2^nd Sunday of Lent

1. As a parish priest, I deliberately did not keep the texts of my homilies, so that I would not be tempted to wheel them out and re-hash them. As a bishop, I have kept my homilies, and, predictably, I gave in to the temptation to look at the text of the homily I preached on this Sunday, the 2^nd Sunday of Lent, last year. At the end of the text of the homily, I note the place where I preached it. I could hardly believe it when I saw that the place I last preached on the 2^nd Sunday of Lent was in fact in this very Church, St. Joseph and St. Patrick, Wemyss Bay!!

2. In all 3 years of the liturgical cycle, A,B, and C, the Gospel reading for the 2^nd Sunday of Lent narrates the same event, the event we have come to call the transfiguration. I think we call it the transfiguration because in the accounts for years A & B, the evangelists Matthew and Mark say that Jesus went up the mountain and in the presence of Peter, James and John, he was transfigured. They use the term and the language of transfiguration. In this Year C, we heard the account according to the Gospel of Luke, where the evangelist does not use the word transfigure but says perhaps more elegantly, “As he prayed, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightning.”

3. I am glad now that I looked back to last year’s homily. I am even glad that I am preaching on the same 2^nd Sunday of Lent about the same event in the same parish church. For my comparison of the texts of the gospels according to Matthew, Mark and Luke for this Sunday has thrown up a peculiarity of Luke which can be the point of my homily which is different from last year. As I noted already, Luke describes the core of the event in this way: “As he prayed, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightning.” Jesus at prayer is a theme which runs through the gospel according to Luke and very often preceded an important moment of revelation. In this moment, Jesus is at prayer and his apostles see him as suffused with light and glory. They see him with Moses and Elijah, the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets. They see him as being presented to them as the Son of the Father, the Chosen One. They know they must follow him. They know they must listen to him.

4. This was a key experience for Peter, James and John, an experience that would support them in the darkest hours of Jesus’ passion and death, an experience that, when they found the empty tomb on the third day, would help them to understand what Jesus meant when he told them he must suffer and die and rise again on the third day.

5. Lent is a time for change. We probably would not use of our spiritual aspirations the word transfigure, but we would use the language of change. We hope Lent changes us for the better, even a little bit. We hope to overcome some self indulgence, turn away from some sinful habit, grow a little more in love, compassion and generosity of heart. We hope to change for the better.

6. Part of the discipline of Lent is prayer. Many people try to spend more time in prayer, be more faithful to prayer, perhaps use the rosary more, pray the Stations of the Cross, go to Mass more often. If you have children, you may pray more with them, encourage them to pray, teach them to pray. We recognise that prayer, being in intimate communion with God, will improve us, will make us better, will change us. Just as a Jesus was transfigured in prayer, so we can hope to be transformed and changed for the better through our Lenten prayer. This is my Beloved Son, listen to him. If we listen, I think he will tell us to pray.

 St. Joseph’s and St. Patrick’s, Wemyss Bay

4^th March 2007