Sunday Sermon - 2.25.24
LATIN MASS: SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
EPISTLE: 1 Thessalonians 4:1 For the rest therefore, brethren, we pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us, how you ought to walk, and to please God, so also you would walk, that you may abound the more. 2 For you know what precepts I have given to you by the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from fornication; 4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour: 5 Not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles that know not God: 6 And that no man overreach, nor circumvent his brother in business: because the Lord is the avenger of all these things, as we have told you before, and have testified. 7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto sanctification.
The will of God is your sanctification. The Creator of the entire universe has a special plan and will for you. That plan is your salvation and sanctification. He doesn’t just want you to be with Him in Heaven, but He wants you to grow in holiness every single day. He wants you to be completely holy and sanctified so that eternity with Him is ever more fruitful and complete. He wants you to be sanctified more each day so that you enlarge your soul so it can hold even more of His grace, and hold it eternally.
GOSPEL: Matthew 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh unto Him Peter and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart: 2 And He was transfigured before them. And His face did shine as the sun: and His garments became white as snow. 3 And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with Him. 4 And Peter answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 5 And as he was yet speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And lo, a voice out of the cloud, saying: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him. 6 And the disciples hearing, fell upon their face, and were very much afraid. 7 And Jesus came and touched them: and said to them, Arise, and fear not. 8 And they lifting up their eyes saw no one but only Jesus. 9 And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of Man be risen from the dead.
Our Lord has hidden His Divinity in His humanity for all of His life, except this one time. He goes up on top of a mountain and shows His true reality to this smaller inner circle of the Apostles. He then spends time talking with the greatest of the lawgivers in Moses and the greatest of the prophets, Elijah. He is showing that He is both the Divine lawgiver and Divine prophet. But He is also more. He is the Word of God incarnate.
Just like Moses, Our Lord goes up on the mountain. As Moses spent time with God, his face began to shine and radiate a light so bright it frightened the Israelites. Soon they asked Moses to veil his face so the light did not shine on them. This typology prefigures the Transfiguration, but in even greater fashion since Christ is not reflecting the light of the glory of God. He actually IS the glory of God. He is the source of the light that shines through. Christ then veils Himself, just like Moses, so that the public can see Him again.
NOVUS ORDO: SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis 22:1 After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God Himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
9 When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from Heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from Heaven, 16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of Heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18 and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed My voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham lived at Beer-sheba.
The mountain where Abraham takes Isaac for the sacrifice is the same mountain that the Temple was built upon. So the place where Abraham was tested by God to offer his son as a sacrifice, is the same mountain that the Father offered His Son as a sacrifice for the redemption of the whole world. When Abraham says that God will provide the lamb for the sacrifice, that prophecy was fulfilled at that moment and also fulfilled when Christ was crucified on Calvary. As the verse says, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided”.
The prophecy given to Abraham about his descendants was fulfilled in Abraham’s time as the Israelites were blessed and multiplied. But it is being fulfilled in even greater fashion today as we in the Catholic Church are the spiritual descendants of Abraham.
NEW TESTAMENT: Romans 8:31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold His own Son, but gave Him up for all of us, will He not with Him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.
The Father did not withhold even His own Son from us. He gave us EVERYTHING. That is how He wants to be with each one of us even today and eternally. God the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Ghost) want to give each one of us everything and bring us into their Divine life and share it with them. God gives in eternal abundance, so do not be stingy with Him. Find something extra today that you can give to Him. It can be prayer, time in Adoration, going to Confession, or a good work and act of charity.
GOSPEL: Mark 9:2 Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And He was transfigured before them, 3 and His clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is My Son, the Beloved; listen to Him!” 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, He ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.
See above for the first comments on the Transfiguration. An extra note on this passage. Many do not understand what Peter is referring to here when he suggests making three dwellings or tabernacles for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Peter is saying this because this event happened at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths). This feast was a required festival under the Old Covenant and was celebrated around late September or early October. It was a celebration and offering to God where the male Israelites were to sleep in booths/tents to remind them of the Exodus and the bountiful blessings of God.