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The Second Sunday of Lent (Year A)

On this Second Sunday of Lent, the first reading taken from Genesis 12:1-4 is paramount to understanding the course of Salvation History. Much like an abstract, this passage serves as a summary or a thesis of all God plans to do with humanity after that point in time.

In this critical passage, God made three promises to the patriarch Abram (whose name was later changed by God to Abraham). The first promise is: “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you.” God made good on this promise when he formed the nation Israel under Moses and the Mosaic Covenant.

To better understand the second promise: “I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing,” the reader would need to know that “I will make your name great” is a Hebrew idiom for “I will give you a dynasty.” In Hebrew and Old Testament thought, one’s name is made great when he is given kingship and his sons reign after him in succession. As an example, the names of Bourbon, Hapsburg, and Windsor were made great, for they were all European royal dynasties.

This second promise was fulfilled when God anointed David as king over Israel through the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7. Through that covenant, Israel grew in status from a nation to a royal kingdom with David and his sons reigning over that kingdom.

The third and final promise God made to Abram is “all the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.” This promise extends beyond Israel and to the Gentiles – those who were not ethnically Israelites. It is through Jesus Christ and the New Covenant that the Kingdom of Israel is joined to the Gentiles within the Church and this promise finds fulfillment… Jesus and his Catholic Church are promised in this one small verse!

“He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works, but according to his own design.” (2 Tim 1:8-10) These words of St. Paul in the second reading remind us to avoid the temptation to conform the word of God and the divine design to our misguided desires. Instead, we would do best to conform our minds, hearts, and wills to God’s design. His design (as we saw in the first reading) culminates in the unique person and work of Jesus Christ – God among us.

In today’s Gospel account of the Transfiguration (Mt 17:1-9), God the Father says of Jesus: “Listen to him.”

How can we listen if we do not open our hearts in silent prayer before the God who loves us more than we love ourselves? Lent is a time for us to fast from words and images and to create spaces of silence so that we can open our hearts to the true Word, the true Image of God. Turn off the television, the computer, the radio, and sit quietly in the presence of Jesus. Listen to him.