Directed and Beloved

Second Sunday of Lent

March 12, 2017  

Transfiguration, St. John's Bible

The LORD said to Abram: "Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. … Abram went as the LORD directed him. (Genesis 12:1,4)

…then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and do not be afraid." And when the disciples raised their eyes,  they saw no one else but Jesus alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, "Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."  (Matthew 17:5-8)

Piety

R: Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

 (Psalm 33:20-22)

Study

Most of us in the U.S.A. are descended from people who left their homes to come here to a new life, often losing touch with those they loved.  Some of our families came to escape hardships and persecution as did Catholic settlers in Maryland.  An early law, the Maryland Toleration Act, sought to establish religious freedom. Some ancestors came to realize new dreams.  St John Neumann was unable to be ordained in his naïve Bohemia due to the many vocations there.  He came to New York and eventually became bishop and is known as founder of Catholic education in the US. Some of our families had no choice but, like St. Peter, found themselves bound and taken were they did not want to go.  Venerable Pierre Toussaint was born a slave but after being freed he supported the Church for the rest of his life even founding an orphanage.

These people “went as the Lord directed,” not knowing their future but trusting.  The disciples did not understand nor could they fathom their future.  Jesus expressed that they would not know what they had witnessed in His transfiguration until the light of his passion, death and resurrection illuminated it.  It is God’s loving desire for relationship with us which Jesus asks them – and us – to trust in even if we do not wholly understand.  Today, we live without knowing what we face but we are illumined and uplifted by the grace bestowed when Jesus died and rose for us.  In Jesus our life paths are part of building the Kingdom.

Action

Do we have the courage and do we employ our trust as we are directed?  Take a minute in quiet reflection listening to the Spirit wherein our direction and our strength rests.  Let the wings of the Spirit guide you today.