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Gospel Reflection for Sunday, March 16, 2025
Dear brothers and sisters, peace be with you.
If we could say that last Sunday’s Gospel (Jesus’ temptations) tasted like Easter, we can say the same about today’s Gospel. That one tasted like Easter because Jesus faced a tough battle and came out victorious. It was a preview of the Lord’s final fight and ultimate victory, which is Easter. Today, we’re again seeing another unique event with that same Easter flavor.
Today, it’s not the devil talking to Jesus. It’s two very important Old Testament figures: Moses (whose burial place was unknown) and Elijah (who was taken up in a whirlwind in a chariot of fire), talking to Him about His death. Two people with mysterious endings. And Jesus is dressed in white, the color of victory. They both talk with Jesus, hinting that He’s a greater prophet than they were, and that His end will be even greater than theirs. That’s why this interesting story feels like Easter.
We have to go through trials to reach the end of the road. We have to say ‘yes’ to God to really know what He wants from us. It’s like Abraham’s experience, where he had to be willing to sacrifice his firstborn son to become Abraham. Today, God asks him several things. Each time, Abraham responds with a full ‘Amen,’ completely agreeing. His whole life is anchored in the solid rock of God’s Word. God accepts this obedient faith as a perfect sacrifice, and ‘credited it to him as righteousness.’
It’s interesting to see how only God carries out the covenant ritual. Abraham doesn’t walk between the animal pieces. God’s promise is totally unconditional; He asks for nothing in return. He knows He can’t ask for anything because the patriarch’s descendants will often be unfaithful and unbelieving. During the Exodus, they’ll even think God led them into the desert to make them disappear. God’s promises to us are always free gifts. The prophets always present God as the faithful husband, even when the wife betrays Him (see Isaiah 54:5-10). God’s love doesn’t give up, no matter the betrayal.
But there are always ‘enemies of the cross of Christ.’ People who can’t or won’t accept that unconditional love. They’d rather stick to following rules to feel safer. That’s who the Apostle Paul is talking about in the second reading. They reduce faith to following rules like circumcision, not eating certain foods, or extreme fasting. Really, all those behaviors are about physical desires.
By those standards, being a ‘friend of the cross of Christ’ would mean suffering, making sacrifices, denying yourself. Denying yourself is kind of like dying, and we usually don’t want to die, we want to live. But we need to understand what true life is: a life of freedom, with Christ and in Christ. Because friends of the cross of Christ have to give up what isn’t really life. To do that, we have to let the Lord, our Savior, transform us. We’re citizens of Heaven, and we’re waiting for our mortal bodies to be transformed, like the risen Christ’s glorious body. We’re just passing through this world, like nomads, like Abraham.
And then there’s the disciples’ experience on Mount Tabor. They went with Jesus to the mountain to pray. It’s interesting to look at their experience. They go through different stages: they almost fall asleep, they’re dazzled by the light of Christ’s meeting with Moses and Elijah. We might go through those stages too. Their drowsiness could be our drowsiness, and their dazzling could be our enlightenment. We can climb the mountain with Jesus, and that mountain is called prayer.
The drowsiness of Abraham and the Apostles is a sign of something big about to be discovered, the certainty that the Lord is going to do amazing things in their lives. God reveals Himself little by little because God’s ways aren’t easy for us to understand. The Apostles themselves didn’t understand who Christ was until after the Resurrection. They might have sensed they were with someone special, even extraordinary, but not God Himself. But each explanation, each encounter, each miracle made room in their souls, preparing their spirits for the future. And that’s what this Lenten season should do for each of us.
It’s not easy to get into the spirit of Lent when we live in a world that mostly just wants to live without problems. Many people just want to enjoy life. Of course, joy and happiness aren’t against our Christian lives. It’s not about living in constant sadness. But some ways of having fun aren’t compatible with our Christian lives. We need to keep our spiritual eyes wide open to see the light God sends us. To know what’s good for us and what’s bad. To let God’s presence soak into our lives, like the Apostles did.
We have to be humble, to admit we can’t reach the goals the Master sets for us on our own, but always with faith, knowing He’ll give us signs and strength to walk the right path. There’s the temptation to build three shelters, like Peter wanted, but we have to come down from the mountain and keep walking. Always with faith and hope, especially in this jubilee year, where we’re called to be ‘pilgrims of hope,’ making the most of this Lent. Because after Lent comes Easter, and our eyes should be fixed on Christ’s Resurrection. We know what’s waiting for us, and it’s something good, very good.
That’s why we, the disciples of today, gather every Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist, a preview of eternal Easter. We climb the mountain, and on the mountain, we see the face of the transfigured Lord, the one who became bread to feed us, who gave His whole life. And He makes us this offer: ‘Join your life to mine.’ It’s the voice from heaven telling us, ‘If you want to secure your life, if you truly want to be children of the Father in heaven, listen to Him.’ The Disciples, when they came down from the mountain, kept silent. We, today, leaving our parish, can instead tell everyone what faith has helped us understand: whoever gives their life for love enters the glory of God.
Your brother in faith,