RE: 03.15.`12~Readings for Sunday, March 18th-2012

Saint Max Bible Study Meets at the back of the church in the Mother Cabrini room 9AM-10AM on Fridays…Please join us!

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Leaven XVIII Conference coming March 24
Each year the faithful of the Diocese of Venice are given a special opportunity to participate in a conference that deals solely with issues related to peace and justice and their impacts on the local, state, national and global communities.
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THIS YEAR’S LEAVEN CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD AT NEAR-BY San Pedro Parish in North Port, FL… SAT 3/24/12
PLEASE JOIN US!!!

http://mkpjusticeministry.blogspot.com\


Fourth Sunday of Lent
READING 1 2 CHR 36:14-16, 19-23
In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people
added infidelity to infidelity,
practicing all the abominations of the nations
and polluting the LORD's temple
which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers,
send his messengers to them,
for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.
But they mocked the messengers of God,
despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets,
until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed
that there was no remedy.
Their enemies burnt the house of God,
tore down the walls of Jerusalem,
set all its palaces afire,
and destroyed all its precious objects.
Those who escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon,
where they became servants of the king of the Chaldeans and his sons
until the kingdom of the Persians came to power.
All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah:
"Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths,
during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest
while seventy years are fulfilled."

In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia,
in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah,
the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia
to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom,
both by word of mouth and in writing:
"Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia:
All the kingdoms of the earth
the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me,
and he has also charged me to build him a house
in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people,
let him go up, and may his God be with him!"
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6.
R. (6ab) Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
By the streams of Babylon
we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the aspens of that land
we hung up our harps.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
For there our captors asked of us
the lyrics of our songs,
And our despoilers urged us to be joyous:
"Sing for us the songs of Zion!"
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
How could we sing a song of the LORD
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand be forgotten!
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
May my tongue cleave to my palate
if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem
ahead of my joy.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
READING 2 EPH 2:4-10
Brothers and sisters:
God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ -by grace you have been saved-,
raised us up with him,
and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
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 may boast.
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them.
GOSPEL JN 3:14-21
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
"Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

SUNDAY READINGS - 4th Sunday of Lent
FIRST READING: 2 Chronicles 36:14-16; 19-23. All the leading priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.
The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place; but they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets, till the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, till there was no remedy. The Chaldeans burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious vessels. He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbath. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, 'The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.'"
EXPLANATION: The Book of Chronicles (now divided into two books) is an historical summary of the history of the Chosen People. Although it begins with Adam, and covers the same ground as that covered from Genesis to 2 Kings, its chief emphasis is on David and on the Levites. Hence, of the descendants of Abraham, the tribes of Judah (David's tribe) and Levi figure with greater prominence than all the others. Of all the kings of Judah, David and Solomon have pride of place (the northern kings being omitted), and after them the "good" kings only, Jehosaphat, Ezechiah, and Josiah, who promoted or reformed the observance of the law and the divine cult in the temple. This summary history comes down to the decree of Cyrus giving the Babylonian exiles permission to return to Jerusalem. It is Generally agreed that the books of Ezrah-Nehemiah are the continuation of the same work written by the same author around 400 B.C. Today's extract refers to the edict of Cyrus, the king of Persia, permitting the exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, which had been burned by the Chaldeans as a punishment from God for the infidelities of the Chosen People.
leading...people: The last three kings of Judah were unfaithful to God and his law. The priests were no better. Pagan practices were allowed in Jerusalem and even in the temple of the true God "the abominations of the nations polluted the house of the Lord in Jerusalem."
Lord...messengers: In his mercy God kept sending his messengers, his prophets, pleading with them to mend their ways, but they ignored and even scoffed at his interventions "till there was no remedy."
The Chaldeans: King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia (also called Chaldaea) invaded Palestine, captured Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and took the king and most of the citizens off to Babylon as prisoners of war (597-587 B.C.). In this the chronicler saw the hand of God whose wrath had been aroused by the stubborn disobedience and disrespect of his Chosen People.
until...Persia: The Jews remained prisoner in Babylon for almost seventy years.
land...sabbaths: The sabbath law which prescribed rest for the people and the land (for no servile work could be done in it) had been ignored. Now this same land will have seventy years of rest for there will be no Jew to till it. Jeremiah the prophet had foretold this (see Lv. 26: 34; and Jer. 25: 11; 29: 10).
first...Cyrus: Cyrus set free all foreign prisoners of war in Babylon including the Jews. In doing this he fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah mentioned above.
the Lord...Cyrus: The God of the Jews, who was God of the Universe, was able to influence the now ruler of Babylon to set his people free, as he had influenced the previous king to punish them for their offenses against himself and his temple.
