Second Sunday of Lent
The Mountain Experience - A Face Transformed
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Greeting (See Second Reading)
When our Saviour Christ Jesus appeared,
He abolished death
and proclaimed the Good News
of life and immortality.
May his grace and light be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
- The Mountain Experience
There are moments in one’s life when we see difficulties ahead of us, especially when facing important decisions. Jesus saw ahead of him a growing opposition from the religious leaders of the people: they would kill him if he proceeded with his mission. Yet he would carry out that task, and so he went up the mountain to pray that the Father would give him courage. In the vision of the transfiguration, he saw how he would rise from the dead and succeed. We pray with our Risen Lord among us that we too may see his light, and by his strength make the right decisions.
- A Face Transformed
For us, Lent is the privileged season of change, of transformation, of transfiguration. Our complacent and guilty faces have to be changed into faces of joy, love, and service. The face of our world is to be changed from injustice into integrity, from hatred into kindness and friendship. We are afraid of change, especially at the cost of ourselves. Today, Jesus shows us the way. He saw suffering and death waiting for him, and so his face and heart were sad. But then the Father made Jesus’ face radiant, for he would find life and resurrection, and his face became radiant with joy and glory. If we follow Jesus and let him transform us, our faces will become radiant too.
Penitential Act
- The Mountain Experience
We have at times lacked the courage
to carry out our task as Christians
and we now beg the Lord to forgive us.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, radiant with the Father’s glory,
let your light shine on us:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, Beloved Son of the Father,
confirm us in the Father’s love:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, the Father’s favor rests on you;
it is wonderful for us to be with you:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us our weaknesses and sins.
Unite us more deeply with you
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
- A Face Transformed
As sinners, let us ask the Lord
to let the face of his forgiveness shine on us.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, on our sad faces,
on our faces without love,
on our indifferent and hard faces,
let the light of your face shine:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Lord Jesus Christ, on our tired faces,
on our faces of fear,
on our discouraged faces,
Let the light of your face shine:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus,
let the light of your face shine on ours
and we will reflect your love
on suffering faces, on lonely faces,
on despairing faces:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us our emptiness and cowardice.
Change us by your grace
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray
that the light of Christ may shine on us
(pause)
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
it is wonderful for us to be here
in the presence of your beloved Son.
Let his radiant face give us light and peace.
Do not allow sin to disfigure us further
nor divide our communities.
May the light of his transfigured face
shine on all of us and give us courage,
that we too may become lights to one another,
until we may enter your everlasting light.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading
Leave Your Security!: God demands a radical change from Abraham. He is called, when still a pagan, to leave his security on a pilgrimage of faith and hope to a promised land that will be given not to him but to the new people to be born from him.
The LORD said to Abram:
“Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk
and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.
“I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you
and curse those who curse you.
All the communities of the earth
shall find blessing in you.”
Abram went as the LORD directed him.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (22) Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD, the earth is full.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Second Reading
God Calls Us to the Life of the Gospel: God calls us to accept and spread the Gospel of Jesus and to suffer for it. If we suffer with Jesus, we shall live with him.
Beloved:
Bear your share of hardship for the gospel
with the strength that comes from God.
He saved us and called us to a holy life,
not according to our works
but according to his own design
and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made manifest
through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,
who destroyed death and brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel.
Alleluia Verse
Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!
From the shining cloud the Father’s voice is heard:
This is my beloved Son, hear him.
Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!
Gospel
Stand Up, Do Not Be Afraid: The brief glimpse of his future glory strengthens Jesus on his road through suffering and death to resurrection. At the same time Jesus strengthens the faith and hope of his disciples and of us on the road of our own transformation in Christ.
Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother,
and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them;
his face shone like the sun
and his clothes became white as light.
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them,
conversing with him.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Lord, it is good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make three tents here,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, behold,
a bright cloud cast a shadow over them,
then from the cloud came a voice that said,
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;
listen to him.”
When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate
and were very much afraid.
But Jesus came and touched them, saying,
“Rise, and do not be afraid.”
And when the disciples raised their eyes,
they saw no one else but Jesus alone.
As they were coming down from the mountain,
Jesus charged them,
“Do not tell the vision to anyone
until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Prayers of the Faithful
Let us pray to our Lord Jesus Christ that his light may shine on all God’s people and on the whole world. Let us say: R/ Lord, let your light shine on us.
– Lord, light up the Church with your radiant presence in its love and acceptance of all peoples and cultures, of the poor and the rich, of the strong and the weak, we pray you, Lord: R/ Lord, let your light shine on us.
– Lord, inspire with your radiant light the leaders of nations, economists and politicians, that they may bring justice and peace to their people, we pray: R/ Lord, let your light shine on us.
