In today’s readings we have two plants; a bush and a Fig tree. 

First the bush. Moses is tending to the flocks of his Father-in-law, Jethro and he comes near the mountain named Horeb also called Mt. Sanai. Moses sees a bush on fire. Yet, the fire continues and the bush is not consumed. This is how God, Yahweh, presents Himself to Moses. 

In the mythology of the Greeks and Romans, whenever a god broke forth into the human realm, they appeared in competition…destructively. Something of this realm had to give way to reveal something of the realm of the gods. When a human came face to face with one of these gods in their proper form, they were consumed. But with our God, it’s different. 

The bush represents the realm of creatures. When our God presents himself, we are not consumed. God doesn’t take anything away but rather adds to the reality of the thing He has created.  When God is in us; close to us, we become more beautiful, more fully ourselves. We become more radiant. We reflect the Light of God onto the world, into other people. A burning tree, out in the open, sends light in all directions. And so do we.

Moses, like other Jews, adhered to a multi-god theology; the god of this or that place, this or that people. Remember, their one god theology wasn’t defined until the Law was given to Moses. 

So, Moses wanted to know the name of this particular god. He was asking for clarification: which god are you? But God declines. He doesn’t give a name but merely states, “I am Who [I] am.”  God is telling us that He is not a specific type of being. He is not from this or that place. He is not One among many. He is not a “being”. From this, theologians reflect on God as being itself; pure being. Aquinas’,” Ipsum Esse”, to be itself. We can’t classify God. In order to understand anything, we try to name it and categorize it. Then we can identify. Now we can compare things. God is above all that we know; outside of us. Outside of creation. We can’t compare God to anything. Aquinas goes on to tell us that God cannot even be place in the Genus of “Being”.  That’s the broadest category we have. God is outside all of that.  God is not this, or that, here or there, higher than, bigger than.  God is the act of being itself, the act of existence.  

In our theology, this is very important.  If I move into your space, I compete for your space.  A dog cannot become a cat and still remain a dog. Plants grow and “take over” the space where they grow. We creatures live in competition with each other. 

God, Who is the act of being can enter into us and not consume us or diminish Himself. He can make us radiant and not leave us destroyed. And although we become more, God never becomes less. We can become like the burning bush, more beautiful, more radiant and more alive, but still remain what we are. God doesn’t compete with His creatures in any way. He doesn’t shove Himself on us. He never imposes Himself. He invites.  Remember the picture of our Lord knocking on the door. There is no handle on the outside. We have to open the door and invite God to come in. 

The bush, alive with the radiance of God. Every one of us has a purpose and mission.  To know, love and serve God in this life so as to be happy with Him in the next by being a conduit of God to the world; shining His light reflectively in the world.

Now, the Fig tree.  Growing but not producing any fruit.

 The fullness of God: burning with love. The absence of God: fruitless. 

All three of today’s readings speak of God the Father’s mercy and compassion, even in disciplining His children by occasional punishment in the form of natural or manmade tragedies, while giving them second chances to repent of their sins and renew their lives, despite their repeated sins. God expects us to show our repentance and renewal of life, especially during Lent, by producing fruits of love, mercy, forgiveness, and selfless service, instead of remaining like a barren fig tree in Christ’s Church.

The first reading tells us how God showed His mercy to His chosen people in Egyptian slavery by giving them Moses as their leader and liberator. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (v 6) revealed Himself to Moses from the burning bush and assured Moses of His Divine presence with His people and of His awareness of their sufferings in Egypt. God declared His intention to use Moses as the leader who would rescue His enslaved people. Then God revealed His name as Yahweh (“I AM Who AM”) and renewed His promise to the patriarchs (v 8), to give them a “land flowing with milk and honey”.

The second reading warns us that our merciful God is also a disciplining God. Paul reminds the Christians of Corinth that they must learn from the sad experience of the unfaithful Israelites in the desert who were punished for their sins by a merciful and just God. The merciful and gracious God is also just and demanding; hence, the Corinthians, and we, must be free from sexual sins and idolatry. 

Today’s Gospel explains how God disciplines His people and invites them to repent of their sins, to renew their lives, and to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Citing two tragic events, Jesus exhorts the Jews to repent and reform their lives. One of the incidents was the ruthless murder of some Galileans while they were in the middle of their Temple sacrifices. The victims were probably political agitators, and this was Pilate’s way of silencing them. The other incident was a construction accident which occurred near the Temple during the building of a water aqueduct. Apparently, this building project was hated by the Jews because Temple funds had been appropriated from the Temple treasury by Pilate to finance it. — These two incidents are brought up because the Jews of Jesus’ day presumed that those who were killed were being punished by God for their sins. But Jesus denies this. Instead, he asserts that what really destroys life is our unwillingness to repent and change our lives. Jesus says, not once, but twice by way of emphasis: “Unless you repent, you will perish as they did.” 

With the parable of the barren fig tree, Jesus also warns them that the merciful God will not put up with them indefinitely. Although God patiently waits for sinners to repent, giving them grace to do so, He will not wait forever. Time may run out; therefore, timely repentance is necessary. Hence, one can say, “A Lent missed is a year lost from the spiritual life.”