The Lord...heaven: These words do not mean that Cyrus recognized the God of the Jews as his own God and Benefactor. He respected all gods for he knew that a people obedient to their god would be obedient to himself too. Cyrus anticipated by centuries the syncretism of the Roman empire.
Let him go up: The Jewish prisoners were now free to return to their homeland and encouraged to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. Now that they had no king and no intention of having one, the temple would be the focal point round which the nation would gather; in it their faith and their hopes for a glorious future would be centered.
APPLICATION: When this world of ours shall end and we shall see the complicated and multicolored tapestry that the history of men on earth has woven, we shall clearly recognize the hand of God putting the varied and intricate strands of that history into their proper place. "The old order changeth giving place to the new and God fulfills himself in many ways," says the great poet Tennyson. Yes, even those who now think that they are running this world themselves, without any assistance or what they call interference, from God, will see who moved them---for his own long-distance purpose. The history of the Chosen People of the Old Testament is evident proof of God's big part in the regulating of their world. He worked extraordinary miracles to bring them into Canaan, the land he promised Abraham. But on the way and during their sojourn there, again and again, he used their enemies, and his, in order to make them realize their dependence on him. God's plan was that the future Messiah would come from his Chosen People in the land of Canaan, yet he allowed the northern tribes, because of their disloyalty, to lose all ownership of their part of the territory. As we saw in today's reading, Judah (Benjamin) and Levi almost suffered the same fate. "Almost only," for here God’s plan steps in. While they had to be punished for their infidelities, the punishment was to be a purification, they would be chastised. In later days, we see Cromwell of England and Bismarck of Germany unwitting doing more to spread the Catholic Church in the western continent than all the zealous Catholic missionaries who had gone there up to that time.
The history of the Christian era is no different. God's Chosen People of the New Testament have often, been disloyal to him. They have often provoked his wrath, and God allows their enemies and probably his own enemies to purify and cleanse them. There have been times too When God allowed sinful despots to torture and kill innocent Christians for their own criminal motives, but out of the sufferings of his faithful ones God built a bigger and more loyal following. Nero, Caligula and Diocletian, for instance, sent more martyr saints to heaven than even the great Apostle St. Paul---saints, perhaps, who might otherwise not have got there.
What holds true of people and nations is true also in the life of each individual. God is working in our lives in a way that we do not always realize. He has an active interest in each one of us from the cradle to the grave. The devout Christian family which was ever loyal to God is suddenly deprived of the bread-winner, the mother of a young family is called away leaving a helpless father to face the difficult future. The young boy or girl in whom the parents had set their hopes and on whom they had spent much of their limited income, and most of their love, is stricken down as he or she graduates from college. These do not look like the doings of a loving and benevolent God when seen from our side of eternity. But when we shall see the tapestry of our life on the last day, we shall then see why such "misfortunes" had to happen. In fact, we shall see that they were blessings from God in disguise---someone or other of the actors in the scene would not have reached heaven had these so-called misfortunes not occurred in the family.
God is looking after us, he can write straight with "crooked" lines, the crookedness indeed is the result of our angle of view. When the whole picture is painted we shall see how necessary it was for our salvation that we should take the rough with the smooth. Fair-weather sailors are not fit for long and difficult voyages. Our journey to heaven is a long and often stormy voyage we need to be trained in dealing with storms if we are to arrive safely in the place that God has destined for us. While very often we can attribute the storms of life to the wickedness of evil neighbors or anti-religious governments, let us not forget it, God is using these crooked lines and these worldly agents to write for us that beautiful sentence: "well done, thou good and faithful servant ... enter into the joy of the Lord." So may it be for all of us!
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SECOND READING: Ephesians 2: 4-10. God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God---not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
EXPLANATION: St. Paul preached the gospel in Ephesus during his third missionary journey. He spent over two years in that city (54-57), and had a very large group of converts there. This letter was written from prison (most probably Paul's Roman imprisonment 61-63), and is a calm, studied exposition of the Christian doctrine he had already taught them. The doctrine of the Blessed Trinity and the part each of the divine persons plays in our salvation is stressed. The mutual love between Christ and his Church is compared to the mutual love between husband and wife. The kingdom of Christ is already here on earth, each member shares in it through baptism, but it is only in the future age that it will be a full reality. In today's extract from this letter, St. Paul is emphasizing the gratuitousness of the gift of faith which the Ephesian converts have received. This gift which God gave them, even when they were sinners, had united them to Christ, and has given them the right to share in his glorious resurrection and inherit heaven with him and through him.
