Second Sunday B of Lent Mk 9,2-19

Lent and our transformation (Mark 9: 9-10)
Lent liturgical period – a time of spiritual growth and progress.

It is clear to each of us that the fish is made for swimming. The bird is made for flying, and its place should not be in a cage; it should fly. Nightingale is made for singing, and we rightly expect it from him. And the man? Man is created for love. We are Christians – and do we love them?
We state: We are weak. We often feel and realize inherited sin and our personal sins. Lent is the time of “grace.” “God is love” (1 Johan 4: 8), and this God of ours at this time of Lent reminds us of what He wants from us, for what and how we are to use the preparation for the Passover feasts, the event of his resurrection.

Let’s think about the words of the evangelist St. Mark, when “Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and brought them up into a high mountain into solitude” and “there he was transformed before them” (Mark 9: 2). What makes these words relevant to us today? Jesus takes with him specific apostles, and he does not take with him all twelve. Mount Tabor is for the selected ones. The apostles did not change in the mountain, but Jesus and the event of Jesus’ transformation probably lasted a short time. The voice of God the Father, “This is my beloved Son, hear him” (Mark 9: 7), does not call on the apostles to be transformed, but only on obedience to Jesus. Jesus did not change twice before these three and before anyone else. Elijah and Moses did not speak to the apostle’s Peter, James, and John, only to Jesus.
Evangelist St. Marek was not present at the event of the transformation. We know that he heard about her from the story of St. Peter, whom he accompanied during the proclamation of the Gospel. As he writes the gospel, he writes it from the Holy Spirit’s prompting, and therefore the words of what happened next are essential: They memorized the word and asked each other what it means to “rise from the dead” (Mk 9: 9-10).
They are about the message of the path to our salvation. We must know how to orient ourselves correctly at the crossroads of life, that we do not lose the right direction and reach our destination safely.
Jesus rose from the dead, as he had predicted. The Holy Spirit descended on the apostles, as Jesus had promised. The situation has changed. The moment of transformation from Mount Tabor came true. Peter, James, and John became the pillars of the Church. They first changed. The feared disciples of Mount Tabor became martyrs for Christ.

Lent is a call from God the Father to listen to His Beloved Son. Lent is no longer just for the elect. Jesus died for all, and Jesus’ resurrection is the hope for all people. Lent is a liturgical time that has its justification and goal, and each of us instructed, challenged, personally engaged should give an appropriate answer.
Moses and Elijah fulfilled their mission in their time and are an encouragement to us. Likewise, Abraham’s faithfulness to God’s voice, when he was to sacrifice his only son Isaac, is a challenge to truly listen to God’s word and fulfill God’s will. Jesus himself surrendered for all of us (cf. Rom 8:32) and intercedes with the Father. Lent is a time to continue to do the will of God, which was not only believed by the participants in the event on Mount Tabor, but we also have our mission to believe, to realize, and thus to deserve the kingdom of God. It is necessary to use the time of fasting and fulfill the will of God.

We must not destroy our Christianity. When we are addressed and called by the Church to do acts of repentance, prayer, alms, and all to do it out of inner conviction, it is a serious matter. When a student can listen to lectures, the study only to obtain a diploma, graduation certificate, or apprenticeship, when an athlete trains hard, to perform on the podium and receive passing prizes, or when an artist takes his tools over and over again to create the work that, at least he hopes, will make him survive for several years even after his death, the more the Christian Catholic should realize that the challenge of Lent cannot be underestimated. We believe in eternal life. We believe that God is a just Judge who will reward the good and punish the bad. The event of the transformation of the Lord on Mount Tabor is current until the end of time. At the time of Lent, it is a call for spiritual transformation, spiritual growth, advancement so that we deserve to participate in God’s kingdom where they “look on his face” (Rev. 22: 4), and it will not take a limited time as on Mount Tabor, but for all eternity.
The path of faith is not easy. Faith demands sacrifice. In Jesus’ words, “Whoever wants to follow me, let him deny himself” (Lk 9:23), it is necessary to see our generous acceptance of God’s will that God will not disappoint us in his promises. Peter, James, and John did not understand everything when they descended the mountain. However, they felt great on the mountain because Peter wanted to build three stalls, but only after the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, after the fulfillment of Jesus’ predictions about his torture, death, and resurrection. They understood the words “rise from the dead” (Mk 9:10)

This Sunday is not to be a break for us on our difficult journey in the faith of Lent. Vice versa. The passage of the gospel of transformation is for us a flash of light in the darkness of the world of unbelief; it is a drop true joy when in the world we forget about repentance, fasting, the correction of life; it is a given a hand from the Church, which helps us to get up, if we find ourselves in the dust of the path of our life, sin, or when we slow down, lose our breath, doubt the need to maintain reasonable and correct pace during fasting.

Do you ever feel that discipline is about you? The man in years remembers how, three years ago, when this gospel was being read, he said to himself, “It concerns me. I’m not in the church by any chance. I didn’t want to get up in the morning and go to church. I’m here for peace from a woman. ” And what did you realize? “I live in the dark. I’m a man in my prime, I’m still healthy, I’m doing well in business, but everything around me that made me happy, what made me happy, why I lived, has already lost its luster, value… Even if my wife would do it even if I he told her, she didn’t believe I had trampled on conjugal love. The daughter was having an abortion, which only our parents, she, and her ex-boyfriend know. The son had to get married and is now in divorce proceedings. I rob, and I don’t pay for those who work for me. Is it possible to live like this and still talk? Am I a Christian Catholic? ” And then the preacher said: “Do you not feel that Jesus is taking us into silence, solitude, to show us his love? To prepare us for something really worth living for? This church is our ascent to the mountain. We will experience the transformation of our interior. Let’s open ourselves to God. Believe in Christ. We, too, should see Jesus as Moses and Elijah and as Peter, James, and John. We don’t need that much. Take a step to God. How? In what? Let us think today after Holy Mass, at home, under the cross, in the afternoon on the way of the cross. “
“Today I know,” the man recalls, “that this was the beginning of my new, true life as a Catholic Christian. Today I am happy; today, I have peace of mind, today I can look everyone in the eye, today I am a believer… “And what about us? Jesus is also telling us today. Not just the neighbor, the neighbor next door, not these walls to waste time. Yes, Jesus speaks of me, us, transformation, return to him, God, change of mind, attitudes, relationships, opinions. Yes, life change towards him.

Who reaches for the dead fish? Who will prefer the singing of a nightingale from a recording to a real experience in nature? And the man? A Christian? Yes? Let us apologize for the absence of love for God, our neighbor, and ourselves. Let’s ask for the strength to start again, to persevere. Thank God for speaking to me, that He wants me to see Him face to face one day. Mount Tabor is today this church. The event that Peter, James, and John survived is now this moment. Christ has already risen from the dead.