Prophet Daniel as revealed in our first reading today, expressed his intercession on behalf of the people who had been exiled in a foreign land. The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem also brought people to be dispersed and many of them became slaves. When the Temple was destroyed, people felt that God abandoned them since the Temple was an assurance of God’s presence.
However, instead of blaming God for abandoning them and letting that terrible event in their life to happen, Daniel, being shamefaced, realized their unfaithfulness towards their covenant with God. Daniel who prayed on behalf of the people recognized how they have turned their eyes blind and ears deaf towards the prophets whom God sent to their leaders. The leaders and the people continued to break their covenant with God by oppressing the weak among them and worshipping other gods. It was them who actually distanced from God.
With this recognition of their failures, unfaithfulness and sins, Daniel also saw how God remained faithful to them despite everything. God remains merciful.
This is the invitation that Jesus also spoke to his disciples in today’s Gospel, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Mercy, as Pope Francis said, is the name of God. God is mercy and it is God’s identity card.
In this Season of Lent, may we always realize God’s mercy upon us that despite our own unfaithfulness and sins, God remains for us, because God is Mercy. This invites us now to become merciful, to express that mercy in the way we relate with one another and in the way we live our very life.
Mercy shall give us freedom from shame, and life from the death caused by our sins. Let mercy be the very measure to be returned to us. Hinaut pa.
We are so familiar with the story of Abraham. God called him to go to a foreign land he did not know. Despite his insecurities, he took the risk and trusted God because God promised him that he will have children, land of his own and shall be a blessing to all the people on earth. However, our first reading tells us the opposite. God indeed gave Abraham and Sarah a son, Isaac, but God asked Abraham to sacrifice sin only son for God. Abraham was surely confused; he was deeply distressed at this request from God. Yet, Abraham took the risk and completely trusted in God.
God just tested Abraham. And God saw how Abraham remained dedicated and faithful despite the pain that Abraham endured. What was very interesting in him was his ability to listen to God who called him. It was by listening to God that Abraham was able to go beyond and conquer his fears, doubts and confusions in life. Because of that, God blessed him throughout his life. By this attitude of Abraham, he was TRANSFORMED by God making him a blessing to all.
But what is more interesting in our readings today is the TRANSFIGURATION of Jesus as witnessed by the three disciples – Peter, James and John. They have seen in advance the wonderful face of Jesus in the glorious resurrection. However, we would wonder, why would Jesus allow the three to see in advance or have a foretaste of the glorious resurrection? The voice that came from the clouds would tell us something. That mysterious voice says, “This is my beloved son. Listen to him.”
The voice from the cloud tells the three that Jesus is indeed the chosen one, the Messiah that they have been waiting for – the BELOVED ONE to whom they should LISTEN! The disciples are told to LISTEN to Jesus and to follow him in this life. They are told to listen to the life that Jesus will show them. Yet, this life with Jesus entails struggles, suffering and even death but there will be also joy and peace in the glorious resurrection.
Indeed, as they listened and followed Jesus, these fishermen turned into fishers of men. From being fearful and doubtful followers of Jesus they have become dedicated apostles and preachers of the Gospel. By listening to the Lord, they were transformed and converted into new persons.
This is now the message, the call that is being offered to us on this Second Sunday of Lent – that each of us and as a community we are called to JOURNEY WITH GOD. By journeying with God, it is essential that WE LISTEN TO GOD, to His Word. God is telling us now, “Be my herald of the good news, be my gossiper of the Gospel! Be my blessing to others”
As we respond to the call of Jesus, expect that we would feel what Abraham felt at the beginning. We can be fearful and doubtful like the disciples of Jesus. However, let us be confident that we will be transformed into new persons as we continually listen to what the Lord is saying to us. Let us remember, in following the Lord, it entails taking risks and trusting God to transform us and to change our old and destructive ways, habits and mindsets.
These old habits, they could be our passivity – which means that we go to church, sitting on that same area where you are seated now, saying the same prayers, responding your ‘amen’ and then go home. And that’s it! We can be very comfortable with that without confronting what is wrong with us or without recognizing our mistakes and ways of being indifferent towards other. Yes, we can we comfortable with our passivity.
Or this could be our overwhelming self-centered heart – that desires to dominate or manipulate others, to have everything and to be in control of everything and everyone. We can be very comfortable with that! – of having an overwhelming self-centered heart.
Orthiscould be our paralyzing fear, self-doubt and shame – that reject and do not recognize our own giftedness and talents. We may tend to put ourselves down and discredit the possibilities that we are capable of. We can be very comfortable with that! – With our paralyzing fear, self-doubt and shame.
Indeed, we can be very comfortable with those old and destructive ways, habits and mindsets that we have been practicing and doing because we tend to stay to what is only familiar to us. Nevertheless, this is not what God is asking us now and not what God wants us to be.
