Sunday, February 28, is the 2nd Sunday of Lent and the Gospel for this Sunday related the event of the Transfiguration. This is related shortly after Jesus had foretold his passion and death, telling his disciples that he would have to endure great suffering. But then he goes on to tell them that his followers would also have to take up their cross in order to be his disciples.

And then he takes three of his disciples, Peter, James and John and goes up on a mountain to pray and then the disciples witness his Transfiguration. What does this Gospel tell us about our living the Lenten journey this year in 2010? I would suggest that since this Gospel reading comes so close to the beginning of lent it’s purpose just might be to show us what lent is supposed to do in us and for us as individuals and as a community. We are to follow Christ this lent along his paschal journey, along the way of the cross, all the way to another mountain and Calvary. Lent is meant to transform us so that we like St. Paul can say: "I have been crucified with Christ, and the life I live now is not my own; Christ is living in me."

As we know the purpose of lent is to bring Jesus more and more into our consciousness so that we and our daily life will be transfigured. It is our daily life that we seek to transform, not just our lives when we are in church or at prayer. Our daily life is to be transformed more and more by Christ’s grace.

Certainly an important part of our lent is prayer. In prayer Jesus is present to us in a special way and we frequently are conscious of his presence. It is in and through prayer that Jesus manifests himself to us, speaks to our hearts, loves us, becomes a part of our consciousness.

We are told that Jesus took Peter, James and John and went up a mountain precisely to pray. It was in that prayer that Jesus was transfigured. The disciples were so overcome that they wanted to remain on the mountain and build three tabernacles there.

We too sometimes would like to stay on the mountain with Jesus. But we have to come down, as the disciples did, and minister to others. Our experience on the mountain, just like our experience of this lent, must end up helping others. We hope to experience the Lord’s presence this lent and we hope then to be able to share that with others.

The photo posted on this blog is a photo of our pilgrimage group celebrating Mass on Mount Tabor in the Church of the Transfiguration on June 10, 2006. I was celebrant for the Mass. It was a wonderful experience.

To read Fr. Kenneth’s personal blog go to: http://kennethosb.blogspot.com/

I have already written a recent blog on this site for Lent. However, I thought it would be good to again mention that the beginning of lent is coming this Wednesday, February 17. What do you want to accomplish this Lent? Is lent just a time of penance and without any joy?

Perhaps a better first question would be: what do you want God to accomplish in your heart this Lent? After all it is God who is at work within us. We do not accomplish our salvation on our own. That is God’s work. I myself hope that God will help me this Lent to above all "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." I hope that at the end of this Lent God will be more a part of my life and I will be more conformed to the Gospel and living the Gospel in my daily life. That means that, first of all this Lent, I must give up anything that might be taking me away from God, or at least keeping me from growing more in the living of the Gospel. In truth that means, first of all, giving up sin or all that might lead me to sin.

While it would be good if I would lose some weight this Lent, that in itself is not the purpose of Lent. If I were to lose weight but not grow closer to God, nothing would be accomplished. As St. Paul says in his 1st Letter to Corinthians, if I do anything it must be accompanied by love or it is nothing.

Lent is not just a joyless time when we give up things that we normally enjoy. If we give up such things it must somehow help us to grow in love of God and our brothers and sisters or it accomplishes nothing. Of course if I am so attached to something that it has become, as it were, a god for me then I do indeed need to give it up as it is keeping me from the love of God as well as my brothers and sisters. Giving up something, in other words, can be a good way of learning to say "no" to ourselves, of learning to say "no" to sin.

In the end Lent is a time of looking forward to the joy of Easter. How can we rise with Christ unless we have learned to die with him? How can we rise with Christ unless we have learned to love him? To me, that above all, is what I am trying to accomplish this Lent. I can of course only do that with God’s help so I hope that God will accomplish that within me this Lent. Whether I give up some food or drink or other pleasure, or spend more time in prayer, or read a holy book, or give alms, I want to grow in Christ. Hopefully by Easter I can say a little more truthfully with St. Paul – "I have been crucified with Christ, and it no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me."

God bless you this Lent, 2010

To read my personal blog click here.

If we went to a Catholic Church this past Sunday, January 31, the 4th Sunday of ordinary time, we heard in the 2nd reading, St. Paul’s beautiful passage on love. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, after speaking in chapter 12 of the gifts that we all receive from the Holy Spirit, today in chapter 13 he encourages us to strive eagerly for the greatest of spiritual gifts. Then he says: "But I will show you a still more excellent way."

The more excellent way that St. Paul speaks of is of course LOVE. I remember in one of my early years in the seminary at Conception our religion teacher, I believe it was Father Bede Scholz, asked us to memorize this chapter where St. Paul speaks so eloquently of love.

The Christian community at Corinth evidently had a number of divisions in it. Their hierarchy of values tended to foster factiousness. Paul points out that whether a person has the gift of prophecy, or of tongues or whatever gift, these are nothing without love. Even almsgiving and martyrdom are nothing without love. As Paul points out, prohecies, tongues, knowledge, have limits, but love does not. Love perfects knowledge. Paul tells them that even the clearest knowledge is like a shadow compared to love. He urges the Corinthians to put aside childish ways and pursue love as the greatest wisdom. Only love lasts.

There are other spiritual gifts, but love is the one essential gift that characterizes the community worthy of the name Christian. Love is the criterion for judging the relative value of all other gifts, since all gifts are given for the sake of building up the community.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests…" Love will prompt us to forgive, it will teach us to hope. Paul is saying that the divisions in Corinth would not exist if the community had been mindful of the primacy of love.

What about us? Does love exist in our community, in our family, in our world? We can only look at ourselves and ask whether love is the most important in my life.

I would suggest that each of us read again that second reading from last Sunday’s Mass. (I Cor. 12:31-13:13)