FILIPINO TRADITIONAL ROMAN CATHOLIC: 2nd Sunday in Lent: "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him"

Saturday, March 7, 2009

2nd Sunday in Lent: "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him"

2nd Sunday in Lent
Epistle 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7
Lectio Matthew 17:1-9

My Reflections for the 2nd Sunday in Lent: The Mount Tabor Experience

The Gospel reading for this Sunday narrates about the transfiguration of Jesus in Mt. Tabor as witnessed by Peter, James and John, three leading apostles. The Mount Tabor experience of the Apostles offers us with many lessons for reflections. I personally love this gospel narrative because it evokes so many spiritual nuggets of truth that can be applied to our Lenten observance. The vision of the Apostles with Jesus standing flanked by Moses and Elijah is a confirmation of the messianic mission of Christ. Moses on his discourse to the children of Israel said that the Lord will send a prophet just like him and that to him they should listen. Elijah too was a symbol of the precursor who shall proclaim the coming of the Messiah with the baptism of repentance. On another aspect of this lectio we see how in their fright the apostles were at a loss for words. Just like when confronted with an event so extraordinary and for want of something to say instead proposed that they build tents. How often in our human weakness we think that the Glory of God is comparable to human forms. We can observe this in many ways and even among us Catholics. How often are we so engrossed with visions and apparitions and forgetting that behind these events is the true message of Christ. We cross land and sea to visit an apparition shrine, hoping to see God or to hear the message coming from the Blessed Virgin. Yet we never realized that God is just right nearby, in the eyes of the poor, the beggar, the homeless, the abandoned or the child neglected by parents and elders. But our vision of the beauty of God should not stop in simply looking at it but it should move us to action. What should this action be? It should be active listening. Jesus said blessed are they that listen to the Word of God and obey. Thus while proposing that they build tents, the apostles heard a voice which says: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him." This Lenten season is a season for pilgrimage, as we travel and make sacrifices let us remember that the greatest preparation and reception of God's grace is by listening attentively to the Word of God and matching it with our acts of obedience. Amen.

Prayer:

Lord your love is the source of everything and how ardently our hearts long to be close to Thee. As we behold your glory, the glory of the Son of God, may we be moved to action by keeping this Mount Tabor experience in our hearts, inspired and moved by it may we come closer to Thee in this Lenten Season. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

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A 13 years old boy............. in 1983, but now I am a golden boy, gaining weight and wiser, but younger at heart. I consider myself as a “novus ordo baby” because I was born in the late 60s after the 2nd Vatican Council introduced the novus ordo missae and grew up confronted by the confusions as a result. Like my generation I never saw what the church was like prior to Vatican II, but I am a living witness to the gradual disappearance of religious traditions we hold dear. Young as I was then I could not understand what was going on. But I suffered the sense of loss as I saw how the modernizing influence in the church disfigured the liturgy and clouded the way we believe and practice our faith. But then being a child, powerless, not knowing what it was, and why it happened, I simply drifted into the sea of confusion, too young to understand. With a glimmer of faith in my heart, planted by baptism and confirmation, strengthened by the sound teachings of my parents and grandparents, I sailed into the sea of life, day after day, seeing the changes happen, feeling the sense of abandonment, yet God was merciful to me. In 2005 I discovered the Traditional Latin Mass or commonly known in the post-conciliar period as the Tridentine Mass. I began to love the rite of mass that has nourished my ancestors, the saints and the martyrs. I am eternally grateful to His Holiness Pope John Paul II for recognizing the rightful aspirations of Catholics attached to the ancient forms of the Roman Rite through his apostolic letter ECCLESIA DEI DI AFFLICTA. I am also eternally grateful to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for liberating the Traditional Latin Mass through his apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum. I fully agree with the program of his pontificate regarding the Hermeneutics of Continuity and disdain the hermeneutics of rupture. Today I consider myself a Traditional Roman Catholic attached to the liturgical discipline of 1962 as outlined in the Motu Proprio SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM of his Holiness. I believe that there is only one Roman Rite, the Ordinary and the Extraordinary and that the Mass in whatever form should be celebrated with dignity. My voyage is on. Join me in this quest.

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FILIPINO TRADITIONAL ROMAN CATHOLIC

Saturday, March 7, 2009

2nd Sunday in Lent: "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him"

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The Word Made Flesh

Tu es Petro (You are Peter...)

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