Listen to Him

Dear Friend,

On this Second Sunday of Lent our Gospel reading moves us from last week’s desert scene to a mountaintop perspective. From a desert of temptations to a mountaintop of divine revelation. Accordingly, in our parish spiritual journey of Lent we are asked to move from a stance of trust to a focus on listening. This is the command that comes from the cloud to Peter, James, and John as they witness the transfiguration of Jesus: This is my beloved Son, Listen to him.  

The drama of Abraham and Isaac in the first reading this week depicts a similar shift. Trusting that God has asked him to do the unthinkable, that is, to sacrifice his own son, Abraham climbs a mountain to carry out the act only to hear the Lord’s messenger calling to him from heaven to hold back. (One of the most harrowing passages in all of scripture, it brings to mind the disturbances ignited in another challenging text, the Book of Job). Like Noah last week, Abraham hears the promise of a future that must have jolted him: death and destruction will not have the last word.   

When we gather for our sacred liturgy, we are summoned to a mountaintop to listen. With Moses and Elijah – both well acquainted with affliction – we stand with Jesus, even while recalling our desert experience. Past, present, and future converge in liturgical space. The transformation we witness, “even if it does not mean death as we know it, will always require a heroic alteration, an agonizing reappraisal” (Bouyer). Indeed, coming down the mountain, there’s no complete resolution. All along the way, our Lord will offer himself to us in love. Crowded by so many sounds of destruction, we strain to listen, to hear the word of life and to obey.

Gratefully,

Father Dan, Pastor