2nd Sunday of Lent
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen; Ss. Philip & James, Baltimore
February 25, 2024
The Greatest Sacrifice
Think about anything you might lose in life: your health, your savings, your home, your reputation. Such losses are painful and have lasting consequences. But what is more painful than the loss of a child? Years ago, the pastor of a parish where I served as a deacon passed away. He was in his mid-fifties and his dear mother was still alive. At the graveside, she said to me, “Nothing is harder than burying your child, especially if he’s a priest. First I gave him to the Church. Now, I must give him to God.”
Isn’t that what God asked Abraham to do . . . to sacrifice his only son, Isaac? And this, despite his promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. When Abraham was told to sacrifice his only son Isaac, he was already an old man. It was extremely unlikely that he and Sarah would have more children. Nonetheless, Abraham was a man of deepest faith. He trusted and believed in ways that defy the imagination. In the end, God spared Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac but instead provided the ram he was to offer.
God Did Not Spare His Only Son
That drama of Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah is a preview of the drama that unfolded on Mount Tabor and Mount Calvary. On Mount Tabor, in the mystery of the Transfiguration, Peter’s confession of faith – “You are the Christ, Son of the living God” – is made manifest, as Jesus shines with a glory that transcends anything earthly. At once, the cloud is cast over Jesus, that is, the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, and the Father’s Voice is heard, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”
But as we move from the glory of Tabor to the suffering of Calvary, we begin to realize the enormity of God the Father’s sacrifice . . . God’s only Son, clothed in our humanity, will lay down his life for us and our salvation. What God the Father did not ask of Abraham, he demanded of himself! As St. Paul says, “[God] did not spare his only Son but handed him over for the sake of us all . . .” (Rom 8:32).
The One who will suffer and die on the Cross is no mere teacher or prophet. but the Only Son of God, whom we acclaim as “God from God and light from light.”
Revealing Jesus’ glory as his only begotten Son – the Son who fully shares divine glory but also fully shares our humanity – the Son who loves us so much that he will lay down his life for us – in this revealing moment, what does God the Father ask of the disciples, and what does God the Father ask of us? “This is my beloved Son.” says the Father, “Listen to him.” . . . “Listen to him!”
Listening to Jesus
Listen to him how? As if we were listening to a mediocre podcast? As if awaiting a directive from government or from corporate? No, listening to Jesus with a faith like Abraham’s. Listening to Jesus ‘who loved us and gave his life for us’ (cf. Gal 2:20). Freely giving Jesus the gift of our complete attention in prayer, allowing him to speak to our hearts, letting his Word to resonate in our conscience, encountering him in the deepest truth of our existence.
As we listen to God’s beloved Son with complete and undivided attention, we absorb, not mere information about God or about our faith, but rather the characteristics, the earmarks, of his truthful and compassionate love. We become equipped to take up our own cross and follow him, knowing that the Cross of self-giving love is the only path to true glory – . . . not our own self-glorification but a sharing in the divine glory of the Eternal Son. Yes, “the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
This, then, is our Lenten project. Not self-improvement. Not a diet plan. Not merely trimming the excess from a self-centered way of life. No, the name for our Lenten project is metanoia: conversion, a change of heart, a radical turning to Jesus, dying to self, repenting of our sins and confessing them, walking the path of self-denial and suffering, serving in love those who are in need. And you might be thinking, “A beautiful vision. But hard to do” . . . Indeed! Indeed, it’s impossible to do without God’s grace. Let us therefore return to Tabor.
Eucharistic Amazement
Atop Mount Tabor, Peter, James, and John were amazed beyond all telling. Peter stammered that it was good to be there but hardly knew what he was saying, for his eyes had glimpsed ‘the glory of God shining on the face of Christ’ (cf. 2 Cor 4:6). As we listen to the voice of the Savior—transfigured, crucified, and risen— are we not drawn to the Eucharist wherein are wholly contained the mysteries of our redemption in Christ Jesus? When we participate devoutly and wholeheartedly in the Mass and worthily receive our Eucharistic Lord in Holy Communion. do we not experience what St. John Paul II called “Eucharistic amazement”? Does not that amazement intensify when we make a holy hour, spending time absorbed in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament reserved? Eucharistic amazement participates in the amazement of the Apostles on Mount Tabor, an amazement that does not merely boggle the mind but redeems the heart.
It is here, in the Eucharist, ‘the source and summit of the Christian life,’ that we derive the strength to follow Christ, not only in that which consoles, but also in that which challenges, and requires of us a dying to self, a painful giving of self, a profound change of mind, heart, decision, and action, a letting go, a liberation from self-made prisons in which we can make ourselves quite comfortable!
As we continue to enter into these sacred mysteries, [and to adore publicly the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar,] let us ask for the grace to repent and believe. Let us ask to be transformed inwardly by the Bread of Life, that we might participate in the glory of divine love, shine with glory of self-giving love, and thus become witnesses, credible witnesses to the Father’s Only-Begotten Son who comes among us “full of grace and truth.” [“O Sacrament most holy! O Sacrament divine! All praise and all thanksgiving, be everything moment Thine.”]