Second Sunday of Lent, March 16, 2025

2025 Mar 16 SUN: SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
Gn 15: 5-12. 17-18/ Ps 27: 1. 7-8. 8-9. 13-14/ Phil 3: 17 -- 4: 1 or 3: 20 -- 4: 1/ Lk 9: 28b-36

My brother had a friend when we were growing up, and my brother passed along to me some of the things that he heard from this friend about their family. 

So apparently it was kind of a ritual with them: that they would start on a vacation getting into the car and driving and their dad was driving. He would at some predictable point exclaim, "Isn't this great, kids?" 

The kids did not know what was so great. I'm sure that the dad was enjoying the fact that he was not at work and he was looking forward to some time where he could just be present. And really I think that's what he was expressing. Just being present to the moment. But his kids thought it was funny. 

St. Paul says to us today, "Our citizenship is in heaven." And we in fact can be aware of heaven in our midst. The more that we are just present to a moment of relaxation and rest and contemplation, we can be filled with wonder as Peter, James and John were so filled at the time of Jesus' Transfiguration. Luke says that Jesus was preparing for his "exodus" which he would accomplish in Jerusalem. Exodus, of course, refers us to the freeing of the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt. And Jesus' death and resurrection are properly referred to as the exodus: deliverance from the evils of this world. 

So we are likewise called to a sense of wonder. Before he was Abraham, he was Abram, and the Lord said to him, "Look up into the night sky. Try counting the stars. Can you do that?" Well, you can be filled with wonder because as numerous as the stars are, will your descendants be. And this was a cause for wonder.

On the part of Abram who was unsure whether he would ever have a child by his wife Sarah, he was furthermore filled with wonder. When he saw this eerie thing taking place, the Lord had told him to cut some animals in two. And a representation of the Lord, a fire pot and a torch, passed between the halves.

This was the establishment of the covenant, the bond between God and his people. And it was saying on the part of the Lord, "If I go back on my covenant, may I be as these animals that have been split apart." So there was cause for wonder in the life of Abram, later to be called Abraham.

And we in this Lenten time can cultivate our own sense of wonder. We can look at God's creation. There are things in God's creation that call us to a sense of wonder. We think of the people in our life and the fact that we share love with these people.

Yes, it is great. Our preparation for the Easter mystery is one which includes the favor given to Peter, James and John so that they might not completely lose heart at the time that Jesus was crucified. We saw them weaken, particularly Peter, but they did not completely lose heart. And they had had the opportunity to gaze upon the evidence of Jesus' resurrection.

So we are called through the Word of God today to be present to the wonders which surround us and realize the degree to which we have been loved by the God who has made us and brought us together. And he has made an unbreakable covenant of life and love with us.