Bracing for Suffering

 

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

5 March 2023 – Holy Spirit Parish

Gn 12:1-4a

2 Tm 1:8b-10

Mt 17:1-9

Praised be Jesus Christ!

        From our second reading this Sunday, we hear St. Paul, writing to Timothy, one of his chosen disciples and a first-generation bishop in the Church of Apostolic times. Paul exhorted the young man of whom he was truly proud, whose mother and grandmother Paul had known for a long time; he wrote to him in these words: Timothy! “Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.” This Sunday the Church directs those words to us as well. “Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.”

        The sense of Paul’s words may not be all that clear to people of our day and time. Often today we totally miss what is essential to Christian witness, to doing our part to proclaim the Gospel. What our “share of hardship for the Gospel” might be is also far from clear to us. We tend to have an impression of what our duty is in witnessing to the Gospel that is much too social, too society based, if you will. That could be because as practicing Catholics we find ourselves outside the dominant culture maybe even persecuted by the Godless forces in present day society. But that is not to say that we find ourselves in a different place than did Paul and Timothy. We just may need to rethink our approach to the Christian life. Maybe we have more in common with Paul and Timothy in the pagan world of their time than we might think. This Lent might just be our opportunity to discover or rediscover what living and witnessing to the Gospel is truly about. “Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.”

        To that end the Church’s choice of our First Reading from the Book of Genesis could help us understand our calling by having us reflect on what God intended in His call to Abram, soon to be renamed Abraham. God asks a sacrifice of Abram, namely that he leave his father’s house. God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees to come and live in what would be called the Promised Land. ‘“All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.’ Abram went as the Lord directed him.” The blessings come about for Abram because the old Patriarch cooperates with God’s plan; he lets God work in his life. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.

        We are talking about being chosen by God, about God’s election or favor. The Gospel account of the Transfiguration on top of Mount Tabor is as good an indication as any of just how profound the mystery of Divine favor can be. Peter, James, and John see Jesus transfigured. There He is, Son of God and Son of Man, glorious in the mystery of the Godhead, flanked by Moses and Elijah, standing for the Law and the Prophets being fulfilled in His Person. Christ is there for them in the fullness of the Divine promise. But this theophany is meant to arm them to face the scandal, the horror of a world which rejects its gentle Savior and nails Him to the Cross. “Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.”

        There have been times in my life, maybe more so in the last ten years, when I have felt maybe more blessed, more consoled and appreciated as a witness to the Gospel. As far as I can tell, this has not come about for anything in particular to which I can point as a personal achievement. Maybe it has to do with letting myself be led by God, with cooperating with His grace in my life, I really can’t say. What St. Paul wanted for St. Timothy and what he and the Church want for us is simply for us to be caught up into the cloud on high with Christ. He wants us to hold our tongues and hear the words of the Father: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

        These days there’s much talk out there about the success at the box office of this new film, The Jesus Revolution, and about a Christian revival which seems to have begun on the campus of a small Christian college in Wilmore, Kentucky, where a worship service has been rolling, nonstop, for over two weeks. The event at Asbury University is so popular, people have flown from across the country, standing in line outside of the college’s main chapel for an opportunity to take part in the singing, praying and discussion unfolding within. The Asbury Revival, as it has been called, has captured the attention and imagination of many. What is going on there? And what, exactly, is a Christian revival?

        Witness! It is an important word, but I don’t think the word revival helps us to understand it. My message for this our Second Sunday of Lent would be that witness has to be tempered by our obedience to God’s word, our attentiveness to Him as He makes known His will for our lives. The psalm verse says as much about the result of our corresponding to God’s favor: “Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.”

        The Prophet Isaiah reports God’s words to Israel, putting it this way: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” [Isaiah 30:15 NRSV, Catholic Edition Bible (p. 2029). Catholic Bible Press. Kindle Edition.]

        Elsewhere in Psalm 51:17 we hear, “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” [NRSV, Catholic Edition Bible (p. 1511). Catholic Bible Press. Kindle Edition.]

        “Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.”

        I am sure Timothy understood what Paul meant by those words because of the lessons he had learned and appropriated for himself from his mother and grandmother. In your prayer and reflection this Lent, give yourself to doing the same!

        Praised be Jesus Christ!

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