Breaking the Word

2^nd Sunday of Lent – 13^th March 2022 — Gospel: Lk 9,28b-36

Intimacy Transforms life

Luke continually emphasizes that prayer is the context for understanding who Jesus is and what it means to be his disciple. Here again he shows that Jesus takes his disciples upon the mountain to pray, and he is at prayer when his disciples witness his transfigured glory (9,29). Both He and they needed the calm of the mountain solitude and his prayer was answered by the transfiguration. If there had been no prayer, there would have been no transfiguration. Whatever the message the transfiguration had for his disciples, it had a message for Jesus too.  Jesus needed the strength to bear His cross, and he received that strength through the solitude of his prayer.  The reason why the three were there, because they were downhearted and saddened by the thought of His death. Therefore they were heartened and lifted up by a glimpse for a moment of the indwelling glory that was always there in Him after every prayer experience. The deepening faith in Jesus is a result of the contemplation of His prayerful life. Thus transfiguration becomes a source to know Him in depth. It becomes a sign to receive the spiritual assistance from God in every circumstances. It becomes a prophecy of what it will be for all who love Jesus and grow like Him here on earth. Any amount of asking and begging will have no effect, unless we enter into the realm of prayer and then better transformation will follow true prayer.

1^st week in Lent, Saturday – 12^th March 2022 — Gospel: Mt 5,43-48

Love without Boundaries

Jesus’ final exhortation sums up all that he has taught so far in his sermon on the mount. This teaching presents the principle of love, the foundation, on which all other virtues are built up. The command to “love your neighbour” (Lev 19,18) is found in the Torah, but nowhere in the First Testament is there a command to hate your enemy. It was generally understood, however, that such love was required towards those who shared in Israel’s covenant but not necessarily towards those outside the community. For Jesus, love even for enemies gets at the heart of God’s complete intention and fullest goal. His teachings always transcend typical human practice and invite his disciples to love without boundaries. In the examples Jesus offers, he demonstrates that love concerns not just emotions but actions. His teaching is an invitation to begin living in God’s reign, reaching always towards the fullness of the future kingdom that God has promised. The motivation for all these loving actions is not just to receive reciprocal treatment, but rather to imitate the way God loves. By seeking to practice and fulfil the law we enter into the nature of God’s perfection.