First reading from the Book of Genesis Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18
God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” he replied. Then God said: “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.”
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the LORD’s messenger called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered. “Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger. “Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.” As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.
Again the LORD’s messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said: “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing— all this because you obeyed my command.”
Second reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans Rom 8:31b-34
Brothers and sisters: If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?
Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us, who will condemn? Christ Jesus it is who died—or, rather, was raised— who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY From the Gospel according to Mark Mk 9:2-10
Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.
As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER The Transfiguration of Christ shows us the Christian perspective of suffering. Suffering is not sadomasochism: it is a necessary but transitory passage. The point of arrival to which we are called is luminous like the face of Christ transfigured: in Him is salvation, beatitude, light and the boundless love of God. By revealing His glory in this way, Jesus ensures that the cross, trials, the difficulties with which we struggle, are resolved and overcome in Easter. Thus this Lent, let us also go up the mountain with Jesus! But in what way? With prayer. Let us climb the mountain with prayer: silent prayer, the prayer of the heart, a prayer that always seeks the Lord. Let us pause for some time in reflection a little each day, let us fix our inner gaze on His countenance and allow His light to permeate us and shine in our life. (Angelus, 17 March 2019)
FAUSTI - "This is My Son, the Beloved,, listen to Him!" This is the second time that the Father has spoken. The first He approved Jesus as Son, when He lined up with sinners to be immersed in the Jordan (1:11); now He confirms Him for us as such, while He has just declared the Word of the Cross. After the transfiguration of the Son, irradiation of His Glory, Jesus who goes to the cross and resurrects is the Word in which the Father expresses Himself totally and reveals Himself definitively. That is why He says: "Listen to Him!" His Flesh is the ultimate criterion of spiritual discernment. Mark, unlike the other evangelists, although he knew them, does not recount the apparitions of the Risen One. He ends with the frightened women who hear the announcement to return to Galilee: "There you will see Him, as He said!"(15,7). His Glory is the realization of the whole promise of God, in Him already anticipated and given to all who contemplate Him. Seeing His face is in fact the life of man, who finally reflects before Him the reality of which he is mirror. "Reflecting the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, we are transformed into that same image, from glory to glory, according to the working of the Spirit" (2 Cor 3:18). This is the experience of the Living One to which Mark wants to lead us. "Show me Your face!" The prayer , repeated in the Psalms, expresses the abysmal desire that makes us what we are. The Transfiguration, narrated at the center of Jesus' earthly life, is a figure of that resurrection which His Word is working in the heart of our daily life, in anticipation of the definitive one. It begins in the listening that heals us, is accomplished in the Baptism that unites us to Him, is nourished by His Bread that makes us walk behind Him, and is consummated in the vision of His Face, which is reflected in ours. "When He has been manifested , we shall be like Him , for we shall see Him as He is." (1Jn 3:2). The Transfiguration , not disfiguration - as we fear - is the end point of the universe. The Face of Jesus, the beauty of God, the fulfillment of His plan of salvation, is our true face, in which, for which, in view of which we were made (Col 1:15). This story marks a decisive turning point both in the journey of Jesus, who goes towards Jerusalem, and of the disciple, to whom the Father shows the mystery of the Son. Jesus transfigured is the truth of God and of man. His face as Son is the light of our life, the reality towards which we walk. In Him we taste the Kingdom that has already come with power and we have the anticipation of the aim, the victory over death.
DIAC. GIARLOTTO LODOVICO - Gospel. Six days later, a time that recalls the creation of man in Genesis and the waiting of Moses on Sinai, Jesus takes Peter (the stubborn tempter) with Him, to "justify" the announcement of the passion, James and John (who aspire to the first place in the earthly kingdom of the Messiah Jesus!) and climbs a high mountain. mountain. "And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah (the Law and the Prophets, the Old Testament) conversing with Him." Peter reacted, " ... I will make three huts here, one for you, one for Moses (in the middle, the most important one), one one for Elijah". The transfiguration takes place, in fact, during the feast of the "huts" that commemorates the liberation from the slavery in Egypt (the Jews hoped that in those days the Messiah would reveal Himself to the people).
Peter recognizes in Jesus the Messiah who would have been respectful of the Law (like Moses) and zealous like Elijah (who made kill 450 priests of Baal). This was, in fact, the Messiah awaited by Peter and his companions. While He was still speaking a bright cloud (manifestation of divinity) covered them. And behold, a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, ...". It is the same sentence said at the Baptism of Jesus, confirming a life that overcomes death. Listen to Him, leave out the law and the prophets, Jesus is the only reference. The reaction of the disciples: "... they fell down with their faces to the ground", defeated. He is not the awaited Messiah ,That they had hoped for. "They were seized with great fear": no triumphs, no power, on the contrary, Jesus would have ended up as an evildoer. Jesus encourages them, now that they have understood, and says: "Arise and do not be afraid". He communicates courage to them: do not look for the past, leave the old, trust only in me. He tells them not to speak to anyone about the transfiguration, before the resurrection. The image of Jesus passing through death, living again and acquiring greater power could have been incomprehensible and almost a sign of a hypothetical triumphal attitude of the disciples. triumphal attitude of the disciples. For this reason He invites them to keep silent, to avoid further illusions about the awaited Messiah.
First reading from the Book of Genesis
RispondiEliminaGn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18
God put Abraham to the test.
He called to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he replied.
Then God said:
“Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah.
There you shall offer him up as a holocaust
on a height that I will point out to you.”
When they came to the place of which God had told him,
Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.
Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the LORD’s messenger called to him from heaven,
“Abraham, Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he answered.
“Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger.
“Do not do the least thing to him.