God...mercy: This infinite mercy or goodness of God is the explanation of everything we have and will have.
he loved us: What a startling idea this must have been for the Gentile converts especially. Their pagan gods never loved them---they were always a threat and had to be placated by sacrifices but the true God loves his creatures, "even when dead through trespasses."
alive...Christ: Through being united to Christ, that is, to the God-man, human beings are made to live with a new life, a higher life, a life of adopted sonship with God.
raised up with him: St. Paul sees Christians as already participating in the blessings of the resurrection of Christ. They have through baptism the qualifications necessary to obtain for them, after death on this earth, a place with Christ Jesus in heaven. They have their citizenship papers and their passport, all they need is to travel on the right road.
in...ages: At a future date all true Christians will share in "the immeasurable riches" that God has prepared for us in and through his incarnate Son.
by grace...saved: He now stresses the gratuitous character of the heavenly gifts which Christ and their Christian faith will earn, and has already earned in part, for them.
not because of works: No natural powers or works of man are able to merit the supernatural gifts---eternal life in glory with all that follows from that but God alone in his infinite goodness makes a free gift of these blessings to us.
his workmanship: As he created us in the natural order, so he has now created us in the supernatural order.
created in Church Jesus: Through the incarnation we have been made "a new creation," this truth occurs often in St. Paul (see 2 Cor. 5: 17; Gal. 6: 15; Tit. 3: 5; Col. 3: 10; Eph. 4: 24).
for good works: Our natural works cannot merit anything supernatural for us, but because we are raised by baptism to a supernatural state our good works are meritorious.
that we...them: God himself has laid down for us in our Christian religion a certain line of action, a form of life that we must follow in our living. Through our fidelity to these prescriptions, we shall reach the rewards prepared for us by God's gratuitous love.
APPLICATION: The holy season of Lent ends with the great drama of the "Triumph of Failure" on Calvary. On that first Good Friday the Son of God as man died the most shameful and painful death on the cross. He did so that we men might live forever. It is, therefore, most fitting that in our preparation during Lent for the worthy commemoration of that world-shaking event, we should be reminded of the immense and almost incredible love of God for us which caused this to happen. Think on it as we may, and meditate on it as often as possible, we could still never fathom the depths of pure, unalloyed love which made God go to such lengths for our sakes. But we can see and understand enough of that divine love to make us utter frequently a heartfelt and sincere "thank you" to our heavenly Father.
Having created us and having given us the intellectual gifts which raise us above all other created things on earth, God could have left us in that natural state. We could have a certain amount of happiness, mixed with suffering of course, and we should be grateful for this, but could we really have any true happiness, any real contentment in a life which moved irrevocably and swiftly toward its eternal end in the grave? The merciful and loving Creator saw this before he ever created us. We were never intended for a mere natural life on this earth. The special faculties that he intended giving us deserved and, one could say, almost demanded something immensely greater than a few fleeting years of joy mixed with sorrow on this little planet. Therefore, our loving Creator ordained from eternity that we should share his eternal happiness with him.
That God could have found many ways of doing this, there is no sound reason to doubt, but the way he chose---the uniting of our human nature with the divine in his incarnate Son---was surely the way that expressed his true and fatherly love in the most emphatic manner possible. This is what our heavenly Father has done for us. He did so, as St. Paul says today: " out of the great love with which he loved us." The superior intellectual faculties which he gave man in creation can now have, as their object, infinite love and happiness, infinite truth and beauty. Multiply any earthly joy and happiness you have ever experienced, by infinity (if that can be done) and you have some vague idea of what your future life in heaven will be.
To help us appreciate how privileged we are---God's friends on our way to God's home---let us think often during Lent of our unfortunate neighbors, who have no such faith, no such hope, no such consolation in their day after day struggles. This may be their own fault or that of their parents or grandparents, but it matters not who is responsible, these neighbors of ours were created for heaven, God wants them there and unless they get there, their life on earth has been a dreadful failure. We can help them in many ways and if we really appreciate all that God has done and is doing for ourselves, we will gladly do a little bit for him in return, by assisting his prodigal sons on the road back to their Father. This act of true charity toward our fellowman in need will not impede us on our journey to heaven. It will be an immense help to keep us closer to God and more faithful to our Christian calling. A very special additional joy for us in our eternal life will be to have with us in heaven those whom we helped to bring there with us.
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GOSPEL: John 3:14-21. Jesus said to Nicodemus, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God."
