Gen. 12:1-4a; Ps. 33:4-5, 18-20, 22; 2 Tim. 1:8b-10; Mt.17:1-9
The voice of God is a command “listen to him” to his beloved Son, Jesus. The transfiguration of Jesus with Moses and Elijah appearing at his side in conversation is also a sign that “death” is no more than a transition into the eternal. It is the death of the flesh and with it the death to sin for those who responded to the call to “listen to him” with believing, following, and trusting in the divine will of the Father. The ashes from Ash Wednesday are a reminder that there is a death to the body “from dust you are and to dust you shall return” but the soul is eternal.
When the Lord sends Abram away from his homeland with a blessing and a promise, Abram listened to him and was obedient. It was a renewal from the disobedience and fall that fell upon Adam and Eve. It was to regain the promise land and make a great nation for God and his people. Without knowing where he was going, Abram trusted in God to guide him. How well do we trust in God to lead us according to his ways? Our life is a journey we can choose to make alone or with God as our guide. God is our guide when we walk in his ways that have already been revealed to us by Jesus if we listen to him.
Lent is our time to take a step back and wait upon the Lord to speak to our soul. We wait through prayer, contemplation, and reflection upon the Word. We wait through the act of fasting and abstinence as a form of discipline of the flesh as we deny ourselves the simple pleasures in order to experience the taste of our mortality. Fulton Sheen soon to be beatified is quoted as saying to be a saint we must be in the “now”. God reveals himself in the moment, in our awareness of his presence in our life in each and every moment that our minds and hearts turn to him, call to him, give thanks to him, praise his name.
God calls us to a holy life through “his own design” for our life. It is not God who must bend “to our works” but we must listen to him if we seek holiness. This is the warning when we read in scripture how many came to Jesus claiming to have done many “works” for God yet God does not recognize them. Why? Could it be that we created a god in our own image who would agree with us in our vision of truth, goodness and justice yet we never stopped to listen to him.
We are to seek the will of God in the moment that can transfigure our own life yet it is in the moment when we forget about God and respond with our own strong will. Human behavior is often a “read and react” to the situation and not give God a moment in which we also listen to him coming to us with how we are to respond to the moment. God comes to us in the moment as an inspiration through the Holy Spirit that we may give witness to him in imitation of Christ. This is what it means to put on “the mind of Christ” and be an instrument in his hand.
Lent is the call for inner transformation, spiritual growth, and union with God that we may be a light to the world. Jesus comes to us in the moment in which we live the gospel. He will manifest his revelation as we receive the grace to go forth and trust in God. The soul is filled with hope that is not blind or naïve but grounded in the path that is revealed to us because we trusted in him. The psalm reminds us “our soul waits for the LORD” and he will not delay. He comes at the appointed moment with his love and mercy when we place our trust in him.
Just like Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them to a high mountain by themselves, God is leading us to a high place this Lent where we can hear his voice and “rise” above our own humanity, where we can taste and see the goodness of the Lord, where our soul can discover our true identity as a child of God and be set free from sin, from doubt, and from fear. Speak Lord, your servant is listening.
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