I know now how devoted you are to God,
since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.”
As Abraham looked about,
he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.
So he went and took the ram
and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.
Again the LORD’s messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said:
“I swear by myself, declares the LORD,
that because you acted as you did
in not withholding from me your beloved son,
I will bless you abundantly
and make your descendants as countless
as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore;
your descendants shall take possession
of the gates of their enemies,
and in your descendants all the nations of the earth
shall find blessing—
all this because you obeyed my command.”
Second reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans
Rom 8:31b-34
Brothers and sisters:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son
but handed him over for us all,
how will he not also give us everything else along with him?
Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?
It is God who acquits us, who will condemn?
Christ Jesus it is who died—or, rather, was raised—
who also is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Mark
Mk 9:2-10
Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.
As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
The Transfiguration of Christ shows us the Christian perspective of suffering. Suffering is not sadomasochism: it is a necessary but transitory passage. The point of arrival to which we are called is luminous like the face of Christ transfigured: in Him is salvation, beatitude, light and the boundless love of God. By revealing His glory in this way, Jesus ensures that the cross, trials, the difficulties with which we struggle, are resolved and overcome in Easter. Thus this Lent, let us also go up the mountain with Jesus! But in what way? With prayer. Let us climb the mountain with prayer: silent prayer, the prayer of the heart, a prayer that always seeks the Lord. Let us pause for some time in reflection a little each day, let us fix our inner gaze on His countenance and allow His light to permeate us and shine in our life. (Angelus, 17 March 2019)
FAUSTI - "This is My Son, the Beloved,, listen to Him!" This is the second time that the Father has spoken. The first He approved Jesus as Son, when He lined up with sinners to be immersed in the Jordan (1:11); now He confirms Him for us as such, while He has just declared the Word of the Cross.
RispondiEliminaAfter the transfiguration of the Son, irradiation of His Glory, Jesus who goes to the cross and resurrects is the Word in which the Father expresses Himself totally and reveals Himself definitively.
That is why He says: "Listen to Him!" His Flesh is the ultimate criterion of spiritual discernment.
Mark, unlike the other evangelists, although he knew them, does not recount the apparitions of the Risen One. He ends with the frightened women who hear the announcement to return to Galilee: "There you will see Him, as He said!"(15,7).
His Glory is the realization of the whole promise of God, in Him already anticipated and given to all who contemplate Him. Seeing His face is in fact the life of man, who finally reflects before Him the reality of which he is mirror.
"Reflecting the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, we are transformed into that same image, from glory to glory, according to the working of the Spirit" (2 Cor 3:18).
This is the experience of the Living One to which Mark wants to lead us.
"Show me Your face!" The prayer , repeated in the Psalms, expresses the abysmal desire that makes us what we are.
The Transfiguration, narrated at the center of Jesus' earthly life, is a figure of that resurrection which His Word is working in the heart of our daily life, in anticipation of the definitive one.
It begins in the listening that heals us, is accomplished in the Baptism that unites us to Him, is nourished by His Bread that makes us walk behind Him, and is consummated in the vision of His Face, which is reflected in ours.
"When He has been manifested , we shall be like Him , for we shall see Him as He is." (1Jn 3:2).
The Transfiguration , not disfiguration - as we fear - is the end point of the universe.
The Face of Jesus, the beauty of God, the fulfillment of His plan of salvation, is our true face, in which, for which, in view of which we were made (Col 1:15).
This story marks a decisive turning point both in the journey of Jesus, who goes towards Jerusalem, and of the disciple, to whom the Father shows the mystery of the Son.
Jesus transfigured is the truth of God and of man.
His face as Son is the light of our life, the reality towards which we walk.
In Him we taste the Kingdom that has already come with power and we have the anticipation of the aim, the victory over death.
DIAC. GIARLOTTO LODOVICO - Gospel. Six days later, a time that recalls the creation of man in Genesis and the waiting of Moses on Sinai, Jesus takes Peter (the stubborn tempter) with Him, to "justify" the announcement of the passion,
RispondiEliminaJames and John (who aspire to the first place in the earthly kingdom of the Messiah Jesus!) and climbs a high mountain.
mountain. "And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah (the Law and the Prophets, the Old Testament) conversing with Him." Peter reacted, " ... I will make three huts here, one for you, one for Moses (in the middle, the most important one), one
one for Elijah". The transfiguration takes place, in fact, during the feast of the "huts" that commemorates the liberation from the slavery in Egypt (the Jews hoped that in those days the Messiah would reveal Himself to the people).
Peter recognizes in Jesus the Messiah who would have been respectful of the Law (like Moses) and zealous like Elijah (who made kill 450 priests of Baal). This was, in fact, the Messiah awaited by Peter and his companions.
While He was still speaking a bright cloud (manifestation of divinity) covered them.
And behold, a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, ...". It is the same sentence said at the Baptism of Jesus, confirming a life that
overcomes death. Listen to Him, leave out the law and the prophets, Jesus is the only reference.
The reaction of the disciples: "... they fell down with their faces to the ground", defeated. He is not the awaited Messiah ,That they had hoped for.
"They were seized with great fear": no triumphs, no power, on the contrary, Jesus would have ended up as an evildoer.
Jesus encourages them, now that they have understood, and says: "Arise and do not be afraid". He communicates courage to them:
do not look for the past, leave the old, trust only in me. He tells them not to speak to anyone about the
transfiguration, before the resurrection. The image of Jesus passing through death, living again and acquiring greater power
could have been incomprehensible and almost a sign of a hypothetical triumphal attitude of the disciples.
triumphal attitude of the disciples. For this reason He invites them to keep silent, to avoid further illusions about the awaited Messiah.