EXPLANATION: In chapter three of his gospel, St. John tells us of a nocturnal conversation which Jesus had with a leading Jew, a man of wealth and position. This man, whose name was Nicodemus, had, been impressed by Jesus' preaching and miracles, but being afraid of his fellow-Jews, in the circle in which be moved, he came to speak to Jesus at night. Nicodemus is told that to enter into the kingdom of God, a man must believe in Christ and be baptized. He is born anew of the Spirit in baptism. Jesus also tells him that it is God's will that he himself should be lifted up on the cross and die so that those who believe in him may have, eternal life. It would seem that Nicodemus believed in Jesus to a limited degree. He tried to defend him later on when the Pharisees were condemning Christ (Jn. 7: 51), and he assisted Joseph of Arimathea in the burial of Jesus and supplied expensive aloes and myrrh for the embalming of his body (Jn. 19: 39).
serpent...wilderness: During their wanderings in the desert the Chosen People often rebelled against God. On one such occasion, described in the Book of Numbers (21: 4-9), God allowed poisonous serpents amongst them. Anyone bitten by one of these serpents died. The people then repented, and God told Moses to make a bronze image of a serpent and raise it aloft on a pole. Anyone bitten by a serpent who looked on the elevated bronze serpent was instantly healed of his poisoning.
so must...Man: The "Son of Man" (the half-hidden messianic title that Jesus used of himself) must also be raised aloft (on the cross) in order to earn eternal life for all who will believe in him. In John's gospel the phrase "to be raised up" referring to Jesus has always a double meaning, to be raised up on the cross and to be raised up in glory at the resurrection and ascension.
gave...Son: These are most probably John's interpretation and explanation of the role of Jesus in our salvation. It is entirely due to the incredible love of God for us. He did not spare his own Son but sent him as man amongst us to live and die for us.
shall not perish: Death will not be the final end of those who truly believe in Jesus.
not...world: Neither God nor his incarnate Son condemns men. Men condemn themselves by their refusal to accept God and his Son whom he sent to open heaven for them.
He who believes: Belief in Christ put into daily practice is indicated here. Saying "Lord, Lord" will save no man, "but he who does the will of my Father, he shall be saved."
condemned already: The atheist, agnostic and disbeliever who persevere in this frame of mind are already writing their own sentence of condemnation, just as the true believer who perseveres in his faith is already writing his sentence of approval.
believed in the name: That is, in the person of Jesus, who was God's divine Son.
light has come: Christ as the light of the world is an image frequent in St. John. Christ himself says: "I am the light of the world, he that follows me shall have life and will not walk in darkness" (Jn. 8: 12, see also 9: 5; 12: 35-45; 12:46). Christ has come to illuminate, to give light to the minds of men, so that they can know the true facts regarding their purpose in life.
men loved darkness: That is, the negation of light and what it means. Men preferred not to know their destiny lest they should have to go to the trouble, the self-restraint necessary to reach it.
deeds were evil: They were sinners and loved their sins.
does...light: The vast majority of evil deeds are done in secrecy and in the darkness.
he who...light: The innocent man who does what is right has no fear of being seen by everybody.
deeds...God: Good works are done by the aid and under the inspiration of God, if they are truly good and meritorious. Works good in themselves, can lose all merit and spiritual value because of the evil or wrong intention of their author.
APPLICATION: This man Nicodemus had a half-open mind as regards Jesus. He was moved by his teaching and miracles. He defended him when his companions were out to have Jesus arrested. He helped to have him properly buried when his enemies had him put to death, but that was as far as he went, apparently. There is no mention of him in the first Christian community of Jerusalem. What held him back, what kept him from giving himself fully to Jesus who spoke so kindly and told him so clearly that he himself was indeed a teacher who had come from God, that he had been offered by God as the sacrificial victim who would save the world? All Nicodemus had to do was to accept his word, "believe in him" and be baptized and he too would have eternal life.
Why did he not do this? The answer is given in the beginning of his story: "He came to Jesus by night." He was one of the leading Pharisees and evidently was afraid of what they would think of him had they seen him associating with Jesus. How much more so did he dread what their reactions would be had he become a follower of him whom they called "this impostor." Nicodemus had only half of his mind open to the truth, the other half was closed and barred by his fear of what his own class---the leaders of the Jews---would think of him. He risked his own future happiness in order not to lose the present respect of his sinful associates.
What a foolish man we would all say! Yet, are not many of us often like Nicodemus, when it comes to living up to our following of Christ? There are Catholic men who would like to, and should, go much more often to Holy Communion but are afraid of what their fellow-parishioners, who receive but rarely, would think of them. There are many, far to many, Christians who will not defend or stand up for their religion when it is insulted and attacked in their place of work or in a saloon. There are Christians who stand idly by, and give at least implied, approval, when grave injustices are being carried out by individuals or by local or national groups. These and many more like them are Christian types of Nicodemus, who through fear of losing the approval, the worthless esteem, of their sinful associates, are prepared to forfeit the esteem of God and their own eternal welfare.
