A Path with Shadows and Lights

March 13, 2nd Sunday of Lent
Genesis 15:5-12,17-18, Philippians 3:17-4:1, Luke 9:28-36

God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants. He promised him several descendants and land in possession. The promise of a large family is inconsistent with Abraham's reality, as he has no children and his wife is sterile and elderly. As a result, fulfilling this commitment is physically impossible. As a result, Abram's skepticism is fair. Then he prays to God for a sign, which God grants him. Abraham, on the other hand, believes in God and his promise. God, who has always been loyal, keeps his promise by giving him Isaac from his barren and aged wife.

God also fulfills the promise to provide him land in possession for his descendants. Abraham's descendants, transformed into a mighty nation, will be the ones who take ownership of and inhabit the country.

Abraham is distinguished by his confidence in God and his promises. Regardless of how difficult he perceived fulfilling God's promise, he trusted completely. We, too, have felt driven, in the middle of our Christian journey's ups and downs, to place our trust in God, who keeps his promises because He is forever faithful.

St. Paul asks his Philippi community to live by their status as "citizens of heaven." That is, to live with our gaze fixed on the goal: heaven, which represents God Himself. With this appeal, St. Paul is not encouraging his congregation to neglect daily worries since he had to labor hard to meet their needs. Rather than that, it seeks to reform a materialistic way of life concentrated only on the earthly, as if existence were nothing more than a collection of worldly necessities.

Rapid materialism is growing in our modern technological environment, believing that consumer things and services are the most significant sources of happiness in life. This is one of the generation's most outstanding issues. Most of our culture lives as if God does not exist or if everything ends in death. God is real and walks beside us. And it assures us of a beautiful and purposeful existence that begins here and now and will one day reach its zenith.

Let us spend our daily lives in a friendly and harmonious relationship with God, our brothers and sisters, and with nature, with our eyes fixed on the goal: paradise, which we have already tasted here on earth.

Jesus urges us to pray, watch, and listen on the second Sunday of Lent. That is why it is critical for each of us to embrace God the Father's invitation to direct our sight and listen to his Son, Jesus Christ. Because it is only in the person and words of Jesus that we can discover the peace and strength necessary to confront our daily and historical problems. Like the Apostle Peter, we frequently desire to remain in the tranquility of Tabor, where we are performing admirably. That is, we strive to live a Christian life free of commitment, a faith that absolves us of duty through reality modification.

We continue to encounter Jesus crucified in each of history's Crucified, and we cannot remain oblivious to this fact. On the other hand, authentic faith enables us to contact Jesus in personal and communal prayer and alerts us to Jesus. He suffers alongside his people and needs our assistance and company.

With the stillness of our hearts praying as our eyes open set on the right goal while listening attentively to the voice of God, we will be renewed in our struggle to have a more human and fraternal world.

In the society that I am living in now, do I go to the peripheries to face the real situations of life rather than enjoy the stillness and comfort of Mouth Tabor?

Lord, in my dark times, may I have a sound vision of a better future, or else I may falter.