HOMILY
FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
YEAR (B) – February 25, 2018
Office: Psalter Week 2 Liturgical
Colour: Violet
Today’s Reading:
1st Reading: Genesis 22:1-2.9a.10-13.15-18
Responsorial: Psalm 115:10,15-19 (R. 9)
Responsorial: Psalm 115:10,15-19 (R. 9)
2nd Reading: Ephesian 8:31b-34
Accl.
Gospel: Mark 9:2-10
Gospel: Mark 9:2-10
Theme: A Call to Authentic Faith in God
Abraham needed faith to follow the road God showed
him, and so does every Christian. The term “faith” which is pisti in Greek implies strong feeling,
conviction, or belief that something is true or real without having evidence.
In the act of profession, this conviction forms the basis of our profession of
faith in God.
Today, the 2nd Sunday of Lent Year “B”,
the Holy Mother Church re-awakens our consciousness on the need to have faith
in God, no matter how impossible, difficult or challenging it may seem to be.
The same faith Abraham displayed in today’s first reading from the book of
Genesis 22:1-2.9a.10-13.15-18.
Here we see the dramatic episode between God and Abraham in offering the only
son to God. Taking back our minds to God’s unfathomable love which John said: “For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only son, that whosoever believes in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn 3:16). Yes! This forms
the very root of today’s 2nd reading taken from the Epistle of St.
Paul the Church in Rome (Rom 8:31b-34). Where Paul spoke of the foundation of
our faith, God’s unconditional love and His faithfulness despite our
unfaithfulness to His commands and ordinances. This same love of God,
manifested itself in the Transfiguration event of Christ making Him (Christ)
the “new Moses” and prophet par
excellence; and revealing the divine features of Himself as the Son of God.
This action, invites us to give rapt attention to Christ, when God said that He
is His Son and we should listen to Him. Not only listening is required of us
but also to put into action the teaching of Christ.
The synoptic
Evangelists in their writings present Jesus as the “New Moses” due to the fact
that some aspect of His life and action correspond to those of Moses. For
instance, recorded an event where Moses went up to the mountain to meet God and
the cloud covered him (cf. Ex 24:1ff). There he stayed and fasted at the
mountain for forty days and forty nights before he received the tablets of
Decalogue (Ten Commandments), transfiguring his face too by the light of divine
glory (cf. Ex. 34:28-35). This also reminds us of the forty days of the Lord’s
fast, the tradition that queue us into this forty days of penitential walk with
the Lord.
My dear brothers and
sisters in the Lord, today we are all reminded the need to put our trust and
faith in God in all situation or event of life. God who created us knows our
care, troubles and problems we face each day. All that He require from us is
the disposition and faith that there is nothing that He cannot do for us. Remembering
the words of Mother Mary Charles Walker, “After all the Lord has done in the
past, I have no fear for the future.” And to receive this beauteous grace of
God, there is an obligation on our path. As St. Augustine will say, “God who
created you without you, cannot save you without you.” With this in mind, we
need to have faith in God our creator through His son – Jesus Christ, no matter
how little it may be, as Abraham, our patriarch in faith did.
Finally, as we are journeying with the Lord for
these forty days, may He continue to sustain us with the grace to have faith in
Him so that as the joyful festival of Easter draws near we may join the host of
Heaven in singing the unending “Alleluia”. Peace
be with You!
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