1) We need to live lives of repentance: (a) We never know when we will meet a tragedy of our own. Let us turn to Christ, acknowledge our faults and failings, and receive from him mercy, forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. b) There is no better way to take these words of Jesus to heart than to go to sacramental confession, and there is no better time to go to confession than during Lent. (c) Repentance helps us in life and in death. It helps us to live as forgiven people and helps us to face death without fear. 

2) We need to be fruitful trees in God’s orchard.  Lent is an ideal time “to dig around and manure” the tree of our life so that it may bring forth fruits.  The “fruits” God expects from us during Lent are repentance, renewal of life, and the resulting virtues of love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, selflessness, and humble service.  Let us start producing these fruits in the family by becoming more sensitive to the feelings of others and by accepting each member of the family with love and respect.  The Christian fruits of reconciliation will grow in the family when each member shows good will by forgiving others and by asking their forgiveness. We become fruit-bearing in the community by caring for the poor, the sick, the little ones, the old, and the lonely.

3) We need to make the best use of the “second chances” God gives us.  Our merciful Father always gives us a second chance.  The prodigal son, returning to the father, was welcomed as a son, not treated as a slave. During Lent, we, too, are given another chance to repent and return to our Heavenly Father’s love.  We are also expected to give others another chance when they ask our forgiveness.  God would like to use each one of us as the “gardener” in the parable to help Him cultivate our families and communities and enrich them with grace.  Let us thank God for using others to help us bear fruit.  Grace is everywhere.  Let us always cooperate with grace, especially during Lent.

In the original Greek, the word for transfiguration is metamorphoo (metamorphisis)  signifying a radical change. Jesus is radically changed so His divinity is brought forth and revealed. Before this event, Jesus has just asked His follows, “who do you say that I am?” There are differing answers and so the disciples surely must have questions as to whether they are truly following the right person. But Peter gets it right. As given to him by the Father, Peter says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus decides to make a physical statement. He takes Peter, James and John up on a mountain (usually stated as Mt. Tabor, but we’re really not sure which mountain it was.) Up on the mountain, the heavy hitters of the Old Testament appear: Moses representing the Law and Elijah representing all of the prophets. Both indicating that Jesus is the Messiah. And to seal all doubt, from a cloud, the Father’s voice is heard, “this is my chosen Son, listen to Him.”

There are many parallels here to Moses on Mt. Sinai. First of all, Moses goes up on the mountain on the 7th day. Not, in today’s passage, but in St. Mark’s account of the Transfiguration, Jesus goes up after 6 days. Moses takes his spokesman, Aaron and his two sons; Abihu and Nedab. Jesus takes the leader of the 12 and two brothers. On Mt. Sinai, God speaks to Moses from a cloud and at the Transfiguration, the Father speaks also from a cloud. After Moses’ encounter with God, his face shown bright. He even covered his face to not frighten his people. Today, not only Jesus’ face, but His entire being radiates brightly. Moses was transformed and today Jesus, Who so far has only provided his followers with His human nature, removes the doubt and conveys His divinity. Both Moses and Jesus are leading an Exodus; Moses from the slavery of the Egyptians, Jesus from the slavery of sin back to Paradise.

Are you in the midst of terrible trials? Are you in doubt about your faith? Why is this happening? What is God doing? How many of us have read a book and in the middle, terrible things happen to the characters? The entire situation seems hopeless. And then we cheat. We flip to the last chapter and read that everything comes out just great. The darkness in our lives may seem terrible, but the last chapter of our lives, our “book”, has a happy ending if we pursue the story, if we hold tight the plot God promises us; to endure, carry our cross, love God and love others. The Transfiguration shows us that Jesus, who proclaimed to Peter that He must suffer and die will finally reach the chapter where He wins because He is God and He will overcome every enemy; death being the last.

The Transfiguration is telling us all that as we face suffering and death, as we carry our crosses, the resurrection and ascension will ultimately follow.

The common theme of today’s readings is metamorphosis or transformation. The readings invite us to work with the Holy Spirit to transform our lives by renewing them during Lent so that they radiate the glory and grace of the transfigured Lord to all around us by our Spirit-filled lives.

The first reading describes the transformation of Abram, a pagan patriarch, into a believer in the one God (Who would later “transform” Abram’s name to Abraham), and the first covenant of God with Abraham’s family as a reward for his Faith and obedience to God. The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 27) declares that Faith, singing, “I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living.”

In the second reading, St. Paul argues that it is not observance of the Mosaic Law and circumcision that transforms people into Christians, and hence, that Gentiles need not become Jews to become Christians. St. Paul urges us to stand firm in our Faith and to live a life of discipleship with Jesus now, so that we may share in a glorious future later.

The Holy Spirit, through Church, invites us to reflect on Christ’s humanity by presenting the temptations of Christ on the first Sunday of Lent, But, on the second Sunday, by presenting the Transfiguration scene, the Church invites us to reflect on Christ’s Divinity. The Transfiguration of Our Lord on this Second Sunday in Lent gives us a glimpse of the coming future glory of Christ on Easter. But it also reminds us that the only way to Easter is through the cross.