Nicodemus probably thought he had made reparation for his lack of openness to Jesus when he assisted at his burial. What value, however, had that work of mercy for one of his frame of mind? There are amongst us today, humanists, most of them ex-Christians, men and women who make assisting their neighbor, while excluding Christ and God, the essence of religion. While the, assistance the neighbor receives will benefit him materially, what spiritual or religious value can it have for the humanist who excluded God and our Savior Jesus Christ? Humanism or concentrating on our neighbor to the exclusion of God, is an imitation of religion and a very false imitation at that. Helping our neighbor because he is a son of God is part of our true religion, and the second of the two great commandments of love; but helping a neighbor from whom we have effaced the image of God has not and cannot have any religious value or significance whatever. It is as meaningless as lighting a candle before the photograph of a wife one has deliberately deserted.
Thank God, we have accepted Christ with our whole heart and our whole mind. It is through him that we have been made sons of God. It is through him that we have learned to love God and learned of God's infinite love for us. Because all men are God's sons also, and our brothers in Christ, we will gladly help them whenever and wherever we can because God has commanded us to do so. This is true humanism which sees in the neighbor the workmanship of the almighty Creator, and what is more important the elevating effects of the divine Savior, as well.b139
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RE: 03.01.12~Readings for Sunday, March 4th-2012

Saint Max Bible Study meets at the back of the church in the Mother Cabrini Room on Fridays 9AM to 10AM….. Please join us!
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MARCH 4, 2012
Second Sunday of Lent
READING 1 GN 22:1-2, 9A, 10-13, 15-18
God put Abraham to the test.
He called to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am!" he replied.
Then God said:
"Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah.
There you shall offer him up as a holocaust
on a height that I will point out to you."

When they came to the place of which God had told him,
Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.
Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the LORD's messenger called to him from heaven,
"Abraham, Abraham!"
"Here I am!" he answered.
"Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger.
"Do not do the least thing to him.
I know now how devoted you are to God,
since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."
As Abraham looked about,
he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.
So he went and took the ram
and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

Again the LORD's messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said:
"I swear by myself, declares the LORD,
that because you acted as you did
in not withholding from me your beloved son,
I will bless you abundantly
and make your descendants as countless
as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore;
your descendants shall take possession
of the gates of their enemies,
and in your descendants all the nations of the earth
shall find blessing-
all this because you obeyed my command."
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19
R. (116:9) I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
I believed, even when I said,
"I am greatly afflicted."
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
READING 2 ROM 8:31B-34
Brothers and sisters:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son
but handed him over for us all,
how will he not also give us everything else along with him?

Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones?
It is God who acquits us, who will condemn?
Christ Jesus it is who died-or, rather, was raised-
who also is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us.
GOSPEL MK 9:2-10
Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
"Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.

As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.

SUNDAY READINGS - 2nd Sunday of Lent
FIRST READING: Genesis 22:1-2; 9-13; 15-18. God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, "By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice."
EXPLANATION: Abraham had promptly obeyed the true God, left his pagan kin, kin and country and come to Canaan. God told him he would be the founder of a great race, the Chosen People, from whom God's blessing---the Messiah---would eventually come (Gn. 12: 1-3). To be the founder of a race, Abraham needed to have a son. God let him wait for twenty-four years before he blessed Sarah, his wife, and himself with a son. In all of that time Abraham was faithful to God, but God had one more test for him. When his son Isaac had grown to boyhood, God asked Abraham to offer him in sacrifice at an appointed place. Abraham obeyed promptly once more, but God intervened as Abraham got ready to slay his son. He told Abraham how pleased he was with his ready obedience. He renewed to him once more the promise of a great race, through which the whole world would receive the blessing of God---divine adoption through the incarnation.
God...Abraham: God knew the answer, but he wanted Abraham's faith and trust in God to be an example for his descendants for all time.
only son...love: There were two reasons which made it so difficult for Abraham to obey. First, he loved his only son, as only a father who begot a son in his old age could love and secondly, how could he be father of a great race if his only son was put to death? However, Abraham's love of God overcame his natural love for his son, and his firm faith in the power of God told him that God could still find a way to fulfill the promise of a great race, which he had made to him in his pagan homeland thirty or so years earlier.
a burnt offering: This seems an extraordinary request on the part of God. But in the surrounding pagan lands at that time and for long after, children were offered in sacrifice on pagan altars. God by no means approved of this crime, but the fact that it was happening made it possible for Abraham to think that God really wanted him to sacrifice Isaac.
