March 13 - Second Sunday in Lent

(Gn 15:5-12, 17-18; Phil 3:17-4:1; Lk 9:28b-36)

In the second reading, Paul urges us to “join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us”. Paul says that Christians are citizens of heaven, even while still in the world. By virtue of the gift of our heavenly citizenship, we have a claim to a share in the glory of Christ who reigns there at the right hand of the Father. In a sense, we’re already citizens of that heavenly city, although, as was the case with Paul and Rome, we’ve never been there. As members of the Body of Christ we’re already mystically present with him in heaven!

In the Gospel reading, the common interpretation is that Moses symbolizes the Law and Elijah the Prophets. The narrative art Luke has employed in bringing together the events of Sinai and the Transfiguration is not only subtle, but amazing. The theological point that Luke is making is that Jesus is the new Moses and the new Law. Just as the theophany of Sinai revealed God’s Law as the basis of the Old Covenant, so at Tabor God the Father reveals his Son, the heart of the New Covenant. The way of the Old Covenant was to follow the Law; the new Way is to follow Jesus. For Christians, Jesus is the manifestation of God, the new Moses, and the New Law.

• What does it mean to you that as a member of the Body of Christ, you are already mystically present with Him in heaven?
• Who in your life has been a particular model of what it means to be an imitator of Christ?
• In the Gospel reading, why do you think Jesus took Peter, John and James with him this time when he often went out alone to pray?
• “While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.” What kind of changes have you experienced in your life as a result of prayer—either while you have been praying or after you started to cultivate a habit of prayer?