The primary purpose of Jesus’ Transfiguration was to allow Him to consult his Heavenly Father in order to ascertain His plan for His Son’s suffering, death, and Resurrection. The secondary aim was to make Jesus’ chosen disciples aware of his Divine glory, so that they might discard their worldly ambitions and dreams of a conquering political Messiah, and might be strengthened in their time of trial. On the mountain, Jesus is identified by the Heavenly Voice as the Son of God. Thus, the Transfiguration experience is a Christophany, that is, a manifestation or revelation of Who Jesus really IS. Describing Jesus’ Transfiguration, the Gospel gives us a glimpse of the Heavenly glory awaiting those who do God’s will by putting their trusting Faith in Him.

(1) The transubstantiation in the Holy Mass is the source of our strength: In each Holy Mass, the bread and wine we offer on the altar become transubstantiated into the living Body and Blood of the crucified, risen, and glorified Jesus. Just as Jesus’ Transfiguration strengthened the apostles in their time of trial, each holy Mass should be our source of Heavenly strength against temptations, and our renewal during Lent. In addition, our Holy Communion with the living Jesus should be the source of our daily “transfiguration,” transforming our minds and hearts so that we may do more good by humble and selfless service to others.

(2) Each time we receive one of the Sacraments, we are transformed: For example, Baptism transforms us into sons and daughters of God and heirs of heaven. Confirmation makes us temples of the Holy Spirit and warriors of God. By the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God brings back the sinner to the path of holiness.

(3) The Transfiguration offers us a message of encouragement and hope: In moments of doubt and during our dark moments of despair and hopelessness, the thought of our transfiguration in Heaven will help us to reach out to God and to listen to His consoling words: “This is My beloved Son.” Let us offer our Lenten sacrifices to our Lord, that through these practices of Lent and through the acceptance of our daily crosses we may grow closer to him in his suffering and may share in the carrying of his cross so that we may finally share the glory of his Transfiguration.

4) We need “mountain-top experiences” in our lives: We share the mountain-top experience of Peter, James, and John when we spend extra time in prayer during Lent. Fasting for one day can help the body to store up spiritual energy. This spiritual energy can help us have thoughts that are far higher and nobler than our usual mundane thinking. The hunger we experience can put us more closely in touch with God and make us more willing to help the hungry. The crosses of our daily lives also can lead us to the glory of transfiguration and resurrection.

Among all the countries in the ancient world, God chose Israel to be the light of the nations and the center of reconciliation through the instructions of the law and temple sacrifice.  Out of all of Israel, he chose the 12. Out of the 12, he chose the 3; Peter, James and John, to witness the transfiguration. Out of the 3, he would choose St John to receive the visions in the book of revelations.

In the economy of God’s salvation, he invests his revelations in those who will take them and value them enough to share them in such a way, as to move family, friends, the church and culture. Before we complain that God’s not visiting me with any revelations, we must ask ourselves, if he gives them to me, will I take them in and take action?

Some of the greatest spiritual events in the Bible, took place on mountains. Abram took his son to sacrifice on Mt Moriah. Moses received the 10 commandments on Mt Sinai. It was unlikely this was lost on the disciples, when Jesus invites them to the mountain to pray. They had seen powerful things happen many times, through his prayers! In spite of all of these things, the disciples are not praying, they are sleeping! How often is this representative of the times when we are sleep walking through life, unaware of Jesus’ presence?

The disciples are awakened as Jesus is transformed and speaks with Moses and Elijah. Moses represents the law and Elijah represents the prophets. Together, the law and the prophets testify to Jesus’ divinity. As Luke explains, they were talking about Jesus’ death in Jerusalem

Having no idea what to say or do, does not stop Peter from speaking. He is quickly made to understand that he’s not there to start building tents, when the Father says: “This is my beloved son; listen to him.”! 

How well are we doing when it comes to quieting ourselves and listening to God? Has our performance based, western culture made us into human doings, instead of human beings? Has it imparted to us the feeling that quieting ourselves in prayer is down time from our productivity?

IF we say: “I do not experience God speaking to me; what am I missing?” Are we failing to get the fact that he is always broadcasting his communication and I’m just not on his frequency?

Who’s voice is it in the readings in the mass? In the Eucharistic prayers, the priest is praying in persona Christi. How can I hear him when I go home, if I do not read his word in the Bible?

What we listen to influences us. Are we listening to church teaching when it comes to matters of faith and morals? Or, am I slipping into the moral relativism of our culture’s secular philosophies about religion and sexual behaviors?

We will do well in our marriages, despite our struggles, if we listen to him. We will work through all the questions about our sexual identify, if we listen to him. We will be the model employee; punctual, flexible and industrious, if we listen to him. We will share our faith without shame or backing down, if we listen to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

Today, let us pray: “Lord, open my ears that I might hear you. Give me the grace to take it in and be that one who moves my family, friends, the church and culture.”.