Abraham, Abraham: As Abraham was just ready to slay his son before burning him on the altar God's messenger calls on him to stop.
you fear God: It was now clear that Abraham was willing to obey God in all things even a thing so difficult and repugnant as this.
a ram...thicket: As the altar was ready, Abraham felt he should offer some sacrifice to God because he had spoken to him there, and so he offered the ram which happened to be within reach.
by myself...sworn: Because of Abraham's fidelity and trust God now renews his promise in a most solemn way---he swears by himself. There was nothing, or no person higher, by whom he could swear or guarantee fulfillment of his promise.
all...themselves: All the peoples of the world would come to know in time that it was through Abraham and his descendant, Christ, that God's privilege of sonship was made available to them (see Heb. 11:12; Rom. 4). They will see Abraham as the human intermediary in God's plan for all men.
APPLICATION: The faith and trust of Abraham in the true God whom he had got to know only late in life, and about whose power and love he did not know a fraction of what we know, should well put us to shame. Abraham left his country, his home, and his kin at a time when one's life depended on the strength of one's clan. He came to a foreign land about which he knew nothing. There he lived among strangers who had no time for invaders and "foreigners." All of this looks easy on paper but what a sacrifice it must have been for Abraham to leave his own people, to travel the long desert journey from Haran in Assyria to Canaan, and then to try to earn his daily bread in unfriendly, if not positively hostile, surroundings. All of this Abraham did because he was convinced of this true God's omnipotence and fidelity to his promises. Abraham was glad of the role that God had chosen for him---the human agent through whom the great divine blessing for all peoples would come.
Abraham's second test of obedience and trust, of which we have just read, was even a more severe trial than the first. He was asked to give up forever his only real son and thereby be unable to fulfill the role God had promised him. Here again Abraham's trust in God gave him the strength and the courage to do what he was told. Abraham's prompt, unquestioning obedience pleased God---he did not have to sacrifice his only Son. His goodwill, his desire and readiness to obey God's command, were proof enough of his justice, fidelity, sanctity.
How many of us could imitate Abraham? How many of us who have seen God the Father sacrificing his beloved Son in his human nature, offering him as sacrifice for our sins on the cross, could or would measure up to Abraham's prompt obedience when God demands some sacrifice of us? How many of us who can devoutly make the Stations of the Cross, and see and feel the insults, degradation, tortures that the innocent Lamb of God suffered for our sins, will turn around soon after and refuse to give up some sinful association, some personal and unlawful gain, some habit of gluttony, or personal animosity against a neighbor? Such unwillingness to sacrifice something much less important than an only son, for the sake of God and our own eternal welfare, is far indeed from the prompt and ready obedience of Abraham.
We all have much to learn from this saintly man who lived nearly four thousand years ago. He is our father in the faith, for it was through his descendants that the knowledge of the true God was preserved on earth, and it was from one of his descendants that our Savior---the Messiah---took his human nature. We should, therefore, remember him with gratitude and we should show that gratitude especially by our endeavors to imitate his spirit of obedience and submission to God's will. Let each one of us look into his or her own heart today. There are desires and plans and attachments there, which God is asking us to sacrifice, to burn up, to destroy during this lent. They are trifling sacrifices compared with that demanded of Abraham, but they are big enough to keep us from true loyalty to God in this life and are a very positive impediment to our entrance into heaven in the next.
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SECOND READING: Romans 8: 31-34. If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us?
EXPLANATION: Unlike his other Epistles, which were letters written by Paul to churches that he, or one of his assistants, had evangelized, this letter is to a church that he had not even visited. It is, therefore, less personal and more in the form of an exposition of part (not all) of the Christian message which he had preached in Asia Minor and Greece, and was now anxious to preach to the Romans also. In the section of the letter from which this extract is taken, St. Paul is emphasizing the indwelling of the Spirit in Christians and their freedom from sin, eternal death and the Jewish law. The liberating act of Christ had made them children of God, destined for glory. The Christian is a freeman who lives in hope. His hope is founded on the infinite love of God for men. That love was made manifest in Christ Jesus.
If God...us: He has demonstrated that God is clearly on the side of man. The salvific plan of God which Paul has expounded so far is sufficient proof of this.
who...us: With God on our side, all enemies are powerless against us.
who did...Son: What greater proof of his love for us could God have given us than this, that he handed over his own Son to the death of the cross for our sakes (see 5: 5-8).
all things with him: If he gave his beloved Son to us and for us, he will give everything else that is necessary for our eternal salvation.
bring...against: Christians are God's chosen ones. God is the supreme Judge, who shall dare to bring any charge against them in God's court?
It is God who justifies: The same idea is here repeated.
