March 5, 2023

2nd Sunday of Lent (A)

On Mt. Calvary Forget Not Mt. Tabor

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

The evangelists never hide or gloss over the weaknesses, and the slowness of the apostles to understand the Person and teachings of Jesus especially when He spoke of His suffering and death. They expected to share in the glory of a new kingdom and they argued about who would be the greatest in that kingdom. They just could not grasp the prospect of suffering and the cross.

Fully aware of their weakness, Our Lord took his intimates, Peter, James, and John to Mount Tabor where He was transfigured before them so that they could behold His heavenly glory. Bishop Sheen said that at the Transfiguration, the divinity of Jesus “flashed through the threads of His earthly garments.” Jesus knew that the apostles would need this glimpse of heaven on earth to reassure them when they would face the tragedy of Good Friday. Jesus was saying, “Remember this glory when the dark clouds of Good Friday overshadow you. Remember Mount Tabor when I come to Mount Calvary.

Are we any different than the apostles? Don’t we need to be reassured, don’t we seek some hope and light when we go through hard times? No one wants to suffer. No one seeks a cross. Still, Our Lord tells us that discipleship involves taking up our cross each day. The Italians have a rhyme: “O di pioppo o di noce, ognuno porta la sua croce.”(Whether of poplar or of walnut, everyone carries their cross.) Yet, most of the time we drag our crosses rather than carry them.

Msgr. Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington writes that our trials, the crosses of life, have a purpose. In fact, he says that God uses them for our benefit.

He says God uses our crosses to DIRECT and CORRECT us. We know that sometimes it takes a painful situation to point us in a new direction. Some people have to hit rock bottom before they realize a change is necessary. Some just learn life’s lessons the hard way.

God also uses our crosses to INSPECT us. People are like tea bags. If you want to know what’s inside them, just drop them into hot water! Crosses help us see what we are really made of. We discover strengths we never knew we had.

At times God uses a cross in order to PROTECT us. A problem can be a blessing in disguise. Msgr. Pope gives the example of a man who was fired for refusing to do something unethical that his boss asked him to do. His unemployment was a problem for a while, but it saved him from jail time when the management’s actions were discovered.

The point is that carrying our cross is a means to our spiritual perfection. The Lord is more interested in our character than our comfort. Crosses are a burden and suffering is a part of our life, but Our Lord reassures us, as he reassured his apostles. He wants us to look to what lies ahead and to realize that the Good Fridays of life lead to the glory of Easter Sunday. On tough, dark days, we too, must remember the brilliant light and hope of Mount Tabor. This is precisely the reason, the Church would have us meditate on the Lord’s transfiguration during Lent, so we will be reassured that passing through the cross, we shall come to the glory of the resurrection.

Perhaps this prayer of St. Bernadette Soubirous expresses well our attitude toward the crosses, the difficulties of life:

“Christ Jesus, we beg you, not that you may spare us affliction, but that you may not abandon us in it. When we encounter affliction, teach us to see you in it as our sole Comforter. Let affliction strengthen our faith, fortify our hope, and purify our love. Grant us the grace to see how we can use our affliction to your glory, and to desire no other comforter but you, our Savior, Strengthener and Friend. Amen.”