Just as the gardener is patient with the fig tree, willing to nurture it, so God is patient with us. God awaits our growth and willingness to live in him. To do that, we need to be open to the graces God provides us. Do you take advantage of the ways the Church offers to nourish your spiritual life? We need to be mindful also to show patience with others, allowing them to bloom where they are planted.
Jesus commanded us to take up our crosses each day (Lk 9:23). A Roman cross existed only for the purpose of causing a person’s death. A daily cross is daily dying to self. This is the ultimate life of love, which is the greatest expression of freedom. However, a life of daily crosses and daily dyings requires so much love that we may not choose this life of selfless love and thereby be paralyzed by selfishness and fear. Only by obeying the Lord can we be set free to choose the way of daily crosses, the way of love.
Jesus takes us up Transfiguration mountain where the veil is removed from the hidden Christ (see Col 3:3) of faith so that we can see the transfigured Christ of glory. This may happen through the sacraments, the Bible, the poor, a healing, a miracle, a marriage, a birth, a blessing, or other spiritual experiences. When we see Christ transfigured, we are led to receive a new Pentecost. Then the Spirit proclaims that Jesus is Lord (1 Cor 12:3). Knowing not only in our heads but also in our hearts that Jesus is Lord, we listen to Jesus (Lk 9:35) — even about the love-filled life of daily crosses and daily dyings. In submission to the transfigured Lord Jesus, we are free to love as He loved — even to death on the cross.
It is an ancient tradition that we read the gospel of the temptation of Jesus on the first Sunday of Lent. There is the obvious connection that Jesus spends forty days in the wilderness, but there are deeper reasons. In each of the synoptic gospels we are told how, before his ministry begins, Jesus, filled with the Spirit, encounters the spirit of evil. It is what his ministry is all about. It is what our lives are all about. To overcome evil with goodness is the constant challenge of the gospel.
In the longer narratives in Matthew and Luke we are given what amounts to a profound reflection on the nature of temptation. To use God-given powers for selfish ends is a temptation rife in our modern times. To worship the source of evil recalls our modern confusion about what is morally good and morally bad. To put God to the test is similarly familiar. Jesus withstands each of these tests. Our gospel ends with the departure of the devil ‘to return at the appointed time’. Luke knows that the critical time will come at Calvary.
When we open our mouths and speak, we open our inner selves and reveal publicly:
Our “heart’s abundance
Our faults and sins
The bent of our minds
Therefore,
Be “slow to speak”
Don’t talk too much
“Let no evil come out of your mouths, but only such as in good for edifying, as fits the occasion that it may impart grace to those who hear.
This coming Lent, let Jesus be Lord of your mouth, the Holy Spirit purify your tongue, and the Father be glorified by your every word.
The directive Jesus gives today are difficult ones. Why would anyone want to do good to the person who hates? Why wouldn’t we expect that what was borrowed would be returned? It may sometimes seem that it is getting harder to love. We might walk or even run away from conflict and never take the opportunity to repair relationships. Still, we say we are Christian. We are to be powerful in our love of others. Trusting in the Lord, we can fulfill our mandate to be Christian.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus showed his union with those who are poor, who are hungry, and who weep. In saying that they are “blessed,” he pointed them toward heaven. Too often we think of the here an now. It is helpful to be reminded that we long and hope for heaven. Our time on earth, during which we may be hated for doing what is right, is just a station along the way. We may have sorrows now, but we can look forward to blessings in heaven.
With the many responsibilities in our lives, we often forget that Jesus and his disciples took time to rest. To be good at whatever we do, including ministry, we cannot neglect times of rest and renewal. Work will always be there. Part of a life of sacrifice and praise includes taking regular moments to enjoy the peace of God and let the Good Shepherd care for us.
How many of us have felt like the man dwelling in the tomb? Feeling that God has abandoned us, left us alone in our suffering? Yet, in faith, we know that Christ holds us close, heals and strengthens us, and has pity on us. As Pope Francis has said, through the tears of suffering we an see clearer that God comforts and upholds those who suffer. God places caretakers around us. Let us remember that it is in the service of other people that God is able to heal us.
During the anointing at Baptism, the new Christian is told of their status as “a member of Christ who is Priest, Prophet, and King.” We have been anointed to bring the good news of salvation to all, but especially the poor. As you begin another week, consider the ways you may fulfill this Scripture passage. How can you bring sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and release to captives? Sealed with the Spirit, we have a mission to help others see the Lord in their life.
Jesus turns water into wine as the first of the signs that reveal his glory in the Gospel according to John. The signs help us to see Jesus in the fulfillment of the restoration of Jerusalem. We know from the beginning of his ministry that the one who will call his disciples and us to follow him fulfills God’s covenant to Israel. On this initial Sunday in Ordinary Time, we begin to believe anew in him as the disciples began to believe for the first time.