Is...Jesus: Christ who has made us his brothers by his incarnation, and died on the cross for our sins will not bring a charge against us.
raised...intercedes: Christ who died has been raised from the dead and is now in his glorified humanity in the principal place in heaven. He is interceding for us, that is, he is continuing his activity as Savior. Could he then become our opponent? The answer, of course, is "no."
APPLICATION: These four short verses of St. Paul's letter to the Romans are among the most encouraging and consoling scripture passages in the whole Bible. He tells us God and Christ are entirely in favor of admitting us to heaven. He admits that there are some enemies who would try to prevent us from getting there, but he logically concludes: what can any enemy or number of enemies do if God and Christ are our defending Counsels and Judges? In brief "if God is for us who is against us?" Paul's whole letter is full of proofs that God is for us, the greatest proof of all being the fact of the incarnation and crucifixion of his Son, for us sinners. If God went to those lengths in order to bring us to heaven it is more than logical that he will give us the lesser gifts and the assistance that each one of us needs in order to get there.
The Christian who keeps vivid this consoling knowledge of God's love for him and God's interest in his eternal welfare should never have a sad moment in his life. The things that cause us worry and trouble in life are trifles, when compared with the assurance and certainty we have of final triumph. That assurance comes from God's infinite love, so definitely proved to us by the incarnation. St. Paul goes on in the very next verse after the text which is read today (8: 35): "who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword". . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. . . no created thing can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord."
This is the assurance that St. Paul gives the newly converted Christians of Rome and it was not based on any speculation or wishful thinking, but on the solid proofs of God's love for us which the incarnation so definitely demonstrated. Let no one say: this might be all very true as regards the early Christians, they were full of zeal and full of the love of God; they were not likely to feel all the weaknesses of the flesh and all the attractions of the world which we feel today; life was easier then, they could give more time to the things of God than we can today, the struggle for existence was not so hard for them. St. Paul who knew human nature very well and who had dealt with thousands of converts would deny such statements absolutely. He knew the Roman converts were subject to the same human weaknesses as are all men of all ages. He knew they could, and very likely did, sin occasionally but he also knew that they had been instructed on how to repent of their sins and had enough interest in their eternal welfare to do so.
They had the same weakness that we have, they had the same enemies opposing their salvation. We have the same remedies and protections as they had; they used these remedies and were saved. Shall we not be as active in our own best interests as they were? God is as much for us as he was for the Romans, he wants us in heaven and he has done all that was necessary (and much more) to get us there. If we fail in our final examination one of our greatest causes of grief will be that the fault is completely and entirely our own. We can blame no person or thing in heaven or on earth for our dreadful failure except ourselves. Pray God today, that you shall avoid such grief. You will, if you try always to keep before your mind what God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, has done and continues to do daily for you. "If God is with us who is against us?" God is ever with us if we do not deliberately and seriously separate ourselves from him.
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GOSPEL:Mark 9: 2-10. Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured before them, and his garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah." For he did not know what to say, for they were exceedingly afraid. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud. "This is my beloved Son; listen to him." And suddenly looking around they no longer saw any one with them but Jesus only.
And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of man should have risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.
EXPLANATION: A few days previous to the event narrated here by St. Mark, Jesus had told his disciples of the sufferings and death that awaited him in Jerusalem. "He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests. . .and be killed and after three days rise again (Mk. 8: 31). This statement greatly depressed the Apostles. They still had the wrong idea of their Messiah. They still hoped he would establish an earthly kingdom, that he would use his great powers to subdue all his earthly enemies and that he would set up a triumphant kingdom in Israel. It was while they were in this mood of deep depression that he took Peter, James and John---the same three who were to witness his Agony in the Garden a few months later---to the top of a high mountain. Here he gave them a glimpse of the divine glory which was his, but of which he had "emptied himself," as St. Paul puts it, "taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men, though he was in the form of God" (Phil. 2: 6-7) so that he could, through his life and sufferings as man, redeem and elevate all men.
was...before them: The appearance of Jesus was completely changed; He had become someone entirely different, someone glorious. Even his garments shone with a brilliance and whiteness not of this world: "no fuller on earth could bleach them thus." Jesus allowed his three Apostles a momentary prevision of what his glorified body united to his divinity will be like in heaven.
Elijah, Moses: These were the two outstanding representatives of the Law and the prophets, that is, of the Old Testament. Their presence was an indication that Christ was the promised Messiah.
talking to Jesus: Mark does not mention the subject of this talk but Luke (9: 29) tells us they were speaking of "his departure", his passion and death in Jerusalem.
