Feb. 25, 2018: 2nd Sunday Lent B
Feb. 25, 2018: 2nd Sunday Lent B
Click to hear Audio Homily
If the Lord asked you personally, would you be willing to give up what’s most precious to you? For example, would you be able to let go of your career plans to take care of a family member who is going through a long-term illness? Most of us would do anything to help our flesh and blood--our parents, siblings, children, or grandchildren. It also happens that the ones who are closest to us can also hurt us most deeply. As someone said, "Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Yet very often, it's the place where we find the deepest heartache." It can be a sibling who has said or done hurtful things, a mother who has never appreciated her child, or a father who has not been a loving father who is supposed to protect and provide for the family.
I wonder how Isaac in our First Reading felt when he learned that he was going to be sacrificed by the very hands of his father Abraham whom he loved and trusted. Was he feeling anger and betrayal, or did Isaac trust his father? I also wonder what Abraham was feeling as he led his son up the mountain toward the place where he was to offer the sacrifice. For most of us the story of Abraham and Isaac is disturbing to us. How could God ask Abraham to let go of what was most precious to him, the only son in his old age. It was customary at that time for people to sacrifice their children to pagan gods. However, God was not asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. God’s direction to Abraham to offer his son as a holocaust was a deeper test of Abraham’s faith and trust, and for Isaac as well.
What transpired between Abraham and Isaac serves to reveal for us the depth of the love that God had for humanity when he let go of his most precious Divine Son to take on human flesh and ultimately to undergo suffering and death. When we look within ourselves and reflect on our sins of commission and our sins of omission, we know that we are not worthy of God’s love. Thus, we can only marvel at God’s love with awe as we recall what St. Paul wrote, “God did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all.” In gratitude we spend our lifetime growing deeper in love with Our Lord through prayer and Eucharist.
At times we suffer and sacrifice and have difficulty understanding why. How we react to the suffering depends on our relationship with Our Lord. Jesus told his disciples right before taking them on the Mount of Transfiguration, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Lk 9:23-24) None of us will be persecuted to the same degree as Jesus was physically persecuted. He does ask us to join our sufferings to His Passion so that it may have infinite value before Our Lord’s majesty.
Transfiguration of Our Lord showed the glimpse of glory that awaits beyond the veil of our crosses and Calvary. And Our Lord promises that he will be with us through our pain and suffering. St. Paul, who himself went through much suffering for the Lord invited us to have this attitude, “If God is for us, who can be against us...will he not also give us everything else along with him?” If God’s love for us is total, we need not fear anything or anyone, even if the hurt comes from our very own flesh and blood. What lies beyond our patient enduring and suffering on this earthly life is glory to be revealed by Our Lord.
If the Lord asked you personally, would you be willing to give up what’s most precious to you? For example, would you be able to let go of your career plans to take care of a family member who is going through a long-term illness? Most of us would do anything to help our flesh and blood--our parents, siblings, children, or grandchildren. It also happens that the ones who are closest to us can also hurt us most deeply. As someone said, "Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Yet very often, it's the place where we find the deepest heartache." It can be a sibling who has said or done hurtful things, a mother who has never appreciated her child, or a father who has not been a loving father who is supposed to protect and provide for the family.
I wonder how Isaac in our First Reading felt when he learned that he was going to be sacrificed by the very hands of his father Abraham whom he loved and trusted. Was he feeling anger and betrayal, or did Isaac trust his father? I also wonder what Abraham was feeling as he led his son up the mountain toward the place where he was to offer the sacrifice. For most of us the story of Abraham and Isaac is disturbing to us. How could God ask Abraham to let go of what was most precious to him, the only son in his old age. It was customary at that time for people to sacrifice their children to pagan gods. However, God was not asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. God’s direction to Abraham to offer his son as a holocaust was a deeper test of Abraham’s faith and trust, and for Isaac as well.
At times we suffer and sacrifice and have difficulty understanding why. How we react to the suffering depends on our relationship with Our Lord. Jesus told his disciples right before taking them on the Mount of Transfiguration, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Lk 9:23-24) None of us will be persecuted to the same degree as Jesus was physically persecuted. He does ask us to join our sufferings to His Passion so that it may have infinite value before Our Lord’s majesty.
Transfiguration of Our Lord showed the glimpse of glory that awaits beyond the veil of our crosses and Calvary. And Our Lord promises that he will be with us through our pain and suffering. St. Paul, who himself went through much suffering for the Lord invited us to have this attitude, “If God is for us, who can be against us...will he not also give us everything else along with him?” If God’s love for us is total, we need not fear anything or anyone, even if the hurt comes from our very own flesh and blood. What lies beyond our patient enduring and suffering on this earthly life is glory to be revealed by Our Lord.
