Home Bible CATHOLIC MASS: 2nd Sunday of Lent 3.1.15 – TV Videos, Links, Scripture

CATHOLIC MASS: 2nd Sunday of Lent 3.1.15 – TV Videos, Links, Scripture

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Bible-200“Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And He was Transfigured before them, and His Clothes became dazzling white … Elijah appeared … along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. … Then a cloud came … from the cloud came a Voice, ‘This is My Beloved Son. Listen to Him.'”

 

Mass Readings 3.1.15 – FIRST READING: Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 – PSALM 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19 – SECOND READING: Romans 8:31b-34 – GOSPEL: Mark 9:2-10 – Find a Mass: MassTimes.org – Find a Mass: TheCatholicDirectory.com

 

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GOSPEL

GOSPEL: Mark 9:2-10 – The Transfiguration

Jesus goes up Mount Tabor with Peter, James and John, where He is Transfigured, with His Garments dazzling white. Moses and Elijah appear, and Jesus converses with them. The Voice of God the Father speaks from a cloud saying “This is My Beloved Son. Listen to Him.”

Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And He was Transfigured before them, and His Clothes became dazzling white … Elijah appeared … along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. … Then a cloud came, … from the cloud came a Voice, ‘This is My Beloved Son. Listen to Him.’

Then suddenly the moment ends, and the three Apostles see only Jesus. They return from the mountain, and Jesus directs them not to tell anyone what they saw until He has Risen from the dead.

As an aside, we see that, with the Arrival of the Messiah, Moses finally gets to enter the Promised Land. The Deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and God’s returning them to the Promised Land was a central event in the journey of the Israelites as God’s People. Yet Moses himself could only look into the Promised Land from afar at the time, after a temporary  weakness of faith on his part. Yet with the coming of Jesus, Moses is seen inside the Promised Land, on Mt. Tabor. Interestingly, he once again is upon a mountain. And, once again, there is a theme of looking ahead towards things to come.

It is oft pointed out that Moses represents the Law and Elijah represent the Prophets. Jesus stands with them and they converse, helping to illustrate that Christ represents a fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, with the Arrival of Christ carrying forward the unfolding stages of God’s Divine Plan.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALM 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19

I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

FIRST READING

FIRST READING: Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18

God puts Abraham to the test, when God goes through the motions of asking Abraham to kill his young son Isaac as part of a burnt sacrifice, only to have an Angel stop Abraham at the last moment. Abraham then uses a ram instead. We are then told that God credits Abraham for following God’s command.

God put Abraham to the test. … ‘Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love … you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.’ … When they came to the place of which God had told him … the LORD’s messenger called to him from heaven … ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy … I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son. … ‘I swear by Myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly  … all this because you obeyed My Command.’

The concept of killing a child, or of God ever actually asking for that, is, of course, horrifying. Yet we see several themes that might emerge.

First, there is a potential parallel between Abraham giving up a son he loves and God being willing to Sacrifice His Son Jesus, when Jesus dies for our sins. We should be just as horrified that our own sinfulness leads to Jesus’ suffering and death, even as we also open our hearts to seeking God’s Forgiveness and gratefully welcoming our Redemption and Salvation.

In addition, there is Abraham being put to the test, and the factor of Abraham’s faith and trust in God, even if it seemingly means giving up the promise of many progeny.  At the same time, God clearly never intends for Abraham to carry out the act. While some pagans practiced child sacrifice, here we see God snuffing out that course of behavior by providing an example of telling Abraham to stop and break off from such a course of conduct the one and only time the matter is addressed with him.

SECOND READING

SECOND READING: Romans 8:31b-34

Saint Paul exhorts us to recall that God is “for us,” to take heart by recalling that God did not even spare His own Son, allowing Jesus to be handed over to die for us.

If God is for us, who can be against us? He Who did not spare His Own Son but handed Him over for us all, how will He not also give us everything else along with Him?

Christ Himself intercedes for us, after having died and being Raised from the dead, and now sitting at God’s Right Hand.

It is God who acquits us, who will condemn? Christ Jesus it is who died — or, rather, was raised — Who also is at the Right Hand of God, Who indeed intercedes for us.

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