Catholic 722: Second Sunday of Lent. Year C - Sunday, March 17, 2019

Homily Second Sunday of Lent. Year C - Sunday, March 17, 2019

Surfers Paradise Parish joins with all people of goodwill to offer our heartfelt sympathies and prayers for the victims and their families of the horrifying shootings in New Zealand. We pray for peace and respect for human dignity everywhere in the world.  We will keep the people of New Zealand in our prayers.  

Shutterstock. By Renata Sedmakova. Stock photo ID: 270419624. Used with permission. ROME, ITALY - MARCH 27, 2015: The fresco of st. Augustine and his mother st. Monica in Basilica di Sant Agostino (Augustine) by Pietro Gagliardi form 19. cent. - Image

THE LITURGY OF THE WORD

First Reading: Genesis 15:5-12. 17-18
Psalm: 26:1. 7-9. 13-14. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Second Reading: Philippians 3:17 - 4:1
Gospel Acclamation: Matthew 17:5
Gospel: Luke 9:28-36
++++Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers and reflections for the Second Sunday of Lent. Year C - Sunday, March 17, 2019 by clicking this link here:   https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-lent-2c-ep-146-march-17th-2019/s-XbiQg  (EPISODE: 146)
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This weekend's gospel of the Transfiguration of the Lord is a wonderful reminder that God's glory is around us all the time; in the people and events of life. But, it is not always as obvious as this moment that Jesus experienced, where his face literally shone like light.

We have probably all had "high-point moments," when something extraordinary and special happens to us; and it is as though "the veil between this life and the next" is temporarily parted, and we glimpse Heaven - and we gain a sweet taste of God's glory and wonder - but then those moments are gone and we are back to the everyday events of life. But, those high-point, (mountain-top), moments stay with us long afterward and spur us on; reminding us that God's glory is always present. 

The spiritual writer Thomas Merton puts it this way: "every one of us walks around the streets of this town shining like the sun; if only we knew it…. "      

Yes indeed! If only we realised this!  The Glory and grace of God, shines in and around all of His beautiful creation, mostly lost under the cover of everyday bustle. 

Saint Augustine, in his writings, describes a fascinating and beautiful moment; which in many ways is like a little 'taste' of 'transfiguration' in his own life story…….

It happened when Saint Augustine and his mother Saint Monica were just talking together while they stayed in a villa at the seaside port of Ostia in Rome, Italy. They were deep in discussion; sharing their faith and their hopes……..    

Augustine writes:

   

"My mother and I were alone, leaning from a window which overlooked the garden in the courtyard of the house where we were staying at in Ostia. . . .Our conversation led us (to speak of many things)……. our thoughts ranged over the whole compass of material things in their various degrees, up to the heavens themselves, from which the sun and the moon and the stars shine down upon the earth. Higher still we climbed, thinking and speaking all the while in wonder at all that God has made.   ….At length, we came to our own souls and passed beyond them to that place of everlasting plenty, …….... And when we spoke of the eternal Wisdom, // longing for it //and straining for it with all the strength of our hearts//, for one fleeting instant //we reached out //and touched it. //...........Then with a sigh... //. we returned to the sound of our own speech, // in which each word has a beginning and an ending //- far, far different from your Word, Oh Lord, who abides forever, yet never grows old and gives new life to all things."

This beautiful little incident is like an echo of the Transfiguration of Our Lord on the mountaintop, where Jesus' divinity shines through for an instant in its fullness, and then everything returns to normal, and seems as ordinary as it was before……… But those who experience it are really never quite the same again.  They are profoundly moved, to the depth of their being, by a deep experience of God's eternal grace. 

This glimpse of glory is truly beautiful….

God gives us these occasional glimpses of his glory……   a divinity which, (by the way), actually surrounds us always, but we cannot always see it. Most times we do not recognize God's glory in the midst of ordinary life. 

These moments are special. When we get these special experiences, it is understandable that we would want to settle there and hold on to them forever…………. Perhaps it is part of the human condition, that we clutch at the messenger as if they are the message itself……… We can hold on to the extraordinary moments, instead of savouring the profound subtlety of the "ordinary, and the every day," (where 90% of our lives are lived out). If God is not present and active in the ordinary moments of our lives, then it makes no sense. So thank goodness that this is precisely where God IS found.  

And similarly, the GLORY of God in Christ was AS present and active when he was walking a dusty path between towns, looking just like any other ordinary traveller, as when he shone with pure light on that mountain top. This whole transfiguration incident is God's way of saying..   "See this profound experience of Glory...  Good! now go back to the usual programme,..... but remember.,...this man is the Holy One....  he has my complete confidence and blessing....  This is my Son....   This glory is IN him always..!! .....   at every moment..   even in the mundane ......  even in the boring and tedious moments....   and even ultimately as he suffers and dies on a cross, seeming like just another common criminal.. But, Look deeper .. look beyond appearances. See the reality.       

