and how does it make us stronger?
• Not all of us “pass” every test we face, either professional (including academic) or personal. How have you dealt with failing in either sphere?
  What attitude would you like to have toward failures, yours and others?
• Is my life a prayer?
  Why or why not?
• One way of looking at repentance: Repenting means fixing broken relationships and doing our best to restore community. So we look at our manipulative or destructive interactions with others with an eye to changing those behaviors; Then, we need apologize sincerely to those we have hurt, as a beginning of our journey to change our damaging behaviors.
  To whom do I need to apologize?
  To what change in behavior is the Spirit leading me this Lent?
• According to John and Jesus, NOW is the perfect time to repent. What is holding me back from the changes I need to make?
• According to biblical scholar A.J. Levine, we need to live as though what we do really matters. Because it does!
  Do I think my small actions don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things?
  Does that kind of thinking get me off the hook?
• How would I define “good news”?
• What price am I willing to pay to live the good news?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style:

Read Psalm 51. What does a clean heart have to do with metanoia? I think of a habit of the heart that is keeping me from what God wants for me, and challenge myself to work on overcoming it during this Lenten Season, enlisting the aid of one other person to encourage and remind me of my commitment to change.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style:

By Jude Siciliano, O.P.

Some practical ways to approach a holy fast:

• Fast from guzzling gas. Drive the speed limit. Ride public transportation. Ride a bike or walk when you can. Car pool.
• Fast from compulsive consumerism. Check your closets, cupboards, storage rooms and garage. How many items have you collected that you thought you needed-until you got them home and had “buyer’s remorse?” Choose some of these areas in your house to clean out. Fix, clean and deliver these items to those who need them more than you do (or donate them to the yard sale).
• Examine the ways in which you consume and waste, using up nature’s resources and adding to landfills or air and water pollution. Shorten your showers. Save the warm-up water for your garden. Eat your leftovers at the next meal. Recycle religiously. Refuse to use plastic. Use your own shopping sack. Write on both sides of your paper, or recycle your paper as scratch pads. Lower the thermostat or air-conditioner. Wear a sweater, add a blanket—or take them off.
• Examine your diet and resolve to make the necessary changes if it is not healthy. Examine your eating habits and change them if you eat impulsively, constantly, too fast, unconsciously or without savoring your food, with disinterest, without care or dignity.
• Return to a sense of the sacramental at mealtime in your home. Present all meals with dignity. Take at least forty-five minutes to eat your dinner. (The average American family eats a whole meal in five minutes.)
• Learn to cook and serve the foods the poor eat. Tasty and healthful meals can be made from lentils, rice, grains, legumes which, eaten together, offer all the protein you need.
• Begin planning or planting a vegetable garden or herb patch. Growing, tending, harvesting, sharing and eating your own produce brings us down to earth and is often a healing experience.
• If you have no difficulties with any of these suggestions, consider other ways of “fasting.” During Lent we can ask ourselves: What does my baptism cost me? “Surely it asks us to fast from our sinful behaviors.”

I can sure see that I have some reflecting to do on some of my habits. I invite you to join with me in some self-examination and to change at least one behavior this Lenten season.

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style:

Read Psalm 25.

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 has you held back? What are you afraid of? Speak to Jesus about this.

Poetic Reflection:

Has this ever been your experience?

I am being driven forward
Into an unknown land.
The pass grows steeper,
The air colder and sharper.
A wind from my unknown goal
Stirs the strings
Of expectation.

Still the question:
Shall I ever get there?
There where life resounds,
A clear pure note
In the silence.

—Dag Hammarskjold

Poetic Reflection:

Read the following poem by Ed Ingebretsen, S.J., (from Psalms of the Still Country) on the fourth day of an eight-day retreat. It is at times despairing, sometimes hopeful. How would you describe your personal journey to a clean heart?

IV

How calmly I balance here,

On the verge of loving you
again, in ways
I have forgotten.

You love out of your surplus;
I cannot accept out of my need.
How clever this pride
that dresses as humility
that makes of weakness
an excuse for mediocrity.

I am a weak man, Lord—
wrapped simply but completely
in my refusal to try.

Depart from me.
How can you bear my company
and even wish to cleanse me?
I remember you would have washed
Peter's feet, his hands, cleaned
away the remnants of his life.
Yet there was no room in his smallness
for your greatness.

Lord,
if you should but take this withered hand
of mine, and straighten it in love
then suddenly my square world
would go round, my eyes take on a new source
of light, then suddenly,
I might know the urge to fly

Closing Prayer

Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are my God and savior.