First Reading: Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 27 Second Reading: Philippians 3:17—4:1 Gospel: Luke 9, 28b-36.

The second Sunday of Lent Reflection is by, Cyrille TSAGUE, Sj, Jesuit scholastic in regency at Centre de Recherche, d’Étude et de Créativité (CREC) in Benin.

This 2nd Sunday of Lent, we celebrate the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus, and the texts submitted for our meditation speak essentially of the glorious manifestation of God in the lives of His chosen ones.

In the first reading, taken from the book of Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18, we see how God takes the initiative to choose or elect Abraham, a mortal being, to make him a righteous man with whom He can securely establish His Covenant. To seal this Covenant, God decides to manifest Himself to Abraham during a deep and mysterious sleep. Through this glorious manifestation, God transforms Abraham’s life and makes him a Spiritual (universal) Reference—namely, the father of a multitude of believers.

In the second reading, taken from the letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians 3:17–4:1, Saint Paul exhorts the Philippians, who are facing the hardships of Christian life, to stand firm and not lose sight of the fact that, through Jesus Christ, they are citizens of heaven. This same Jesus has the power to transform their weak mortal bodies into His glorious body. Thus, for Paul, regardless of life’s realities, Christians have only one option: to make Jesus the epicenter of their lives. For He alone, through His glorious manifestation, can transform their lives.

The Gospel of Saint Luke 9:28-36, on the other hand, highlights the radiant manifestation of God in the life of His ultimate Chosen One, Jesus. The Gospel and the Psalm share a common theme, offering us two complementary attitudes through which God would manifest Himself in our lives if they are well observed. These attitudes are: “listening to Christ” and “seeking His face continually.”

However, celebrating the Transfiguration of the Lord in the midst of Lent and during the Jubilee Year, in which the Pope invites us to become “Pilgrims of Hope,” calls us to:

• Convert and repent from our refusal to be transfigured (or transformed) by the face of Christ;
• Open ourselves and accept in our lives the light of the Transfigured One, which comes to dispel our deep darkness;
• Finally, as a Lenten effort, choose to become agents of Transfiguration or transformation in our society, which is in crisis and in need of Hope.

Let us therefore become, for those trapped in desperate situations, reflections of the face of the Transfigured One—a face that brings only life, peace, joy, hope, and confidence.

We know that the world we live in faces a deficit of Hope. The good news of this day is that, through our transfiguration, we show others that the Glory of God can also manifest in their lives and that His love is not for just a select few but for all humanity. God can and will manifest in our lives only if we continually seek His face and listen to Him through His Chosen One, Jesus Christ.

Amen.