God tells us, “Listen to me!” God speaks in our hearts through the words in the bible, through this celebration that we are not to remain passive, self-centered, fearful and doubtful of ourselves but to become pro-active, self-sacrificing, life-giving and confident in God’s words like Abraham and the disciples of Jesus.
Thus, for this Second Week of Lent, I would like to ask each of you to find time for the whole week to open your bible, read the Gospel of the day and stay in silence at least for 5 minutes. Let that passage speak to you, let God speak to you through the bible, listen to Him! Hopefully, through this simple exercise, we may be moved to gradually be transformed into the way God wants us to be. Hinaut pa.
Once a man approached a priest and asked, “Father, how come God seems so absent and silent? Why we don’t feel and hear him listening to us anymore as He used to be? Why does God no longer speak to us His people?” The priest sadly replied, “It is not that God no longer speaks to His people. It is that no one these days can stoop down low & silent enough to listen. No one… can stoop down low & silent enough… to listen.”
Occasionally (if not most often) we experience the absence and silence of God in Jesus. Though we trust and believe that God is with us – the Lord is with us, we live through moments in life where God and Jesus seem distant and silent. But is God really no longer listening and talking to us? Has he really abandoned us? Or is it we become too noisy, self-preoccupied, or high and far enough to listen to Him?
During last Ash Wednesday this year, Pope Francis in his message suggests some things that we may fast from this Lenten Season. Like fasting from hurting words, sadness, anger, pessimism, worries, complaints, bitterness, selfishness, grudges & finally, from words. Noteworthy is his last final suggestion: “Fast from words; be silent and listen.” Sound simple, but we do know how difficult for ourselves to be deprived of and abstained from words nowadays. With a lot of things happening & going on, both our world outside & our world inside ourselves are getting noisier & noisier to the point that we cannot anymore hear ourselves & don’t know anymore how to listen to others, much more to God. If we really come to think of it, sometimes we do truly need to fast from our words so that we may become silent in order to listen to God, others & ourselves. We do know the destructive ill-effects of miscommunication, misinformation, & fake news to our lives today, simply because of our irresponsible use of our words & our unwillingness to listen. At this time, we should be wise-enough to be careful to use our words, for it can make life Better OR Bitter. Learn to listen first before using our words.
It is also interesting that if we happen to play with the letters in the word: LISTEN, we may realize different levels of meaning. Try to rearrange all the letters in the word: Listen, and form other words using all & same letters… Well, from the word, “Listen”, we can form the words “silent” & “enlist” & nothing else. From these words: listen, silent, enlist, we may form the challenge: “Enlist oneself to be silent in order to listen”, or “Be silent, enlist oneself to listen”, or “Listen, silently enlist oneself”. All of these reflects the need to for us to willingly be quiet ourselves in order to hear what is being said. In other words, to opt for silent listening amidst our noisy words & our noisy world.
In our gospel today, we hear that the apostles heard God saying to them: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; LISTEN to Him.” Their experience of the Lord’s transfiguration has the same very simple message: Jesus is His beloved Son – God’s gift and word to us, so we must acknowledge and listen to Him intently. And we can only do this – acknowledge and listen to Jesus – like the apostle, not in noise, pre-occupation, and ambitions of our hearts, but in the shadow of God’s seeming silence and absence. Only by experiencing God’s silence that we recognize God’s glory in Lord’s transfiguration, transformation in our lives and hear intently God’s will for us now.
In other words, “Be Quiet (Don’t be noisy) for the Lord is with us and He has something to say for us. Huwag kang maingay, Narito sya at may sasabihin sa atin. Ayaw’g saba. Ania siya ug naay ika-sulti nato. Di pag-gahud, Ari siya. May inug-hambal sa aton. Jesus is God’s word for us. So, LISTEN to Him. Makinig Sa kanya. Minaw Niya ba.
Pope Francis also once said: “People listen to radio, to TV and to gossips throughout the day, but do we take a bit a time each day to listen to Jesus?” True, we spend a lot of time listening to and knowing about others. We also may spend some time listening to and knowing about ourselves. But do we spend some time to listen to and know Jesus? Listening to Jesus entails praying low enough in and with God’s silence. Only in silent prayer, we can recognize Him and listen to Him. Thus, we do need to fast from our words in order to be silent enough to listen to Him.
So next time you find yourself restless and sleepless at night, stop counting sheep. Talk to the shepherd. Pray then silently and listen to Him, for the Lord has something to say and then you will hear what He got to say, especially during this Lenten Season & on our pandemic times.
As we mature and develop as persons, our relationship with others should also undergo change! An example is the way we relate now with our own parents. Surely our way of relating with them now, is different from the way we related with them when we were children or growing teenagers. They remain as our parents whom we continue to esteem and respect as they are entitled to.
