Second Sunday of Lent

In the midst of a fog at sea, a ship’s captain saw what looked like the lights of another ship heading toward him. He had his signalman blink: “Change your course 10 degrees south.” A reply came back: “Change your course 10 degrees north.” The captain of the ship answered: “I’m a captain. Change your course south.” To which the reply was: “I am a seaman first class. Change your course north.”

This last reply infuriated the captain, so he signaled: “Change your course south. I’m on a battleship!” The reply came: “Change your course. I’m in a lighthouse.”

 As we journey through life, perhaps at times in a foggy sea, wondering if we're going in the right direction, the challenge is to let Jesus be our lighthouse, our guidepost, so to speak. 

Last Sunday, we were in the wilderness with Jesus where he faced down the devil: God is my priority instead of creaturely things, service to others instead of a self-absorbing life, humility and generosity instead of “superstar” status.

This week, we're on a mountaintop in the presence of God. The earthly Jesus is transfigured into a heavenly Jesus and a voice from heaven proclaims: “Listen to him.” Lent is a time to affirm our faith in the good news that Jesus is alive. And because he lives, we live, especially through the sacramental signs of our world-wide faith community: water in baptism, bread and wine in the Eucharist, oil in confirmation and the anointing of the sick.

The word of God takes us back in our imaginations almost 4,000 years: to the ancient Near East, to a man by the name of Abraham, a model of complete trust in God, a faith-filled human being. Abraham’s call is a watershed in the history of our salvation. Here God puts Abraham to the test: sacrifice your only son, Isaac. Now we may wonder: what kind of God would ask such a thing? But Abraham has committed himself completely to God and responds unconditionally: he will do whatever God asks. And for his complete trust, God spares Isaac and assures Abraham of countless blessings.

Abraham's extraordinary faith in God, despite all the uncertainties and hazards of life, is a model of faith for us as well, especially when things are not going the way we want them to go or when the future seems so uncertain and so hazardous.

Paul in his letter to the Christian community in Rome invites us to be men and women of courage. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” God sent his only Son into our midst—the Word become flesh—and this Jesus through his death and resurrection re-established our relationship with God. Paul urges us to persevere in our life of discipleship with Jesus so that God can transform us into “new creatures,” as he already transformed the glorified Jesus.

In the Gospel according to Mark, the disciples experienced the transfiguration of Jesus; they saw the unique and awesome presence of God in Jesus of Nazareth. And as the scriptures describe this experience, the face of Jesus became as “dazzling as the sun,” his clothes as “white as light,” an allusion to the white cloth given us at baptism. The disciples suddenly saw a vision of the “glorious” Jesus, beyond the Jesus of flesh and blood in their everyday life.

Yes, God's ultimate aim is to transform us into the likeness of the “glorious” Jesus.  And this transformation has already begun in us through the waters of baptism in which we have become “new creatures,” the adopted sons and daughters of God our Father, men and women of faith in God, called to live a life worthy of our status. 

Many of you know of Mother Teresa of Calcutta: a model of persistence in faith and prayer despite doubts and darkness. She said in so many words that holiness is not a luxury for the few; holiness is meant for all. One story in her life I will never forget. A so-called “untouchable” was alone and dying on a sidewalk. Mother Teresa went over to him, put her hands together as in prayer and bowed to him with a Hindu greeting of respect: Namaste. 

She saw the image of God veiled in this emaciated man. And, as the story goes, he looked at her and uttered his dying words: I lived with animals and now I die with the angels. 

Yes, to see the image of God in people despite their “distressing disguise” is to live a holy life, a life of faith in God.

Jesus himself lived a life of faith, completely trusting his Father's unconditional love for him.  That faith made Jesus a transformative person, ushering in the kingdom of God through signs and wonders. And that faith was tested to the breaking point on the cross. To quote a great 20th century theologian, Karl Rahner: “Jesus surrendered himself in his death unconditionally to the absolute mystery that he calls his Father, into whose hands he committed his existence when on the day of his death and God-forsakenness he was deprived of everything that is otherwise regarded as the content of a human existence.”

Jesus died as he had lived: with faith in his heavenly Father, with hope of life forever. Yes, he died murmuring, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” And in the mystery of death, God transfigured Jesus into a new kind of spiritual embodiment.

And just as Jesus became a transformative person in ushering in the kingdom of God, Jesus calls us, his co-workers, to become transformative people as well.

We, as co-workers with God, have to do our best to transform unfairness and prejudice into fairness and tolerance; to transform hate into peace, indifference into compassion, sorrow into joy and despair into hope. Yes, we have to work to transform self-centeredness into other-centeredness, so that God can transfigure us into a new kind of spiritual embodiment. 

I close with a familiar story about how a transformative coach changed a mediocre college football team into a winning team. Notre Dame icon Lou Holtz recognized that attitude determines how well one performs any task. Here are a few of his principles:

Focus on your character. Be trustworthy. Behave honorably. When you make a mistake, make amends.

Show people you care. Prove it consistently by praising people's efforts. Show your enthusiasm. Both a great attitude and a bad attitude are contagious.

Surround yourself with people who encourage, not discourage. Set the right example. Your hard work can generate the feeling that everyone is in it together.

And know what you want; set goals at every stage in life.  And work hard to achieve them.

Yes, these are principles for positive transformation. 

And may this be one of our Lenten prayers:

Forgiving those we don’t want to forgive;
having compassion;
making peace;
caring for those in need, even though it’s inconvenient;
persevering when we are exhausted;
carrying our crosses when we want to run away from them; and
loving when the last thing we want to do is love.

Amen.