– Lord, let your radiant face shine on all sinners, on all those who suffer, on those who cannot love, to give them hope and courage, we pray: R/ Lord, let your light shine on us.
– Lord, let your face radiate joy on those who are dying and on all the dead who were dear to us. Welcome them into the happiness of your home, we pray: R/ Lord, let your light shine on us.
– Lord, light up with your presence our faces here in this community, that we may keep growing in your life and love and reflect your light on all who meet us, we pray: R/ Lord, let your light shine on us.
Lord Jesus, it is good that you are here with us. Stay with us always, now and for ever. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord God, our Father,
your apostles discovered that Jesus,
so much like them,
was your own beloved Son.
May we too see beyond this bread
and recognize your Son here in our midst.
As this bread and wine are changed
to become Jesus, our food and drink of life,
let us become to those around us
bread of strength and a drink of joy
and reveal to them a bit of the face of Christ,
our Lord for ever and ever. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
In our gratitude to the Father, let us ask him also that the grace of this Eucharist may shine on us in the days to come and help us to accept the change of conversion.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
In the name of Jesus the Lord
we pray to our Father in heaven
to give to us and to everyone
the food and the courage they need. R/ Our Father...
Deliver Us
Deliver us Lord, from every evil
and grant us peace in our day.
Open our eyes to our shortcomings
and wake us up from our self-complacency,
that we may follow your Son without fear
on the way to you and to all in need.
May we thus hasten the coming in glory
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus,
the beloved Son of the Father in heaven,
who had to suffer and die
before he could rise in glory.
Happy are we to be invited
to listen to him
and to eat his bread of life and strength.
R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
God our Father
you have brightened our lives
with a glimpse of the light of Christ,
but we cannot cling to this vision.
In our darkness and trials,
may he give us the courage
to listen to his voice
and to carry out your plans.
Keep us firm in the hope
that everything has meaning
and that no pain is suffered in vain
when we become like Jesus,
your Son and our Lord for ever. R/ Amen.
Blessing
The transfiguration of Jesus
is to us a model and a sign of hope.
The man Jesus was really the Lord Jesus.
His true and deepest self showed for a brief moment.
What we are meant to be in our deepest selves
will become apparent
if we let Jesus change us and become with him
people who live for others.
May God give you this courage and bless you:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go in peace
and become new in Christ. R/ Thanks be to God.
REFLECTIONS
Matthew 17:1-9
Listen to Him
In Matthew’s Gospel, when Jesus does or says something important, he goes up on a mountain: The Last Temptation takes place on the Mount (Mt 4:8); the beatitudes are spoken on the Mount (Mt 5:1); he multiplied the loaves on the Mount (Mt 15:29) and, at the end of the Gospel, when the disciples encounter the risen Christ and are sent into the world, they were “on the mountain that had been indicated to them” (Mt 27:16).
In the Old Testament, mountains were sites of encounter with God. Moses had the manifestation of God and received the Law on Mount Sinai. Matthew, the evangelist, aims to present Jesus as the new Moses, who delivers the new law to the new people, represented by the three disciples.
The shining face and bright robes also often recur in the Bible. The Lord is “covered with majesty and splendour, wrapped in light as with a garment,” says the Psalmist (Ps 104:1-2). The luminous cloud that enveloped the people was a sign of God’s presence among his people while the Israelites were in exodus through the desert. When Moses received the law, a cloud enveloped the mountain. He also came down with a shining face. Cloud and luminous face are, therefore, a reflection of God’s presence.
Using these images, Matthew says that Peter, James, and John have been introduced to the world of God, which made them understand the true identity of the Master and the destination of his journey. He would not be the glorious messiah they expected but a Messiah who would be opposed, persecuted and killed.
In the previous chapter, to the question: “Who do you say that the Son of Man is?” Peter represented the Apostles and voiced their conviction that Jesus is the long-awaited messiah. Now, in the transfiguration scene, the voice from the sky attests to the disciples’ conviction: that Jesus is the beloved Son, in whom God is well pleased. The voice adds a command: “Listen to him.”
In the Bible, the word “to listen” means “to obey” (Éx 6:12; Mt 18:15-16). The Father’s recommendation to Peter, James, and John, and through them, to all the disciples, is to obey - “to put into practice” what Jesus teaches. It is the invitation to focus one’s life on the proposal of the beatitude.
Moses was the one who gave the Law to his people, and Elijah was considered the first of the prophets. For the Israelites, these two characters represented the Holy Scriptures. The manifestation of the face of God is understood only through the Scriptures. On Easter day, to clarify the meaning of his death and resurrection to his disciples, Jesus will resort to the Old Testament: “Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them everything in the Scriptures concerning himself” (Lk 24:27).
Without Jesus, the Old Testament is incomprehensible, and without the Old Testament, Jesus remains a mystery.