This too should be the case with our personal relationship with God. God wants that relationship; to grow, develop, and mature! Quietly go deep within yourself. Observe, and notice! Is there a difference now in the way God is relating with you from with the way God related with you when you were a child, or a growing teenager? How about from your side, has there been a change in the way you now relate with God?
Our 1st Reading today, which is from Genesis 22, is an example of an adult to adult relationship: between God and Abraham! Compare this with the relationship between Abraham and his young son, Isaac. The 1st Reading is a very touching illustration of a relationship that has matured. On the one hand we have the relationship between a human father Abraham, and his only son, whom he loved so much. On the other hand, we have the relationship between God and Abraham. Observe the way God addressed Abraham in verse 1, when God commanded Abraham to do something that was very difficult! Look at verse 11, after Abraham proved to God that he was more than willing to do whatever God asks of him! Listen to this: “‘Abraham, Abraham!’. And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.’” [22:11-12]. Do you notice the terms of endearment behind the way God called Abraham and the way Abraham responded? The way God addressed Abraham and intervened shows God’s concern for Abraham and his son, Isaac!
How did Abraham take God’s difficult command: that he sacrifice his only son whom Abraham loves so much? On those two occasions [vv. 1 & 11], Abraham’s response was the same: “Here I am.” “Here I am”, shows us Abraham’s nature, as a person always totally available to God. From the time they first met, Abraham had trusted, believed; and was totally obedient to God!
Did God really want a human sacrifice from Abraham? Of course not! The narrator of the story already made that clear to us! God only wished “to test” Abraham’s faith! In the opening verse we read: “After these things, God tested Abraham.” [v.1]. God’s demand of Abraham was not intended to be taken literally! But Abraham interpreted and understood it differently! Abraham took God’s command literally and seriously! Abraham was well prepared before embarking on that journey. Abraham’s willingness to undertake that long journey and follow a very difficult instruction shows us Abraham’s unwavering faith, firm trust, and total obedience to God!
Probably, deep inside Abraham, God’s command was completely incomprehensible and even unreasonable. Before this, in their old age, God gifted Abraham and his wife with a son! God gave Abraham this promise: “your very own issue shall be your heir” [15:4]. Abraham totally cut himself off from his whole past [12:1ff] when he left his homeland to obey God and follow God’s call. And now this same God was asking him to give up his whole future? Does this make any sense? Is God aware and sensitive to the fact of how much Abraham loves his only son, Isaac? And God wants Abraham to sacrifice him?
At this stage in your life, how would you describe the relationship between you and God? Has God ever asked you to do something very difficult and even painful; or do something incomprehensible and even seemingly unreasonable? How did you respond to God?
Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son on the mountain of Moriah. God the Father gave up His Only Son on Mount Calvary. God was merciful to the father and son, Abraham and Isaac! Through the angel, God intervened and Isaac’s life was spared. But did you realize that God showed no mercy to Himself? God did not intervene to spare Jesus from a violent and cruel death! God allowed His Only Son, whom He loved so much to die…to die so that all of us may have life…the fullness of life! [Jn. 10:10]. This is the God, Who invites you and me to continue to grow and mature in our personal relationship with Him!
Have you experienced being embarrassed in front of other people? Has someone insulted you, maligned you, and underestimated your person and your gifts? I remember long time ago, someone has insulted me. I was so offended. I felt so little about myself. My ego was touched. I was so furious.
And at that time, in my mind and in my heart, I wanted to kill the person. Needless to say, I wished him dead. Because of shame, I lost my manners. I was too overcome by my anger.
Thus, our human inclinations and human impulses are capable to do evil things to other people. Especially if we allow them to command our actuations, and all the more if they are un-reflected.
Prophet Ezekiel informs us of God’s attitude towards wicked persons; which is actually the exact opposite on how human beings treat offenders. “Do you think I enjoy seeing evil people die?, the Lord replied. No, I would rather see them repent and live (v. 23).”
In other words, God takes delight in our deep compunction and sincere conversion. He desires that we turn from our sins, heed his precepts and practice what is right and just. Rather than we continually wallow in sin and worldly allurements. And mind you, He is and will never get tired of giving us chances upon chances to repent and to change our lives. This is how much God has loved us!
And even if God knows how to mark our transgressions, but he chose not to. Because “with Him is forgiveness and so he is revered” and “with Him is kindness, with him is plentiful redemption (Ps. 130: 4, 7).”
Also, says the Lord, “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies. Return and Live (Ez. 18: 32).”
Therefore, let us not put to waste this opportune time for repentance and renewal of our lives which God has accorded us. And let us humbly approach God’s grace to receive mercy and compassion. Amen.
A DOSE OF GOD TODAY 