2nd Sunday of Lent

First Reading: Genesis 15: 5-12, 17-18. God made a covenant with Abraham because of his faith.

Second Reading: Philippians 3: 17-4:1. If we persevere with Christ as our model, he will change our weakness into glory.

Gospel: Luke 9: 28b-36. The Apostles Peter, James and John see Jesus in the glory of his future Resurrection.

Points for Reflection --Fr Carlo Tei

When God made his covenant with Abraham, he allowed Abraham for a moment to see his glory in the form of fire.

In the same way, once Peter, James and John had accepted Jesus as the Messiah who had to suffer and die, they were allowed for a moment to have a glimpse of his future glory: the glory of his Resurrection. With a mixture of exaltation and awe, they recognized Moses and Elijah with him, symbolizing the law and the prophets, and Jesus as the Lord of both. Jesus spoke to them of his death as the necessary prelude to his Resurrection, according to the will of the Father, whose voice, proclaiming him as his chosen Son, was heard coming from a cloud.

If, as Paul tells us, we also are to be transfigured, it will mean following Jesus Christ, our Leader and Saviour, in everything, including a love for the Father and our brothers and sisters that might lead us to our cross. There is no avoiding the road of love that leads to our personal Calvary if we are to follow Him up the glory of the Resurrection.

It is difficult for us, as it was for the Apostles to follow, trust and love a Messiah obedient to death--even a death on a cross out of love for the Father and for us. We are so often tempted to follow our own standards of living instead of moulding our thoughts, desires, plans and actions upon our faith in Jesus.

As we are preparing for the celebration of Easter, God invites us once again to “listen to his chosen Son”. Though difficult it may be, if we answer God’s call, he will transfigure us, too, and we will hare his Son’s glory and build a better world.

A TIME OF GRACE

5th Sunday of the Year C

First Reading: Isaiah 6: 1-8.  Isaiah has a vision of God and realizes that he is called to speak for him. Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11.  Paul preaches the Resurrection of Christ as the basis of our faith.
Gospel: Luke 5: 1-11.  Peter recognizes a more than human power in Jesus and responds by following him.

Points for Reflection-by Fr Carlo Tei

1. The Scripture Readings of the 5th Sunday of the Year (C) give an account of what happened to three of the most illustrious figures in the history of salvation: the Prophet Isaiah and the Apostles Paul and Peter. In a certain moment of their lives, all three experienced:

• the living presence of the Lord;

• their own unworthiness;

• and their dependence on him.

At the end of their experience:

• they entrusted themselves to the Lord;

• allowed him to take charge of their lives;

• and were enlisted to carry out the work entrusted to them by God.

2. What happened to these three great servants of the Lord is something that also touches upon our lives.

• First of all, God speaks to us, too, although to each one of us in a different way. We should always be open and attentive to the Spirit, who reaches us through the events and the people we come across in our daily lives or through “his own special ways”.

• Secondly, there are times when we feel our unworthiness before God. They are privileged moments when we are given the opportunity to free ourselves of our illusions and are reminded that all that is good and worthwhile comes only from God.

• When we recognize our unworthiness, we also come to know God’s merciful love for each one of us. And every experience of God’s love for us becomes the source of our love for others and the starting point of our missionary witness, of our work of evangelization. The more we recognize that God is love, the more we feel commissioned to tell other people about God and his love; and to share this love with anyone we come across in our daily lives, especially with those who feel lonely and neglected, and with those who are still waiting for some fishers of men to help them free themselves from the power of evil hidden in so many wordly illusions, enchantments and deceitful attractions.

Presentation of the Lord

At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among the celebrations she describes is the Epiphany (January 6), the observance of Christ’s birth, and the gala procession in honor of his Presentation in the Temple 40 days later—February 15. (Under the Mosaic Law, a woman was ritually "unclean” for 40 days after childbirth, when she was to present herself to the priests and offer sacrifice—her "purification.” Contact with anyone who had brushed against mystery—birth or death—excluded a person from Jewish worship.) This feast emphasizes Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple more than Mary’s purification.

The observance spread throughout the Western Church in the fifth and sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25, the Presentation was moved to February 2, 40 days after Christmas.

At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century the blessing and distribution of candles which continues to this day became part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemas.

Comment:

In Luke’s account, Jesus was welcomed in the temple by two elderly people, Simeon and the widow Anna. They embody Israel in their patient expectation; they acknowledge the infant Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Early references to the Roman feast dub it the feast of St. Simeon, the old man who burst into a song of joy which the Church still sings at day’s end.

Quote:

"Christ himself says, ‘I am the light of the world.’ And we are the light, we ourselves, if we receive it from him.... But how do we receive it, how do we make it shine? ...[T]he candle tells us: by burning, and being consumed in the burning. A spark of fire, a ray of love, an inevitable immolation are celebrated over that pure, straight candle, as, pouring forth its gift of light, it exhausts itself in silent sacrifice” (Paul VI). --from American Catholic