Alberic Jacovone OSB
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YEAR B
SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT - 12.3.06
Gen 22.1-2.9-13.15-18; Rom 8.31-4; Mk 9,2-10
Looking into... the face of God
On
the Holy Mountain. Today we
celebrate a manifestation of God, which is Jesus' Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor. In the Bible, mountains are often described as
places where God communicates with us in an intense & personal way. Moses
& Elijah, each at their own time, experienced God's presence & action on
mountain tops. Indeed, the story of Jesus' Transfiguration has many common
elements with the parallel experiences of Moses' & Elijah' on mountain top:
overshadowing cloud, owe & majesty, shining white clothing, fear,..., as
signs to describe God's manifestation... Today's meditation on the
Transfiguration fits well with the Lenten exhortation of Pope Benedict XVI, (the
Pope of the Encyclical: "God is Love" - Deus caritas est), & the
Lenten Discussion Program for 2006: it's called "One in God's Family"
& comments on the Father's voice: 'You are my Son, listen to him'. On Ash
Wednesday March 1st, 2006, the Pope released his Lenten Message, & in it, he
invites us Catholics to focus on the compassionate "Look" of Jesus,
("Jesus, seeing the crowds, felt compassion on them..."). He says:
Lent is a privileged time, when we conform ourselves to the compassionate
"Look" of Jesus; & constantly try to measure up 'our
Look-of-compassion' with His'. We are invited to assume the loving concerns of
Jesus towards all those -in our own time- who are hurting &
overburdened; & make ours His eagerness to implement God's project of
salvation, & His readiness to give our life for them. In our Lenten
Discussion session this week, we were reminded that the Transfiguration is the
4th Mystery of Light in the Rosary: have we an insights to share from a
prayerful contemplation of the words: You are my Son? How do we feel about it?
Transfiguration
& Mark's Gospel. It's important that this year we study the story in its
concentric 'lesson plan' peculiar to Mark: A) Going up to the mountain - B)
First transformation of Jesus: dazzling white... C) Moses & Elijah speak to
Jesus D) (Central point) Reaction of the disciples: frightened... C) A voice
from heaven speaks B) Second transformation: Jesus is back to normal. A) Coming
down from the mountain. In the event of Transfiguration, Mark does not
concentrate on the extraordinary phenomena, but on how the disciples reacted
& felt. They were first 'terrified' then not knowing what he was saying,
Peter spoke: 'Its good for us to be here!. In his typical symbolic &
concentric way of teaching the 'Good News', Mark simply states what the
disciples saw & how they reacted: there is no attempt at defining what this
'appearing & dis-appearing of Jesus' was all about. He does not even use the
word 'Trans-figuration'; the original Greek text has the word 'meta-morphosis',
which implies a mutation of shape, just as the word 'a-morphic' implies lack of
shape. It will be up to the disciples & us, the Church of all time to deepen
the mystery of Transfiguration in all its aspects. Mark wants us to understand
that Jesus is fulfilling God's plan, as it was foretold & 'mapped out' in
the Scriptures. For Mark, the fact that Moses & Elijah appear, is not a
coincidence. On the contrary, they are two privileged people, who centuries
before & centuries apart, had the same experience. Indeed, Mark wants us to
believe that Jesus has fulfilled the experience of Moses & Elijah: They too
went 'six days later' - had fear & radiance - heard God's voice - were
caught (they & the mount) in the cloud. Even the words 'Listen to him' are
from Deut. 18,15 'Yahweh, your God, will raise up for you a prophet like myself
from among you, listen to him'. Now therefore, God's plan is fulfilled: in the
Church we are God's people.
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