Sunday Reflections

The second reading for this Second Sunday of Lent is a passage that is often used in our funeral liturgies.  St. Paul reminds us, “Our citizenship is in heaven.” This is something I think we so often forget.  We are not home in this world; it is not home; we are in the far country.  God is home and we are simply pilgrims in this world.  If we understood this and believed it, the sting of death for us or our loved ones would be greatly lessened.

The gospel for this Second Sunday of Lent is always the story of the transfiguration. For a brief moment, the veil of Jesus’ true nature is pulled aside, and James, John, and Peter are blessed with seeing the true nature of Jesus.  But just as quickly the vision was gone.  Did they see it or not? And could they trust what they saw and heard? The experience on the mountain was to prepare them for the journey to Jerusalem to follow.  There their faith would be tested as Jesus was tortured and killed and their belief in him would be challenged.

As believers in Jesus, we too have been blessed with moments of transfiguration.  Indeed, these moments may not have been as spectacular as that which the apostles experienced on the mountain but they have been there.  Pope Paul VI once said that to experience God, we need to put on a backpack and go for a hike in the woods, for all of creation speaks of God’s presence. St. Paul in the first chapter of his letter to the Romans reminds us of the same thing: “Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are have been understood and seen through the things has made (Rm 1:20). For some, the presence of God is revealed in nature, for others in the birth or laugh of a child, or in the tenderness of a loved one.  God, who is love and who loves us beyond measure, surely wants to be known and will reveal his presence to us in a way we can understand. But, we need to pay attention and open our eyes and our hearts to his unveiling.

Perhaps this week we can take some time to reflect and ask ourselves how God has appeared to us.  Where in our lives has the veil of God’s presence been pulled aside for us?  When have we seen God or heard God speak to us? As St. Paul says, it is in God that we live, move, and exist; so, if we are never outside God, we simply need to let ourselves be still in God’s being because God is home, our home.