That is exactly what the disciples did on the mountain top…. This experience was astounding, and it was extraordinary… It was beautiful……. so… "let us stay here… let us build three tents and remain in this moment  and on this mountain forever……"

We too can be tempted to settle for the oasis of temporary revival and encouragement, in place of the true destination which is still a long journey away. …

Jesus made the disciples snap out of their misunderstanding….  No… they CANNOT just "stay on the mountain." There is much to be done back in the towns. And, at the end of the road, lies the unavoidable: Calvary………… 

Equating a good spiritual life with continuous or even regular "25,000-volt epiphanies" ignores the fact that we live our lives at the very effective "240-volt" level for everyday usage. 

God occasionally sends us exceptional spiritual moments to encourage us, prompt us, renew, challenge or re-focus us, but ultimately we cannot stay at that level (as St Peter mistakenly tried to do in today's Gospel); and it would be futile trying to replicate the same ways of getting that special 'mountain top' experience on a regular basis. We must that God will give us what we need in due time and in the ways and times of God's choosing.  If we only go around looking for the dramatic mountaintop experiences of spiritual life, (or for that matter, the extraordinary moments in life), we would miss the countless little moments of ordinary grace that fill up even the most ordinary or seemingly unexceptional day.   

There are also many saints in the life of the church, who went years...  sometimes decades...  without any exceptional spiritual consolations, but continued to live the ordinary moments of graced life in exceptional devotion, faith, and good works.  

God is constantly reminding us of what Augustine himself wrote as well….….   despite that wonderful moment of grace he described in his writings… he also wrote something even more profound….  "Loving God…….You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You."

God does not always act in ways according to our own expectations. God is in charge. We are humble servants whose "eyes are always on the hand of our master; waiting for the slightest movement, so we might leap up and answer whatever is requested…

and...   at all times...

"Hope in him, hold firm and take heart. Hope in the Lord!"

+++++REFERENCES:
 
FR. PAUL W. KELLY
MISSION 2000  – PRAYING SCRIPTURE IN A CONTEMPORARY WAY. YEAR C. BY MARK LINK S.J.
2010 – A BOOK OF GRACE-FILLED DAYS. BY ALICE CAMILLE.
THE DAILY STUDY BIBLE. GOSPEL OF LUKE. (REVISED EDITION). BY WILLIAM BARCLAY.
From Saint Augustine: Confessions (Book nine, chapter 10). [Augustine. Confessions. Trans. R.S. Pine-Coffin. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1961, page 197 (paperback edition).]

Shutterstock. By Renata Sedmakova. Stock photo ID: 270419624. Used with permission. ROME, ITALY - MARCH 27, 2015: The fresco of st. Augustine and his mother st. Monica in Basilica di Sant Agostino (Augustine) by Pietro Gagliardi form 19. cent. - Image

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Texts used in this programme are for the purposes of worship and prayer for listeners wherever you are.
Prayers and chants are taken from the English Translation of the Roman Missal, edition three, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy.
Scriptures are from the New Revised Standard Version: © 1989,  by the national council of Churches of Christ, USA. , //adaptations to conform with Catholic liturgical norms, © 2009, by the same.  [{selected psalms } - ***Psalm verses are (also) taken from "The Psalms: A New Translation" ©1963, The Grail (England), published by Collins.. **]
Prayers of the Faithful are adapted from Robert Borg's 1993 book " Together we pray". Published in Sydney Australia By  E.J. Dwyer. (out of print).{ "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" -published 2011,  Composed and Sung by Jeffrey M. Ostrowski   Featuring the….The Kyrie, The Mass parts, http://www.ccwatershed.org/chabanel/  ]]] ] COPYRIGHT @ 2018 CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  www.ccwatershed.org/vatican/Ralph_Sherwin_Videos/   

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May God bless and keep you. 
Second Sunday of Lent. Year C
(Sunday, March 17, 2019)
(EPISODE: 146 )
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
+++++++++++++My brothers and sisters, trusting in Gods mercy and love let us call to mind our sins.
option two on the cards// Have mercy on us, O Lord.// For we have sinned against you.// Show us, O Lord, your mercy. And grant us your salvation.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.  Amen.
+++++++++++++++++++++Memorial Acclamation
We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.
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Sunday Lent II 
Eucharistic Prayer III 

Communion side.  pwk:  RH
++++Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.