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Our Sunday Reflection - February 25, 2024
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This is my beloved son.
Mark 9:2-10
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Introduction to the Liturgy of the Day
As we continue our Lenten journey today, we hear stories of two significant journeys in the history of our faith. Abraham travels to a distant land with his precious son, Isaac, where his devotion and obedience to God will be put to their greatest test. Jesus leads his closest disciples up a high mountain where he will be transfigured in glory. May our practice of the Lenten disciplines of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving transform us into more loving and devoted disciples.Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word
Old Testament meets New Testament in today’s Gospel, which features Jesus, the center of the New Testament, with two of the main figures from the Hebrew scriptures, Moses and Elijah. The two people who perhaps best represent the law and the prophets of old join with the Son of God, who himself said that he had come to fulfill the law and the prophets. In the company of Moses and Elijah, Jesus is transfigured, giving his disciples a brief taste of his glory. May that glorious vision sustain us during this penitential season.Reflections
- Only Abraham’s tremendous trust in God’s plan made him willing to sacrifice his own son. It couldn’t possibly have made sense. He must have asked himself how he could have descendants as numerous as the stars if his only son is dead. But he trusted in God and God transfigured an occasion of human sacrifice to one of animal sacrifice. Significantly, each time God calls Abraham in this passage, he answers at once, “Here I am!” (Genesis 22:1, 11). This response in Hebrew is a single word: hineni. It is used again by Moses, by Samuel, and by Isaiah, when each of them is called by God, and is used even now in Jewish prayers. May we have such trust in God that we too respond, “hineni,” when we hear God’s voice, allowing our lives to be transfigured.
- Whenever Jesus chooses a handful of disciples to accompany him at a particularly special time, he selects Peter, James, and John. Today he takes these three up a mountain to see him transfigured in glory and hear his Father’s affirmation. Much later, after the Last Supper, he will take these three to the garden of Gethsemane with him. There he will be “transfigured” in agony as he pleads with his Father to spare him. On that occasion, his closest friends—the only ones to witness him in his glory—will fall asleep, causing them to miss Jesus’ final hours before he is arrested. What they couldn’t have known then but what we know now is that Jesus will give all the disciples, including these three, the opportunity to see him in his true glory, his risen glory, after his resurrection. This is how we all know his glory now.
- Though we do not witness Christ’s glory in as dramatic a way as Peter, James, and John do, we witness his risen glory in other ways, and most especially as we gather in this holy place. After all, Jesus told us that when two or more are gathered in his name, he is with them in their midst. May we exclaim as Peter does, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here!” (Mark 9:5).
Question of the Week
How do I think God would want my life to be transfigured this Lent? Am I willing to say “hineni” to accept that change to my life?
-from Pastoral Patterns
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readings of the mass
LISTEN HERE to the Audio Recordings of the Readings of Sunday, February 25, 2024
SELECT HERE for the Readings of Sunday, February 25, 2024
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Offerings
The Sunday offerings are a portion of our blessings that we give to God (Church) in gratitude to what God has done for us...ONLINE GIVING OPTIONS -
Reflections on the readings
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News from the Vatican
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