2nd. Sunday of Lent

God’s Design and Our Response

The basic call to all Christians is always a call to a new existence. Like Abraham’s call, our call by God implies three distinct elements. First, it’s “God free choice.” It’s not according to our work but according to His own design. “God called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of His own purpose and the grace which He gave us in Christ Jesus,” says St. Paul in today’s epistle. 

The second implication of our calling “is a mission,” which could entail leaving our comfort zone, the familiar, the known and accepting the new and untried. 
St. Paul again exhorts Timothy and us to “take a share of the suffering for the Gospel in the power of God” [2^nd Reading]. As Christians, we do have a mission for our family, our parish, our community, coworkers in our workplace, fellow students in school, and friends. 

The third element of our calling is “a promise.” In Abraham’s case, it consisted of a posterity: children. “I will make you a great nation” [1^st Reading]. In the case of Christians, it consists of life and immortality. “Jesus brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel” [2^nd Reading]. An appreciative fidelity to our calling requires faith like the faith of Abraham, who “went as the Lord had told him” [Gen.12:1-4]. 

God’s promises to us are real but cannot yet be verified as the message of the Transfiguration shows. Jesus undergoes His transfiguration. We too are called to be transfigured in our lives. We all need “transfiguration moments” in our lives to see the way God sees, to hear what God wants us to and to experience life from a divine perspective, throwing ourselves into God’s hands and receiving His gifts.  

As the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration is about change, the Lenten season and its liturgy is also about change. It is the time to make a leap of faith and abandon our old ways of life that separate us from the love of God. It is the time when we give up the usual routines that distract us from focusing more on God. Finally, it is the time to make sacrifices and move away from our comfort zones, doing acts of mortification and working toward transfiguring and transforming our lives. “Listen to Jesus and follow Him. That’s the message of the Transfiguration,” says Pope Francis.