Here on the 2nd Sunday of Lent we always focus on the Transfiguration, which is a story that we talk about quite a bit, we are quite familiar with it. Again, much like last week, I wonder what is it that I can say that I haven’t already said about the Transfiguration and will be helpful?
So, like last week, I went to the preface prayer for some inspiration, because I believe these prayers, especially during Lent like the other special seasons or days, are clues as to what the Church really wants us to take away for the week. In our preface today, it says this: For after He had told the disciples of His coming Death,/ on the holy mountain He manifested to them His glory,/ to show, even by the testimony of the law and the prophets,/ that the Passion leads to the glory of the Resurrection.
There are some important things here. First, prophecy, or foreshadowing typology - the Church tells us that “the testimony of the law and the prophets” which was represented by the appearance of Moses and Elijah - Moses received the Commandments and gave the law, Elijah was considered to be the greatest prophet - so “the testimony of the law and the prophets” - in other words, everything from the Old Testament points to Jesus’ suffering, death, and Resurrection in order to free us from our sins, which is a huge blessing for all of us.
Everything in “Salvation History” - everything from the Bible before the Gospels points to Jesus Christ in some way, that’s what the Old Testament reading is doing during Lent. Today’s 1st reading is a good example of that. Abraham and Issac, a father willing to sacrifice his son, looks like a pretty dark story, but Abraham is pointing to God the Father, and Issac points to God the Son.
I want to quickly highlight some of the prophecy or foreshadowing typology - first, only son, just like Jesus. Second, Isaac was to be the sacrifice and he had to carry the wood for the sacrificial fire, like Jesus carrying the wood of the cross. Third, Mount Moriah is where Jerusalem is located, so Isaac had to carry that wood up the same mountain as Jesus did. Fourth, Isaac laid on the wood like Jesus laid on the cross. Fifth, we know there was a happy ending to this story, Isaac wasn’t sacrificed but instead a Ram caught by its horns in the thicket was offered as a Sacrifice - Rams were seen as a “kingly animal,” the horns being a crown, and early Church fathers saw the thicket as thorns, so this Ram which was sacrificed instead of Isaac wore a crown of thorns like Jesus.
So you can see and make a lot of connections there. We can see it clearly looking back, it would have been difficult for Abraham to have seen this at the time, but looking back it becomes clear. At the time it was just a test of Abraham's faith, as the reading started today, “God put Abraham to the test.” Abraham passed the test, and it was deemed as a blessing for all, even for us today.
But it was a pretty severe test I’d say that allowed us to be blessed thru Jesus. But this gets us back to the Transfiguration and our preface prayer. So, second, it highlights how Jesus told them He was going to die which He knew was going to test their faith, then He took them up the mountain to show them His glory, and to show “that the Passion leads to the glory of the Resurrection.”
This word Passion, in Latin, passio, it means Suffering. So the Passion was a severe suffering test, for Jesus, for the Apostles and for everyone who loved Him, to see Him suffer and be crucified had to be a terrible test of their faith. The Transfiguration was meant to strengthen them for that test, to show them it would not be the end, rather it would lead to “the glory of the Resurrection.” The Resurrection is the mountain top we need to fix our eyes on! I look back on my life and it seems like it has been a series of tests, suffering in the valleys, with some mountain top moments that now seem more like peaks, I feel like I’m still climbing. It is only clear looking back though - in the moment those tests are very difficult, but I see how they prepared me for more.
The Wahlert Girls Basketball team (will be here tomorrow/later/is here today,) they play their first game at State on Tuesday morning, and I believe athletes experience this type of suffering/testing, ups and down throughout every season. There is the suffering of conditioning, then the testing of particularly difficult 4A teams, some mountain top peak wins, but always looking ahead to the actual mountain top, there are three more tests to go, until the glory of the championship, right?
We have seen other teams win, we know we can do it too. And it is very similar in our faith life, we are tested, but we move forward stronger. We see other people tested, but they move forward in faith, staying strong until their death and their particular resurrection. Because we have seen Jesus and many of His disciples experience suffering, death and Resurrection in faith, we can too.
Through life we are tested, but through it we stay faithful. Our first line of our Responsorial Psalm said, “I believed, even when I said, ‘I am greatly afflicted.’” I looked back to my homily last year when the Wahlert Girls were here - it was the weekend that my nephew died, about 38 weeks into pregnancy, he died suddenly- talk about a test for my family, especially for my sister.
But, now my sister is pregnant again - think of the joy and gratitude she will experience, all of us really. In the moment it was terrible suffering, a terrible test, but we can look back very clearly and see how our faith and trust increased, and we will experience even more joy and gratitude now after overcoming that test. As we climb the mountain of our lives, we always see more clearly what is below or behind us. The only way we can fail is to stop moving forward toward the mountain top where we will see God face to face in our own Resurrection. Yes, there will be tests and suffering along the way, but it makes us stronger, deepens our trust, and fills us with gratitude each time we make it through a test, seeing more clearly how God is with us in every moment.