Peter said: Always the leader and always ready to speak, Peter, beside himself because of the glorious vision, suggests that this should continue forever. Hence the idea of erecting three booths (or tents) in which Jesus, Moses and Elijah could remain. There may have been the thought in his mind that in the eschatological age God would pitch his tent among men (see Ez. 37: 27; Zech. 2: 10-11).
did not...say: This is an indication of the folly of Peter's suggestion.
exceedingly afraid: They knew that they were in the presence of something supernatural and were therefore afraid.
a cloud...them: In the Old Testament a cloud was always the symbol of the presence of the divine majesty. God spoke to the Israelites in the desert from a cloud (Ex. 16:10). He gave the ten commandments to Moses from a cloud (Ex. 19: 16). He manifested his presence in the newly-built temple of Solomon in a cloud "which filled the house of the Lord" (3 Kgs. 8: IO).
a voice came: From out of the cloud God proclaimed that Christ was his beloved Son whom the Apostles must hear and obey: "listen to him."
no longer...Jesus only: St. Matthew tells us the Apostles fell on their faces when they heard the voice of God from the cloud---they were terrified and wanted to hide themselves. Matthew also adds that Jesus then came to them and told them to rise up and not to be afraid. The only one they saw when they stood up and opened their eyes was Jesus in his ordinary human appearance.
he charged them: On their way down from the mountain Jesus commanded the three Apostles to tell nobody what they had witnessed until:
the Son...dead: After the resurrection they would understand that Jesus was more than man and more than a human Messiah. This vision would then have a clear meaning for them and for those to whom they would tell it.
rising...meant: They kept this secret from all others but they discussed it among themselves, and they were especially puzzled by Jesus' mention of his resurrection from the dead. This puzzlement was not about the possibility of the resurrection of all men---for like the vast majority of their contemporary Jews, they had no doubts about an eventual resurrection from the dead---but how could Jesus rise from the dead when they were convinced that he could not die. He had power over all things, he had raised others from the dead, and this vision they had just seen proved how close to God he was, so how could he die? Nothing else but the actual death of Jesus on the cross was able to convince his Apostles that he would or could die.
APPLICATION: This vision of Christ glorified, given to these Apostles on Mount Thabor (the traditional site of Transfiguration) was surely a very special privilege, and it was one they did not forget. "We saw his glory," St. John says in his gospel, written over sixty years later. In his epistles John also refers to this privilege (1 Jn. 1: 1-4). St. Peter, writing from Rome to the churches in Asia Minor about thirty years later, mentions this outstanding experience: "For we were not following fictitious tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when from out the majestic glory a voice came down to him saying: 'this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.' And this voice we ourselves heard borne from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain" (2 Pt. 1:16-18).
Yes, the three Apostles were privileged and we too are sharers in their privilege. The Transfiguration of Christ is but one among many of the incontrovertible proofs of the divine Sonship of Christ which we have in the gospel narratives and in the twenty centuries-long history of the Church which he founded. Were he not divine, that Church would long since have crumbled and fallen under the many vicious assaults from outside which it has undergone, as well as from the many human weaknesses which have beset it from within. But Christ is God and the Church has his divine protection and assistance. Therefore, it will go on to the end of time to continue his work of elevating and redeeming mankind.
This enlightening glimpse of Christ's future glory---a glory in which they would share---was given to these Apostles to strengthen and encourage them in the terrible test of their faith which the passion and death of Jesus would be for them very soon. It is for a similar reason that the Church orders this story of the Transfiguration to be read to us during this season of Lent. We are or should be mortifying ourselves during this season. This mortification can earn for us a glorious and unending future life. To encourage us to continue it, we are reminded that the One we are following, the One whose voice we listen to, is none other than the Son of God. There are the voices of many false prophets shouting around us, telling us to enjoy ourselves in this life, to "eat, sleep, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die," but there is the rub---tomorrow we shall die, but where shall we go then?
Let us thank our divine Lord today, for giving this consoling and encouraging vision of his glory to his Apostles and through them to us. It was for them, and it is for us, a guarantee and a foretaste of the joys and the glory that will be ours for eternity, if we but persevere in our struggles against the world, the flesh and the devil. This struggle is not easy for our weak nature, but our loving Savior is ever beside us to "raise us up and tell us not to fear" if we but rely on him. When we are tempted to give way to our human weaknesses, or to give way under the weight of the crosses that sometimes are about to crush us, let us think of Mount Thabor, and the glorified Jesus, who a few weeks later faced his own real passion and cross cheerfully for our sakes. This thought will help us to carry our crosses as the thought of the future glory which will be ours should make us thank God that we have been created and thank his beloved Son for setting us on the road to that future glory.b122
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