Seeing Beyond

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today exhort us to explore deeper in our faith to contemplate deeper messages in the events of our life. 

Seeing Deeper Truths

The reading from the Book of Genesis is the response of Abraham to the command to sacrifice Isaac.

* [22:1–19] The divine demand that Abraham sacrifice to God the son of promise is the greatest of his trials; after the successful completion of the test, he has only to buy a burial site for Sarah and find a wife for Isaac. The story is widely recognized as a literary masterpiece, depicting in a few lines God as the absolute Lord, inscrutable yet ultimately gracious, and Abraham, acting in moral grandeur as the great ancestor of Israel. Abraham speaks simply, with none of the wordy evasions of chaps. 13 and 21. The style is laconic; motivations and thoughts are not explained, and the reader cannot but wonder at the scene. In vv. 15–18, the angel repeats the seventh and climactic promise. Moriah: the mountain is not given a precise geographical location here, though 2 Chr 3:1 identifies Moriah as the mountain of Jerusalem where Solomon built the Temple; Abraham is thus the first to worship there. The word “Moriah” is a play on the verb “to see” (Heb. ra’ah); the wordplay is continued in v. 8, “God will provide (lit., “see”)” and in v. 14, Yahweh-yireh, meaning “the Lord will see/provide.” (Genesis, CHAPTER 22 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 116 is a thanksgiving for Recovery from Illness.

* [Psalm 116] A thanksgiving in which the psalmist responds to divine rescue from mortal danger (Ps 116:3–4) and from near despair (Ps 116:10–11) with vows and Temple sacrifices (Ps 116:13–14, 17–19). The Greek and Latin versions divide the Psalm into two parts: Ps 116:1–9 and Ps 116:10–19, corresponding to its two major divisions. (Psalms, PSALM 116 | USCCB, n.d.)

The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans proclaims God’s Love in Christ Jesus.

* [8:31–39] The all-conquering power of God’s love has overcome every obstacle to Christians’ salvation and every threat to separate them from God. That power manifested itself fully when God’s own Son was delivered up to death for their salvation. Through him Christians can overcome all their afflictions and trials. (Romans, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Mark is a description of the Transfiguration.

* [9:2–8] Mark and Mt 17:1 place the transfiguration of Jesus six days after the first prediction of his passion and death and his instruction to the disciples on the doctrine of the cross; Lk 9:28 has “about eight days.” Thus the transfiguration counterbalances the prediction of the passion by affording certain of the disciples insight into the divine glory that Jesus possessed. His glory will overcome his death and that of his disciples; cf. 2 Cor 3:18; 2 Pt 1:16–19. The heavenly voice (Mk 9:7) prepares the disciples to understand that in the divine plan Jesus must die ignominiously before his messianic glory is made manifest; cf. Lk 24:25–27. See further the note on Mt 17:1–8.

* [9:5] Moses and Elijah represent, respectively, law and prophecy in the Old Testament and are linked to Mount Sinai; cf. Ex 19:16–20:17; 1 Kgs 19:2, 8–14. They now appear with Jesus as witnesses to the fulfillment of the law and the prophets taking place in the person of Jesus as he appears in glory.

* [9:7] A cloud came, casting a shadow over them: even the disciples enter into the mystery of his glorification. In the Old Testament the cloud covered the meeting tent, indicating the Lord’s presence in the midst of his people (Ex 40:34–35) and came to rest upon the temple in Jerusalem at the time of its dedication (1 Kgs 8:10).

* [9:9–13] At the transfiguration of Jesus his disciples had seen Elijah. They were perplexed because, according to the rabbinical interpretation of Mal 3:23–24, Elijah was to come first. Jesus’ response shows that Elijah has come, in the person of John the Baptist, to prepare for the day of the Lord. Jesus must suffer greatly and be treated with contempt (Mk 9:12) like the Baptist (Mk 9:13); cf. Mk 6:17–29. (Mark, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB, n.d.)

Vivian Amu asks when have we brought our whole self in prayer, and said, “Here I am?” When have we as Children of God had the courage to give up what we hold most dear and just trust God’s voice?

Here I am Lord! You have asked me to have the courage to give up everything for the sake of your love. Help me do so with courage. Here I am Lord! I have nothing left but your love. Let that be enough for me. Help me feel and know so with courage. Here I am Lord! You have asked me to see as you see, hear as you hear, and recognize your voice. Lord, it is not easy, but help me do so.

Merciful and loving God, I am here. I will listen to your voice. Strengthen my faith. Amen (Amu, 2024)

Don Schwager quotes “The transfiguration of Jesus,” by Jerome (347-420 AD).

"Do you wish to see the transfiguration of Jesus? Behold with me the Jesus of the Gospels. Let him be simply apprehended. There he is beheld both 'according to the flesh' and at the same time in his true divinity. He is beheld in the form of God according to our capacity for knowledge. This is how he was beheld by those who went up upon the lofty mountain to be apart with him. Meanwhile those who do not go up the mountain can still behold his works and hear his words, which are uplifting. It is before those who go up that Jesus is transfigured, and not to those below. When he is transfigured, his face shines as the sun, that he may be manifested to the children of light, who have put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (Romans 13:12). They are no longer the children of darkness or night but have become the children of day. They walk honestly as in the day. Being manifested, he will shine to them not simply as the sun but as he is demonstrated to be, the sun of righteousness." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 12.37.10) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 9:2-10 comments that in his transfiguration, Jesus was giving his disciples a gift to sustain them for the day of his crucifixion. On that day there would not be three tents but three crosses. Jesus would not stand between Moses and Elijah; he would hang between “two revolutionaries” (Mark 15:27). On that day they would abandon their teacher and Lord to his cruel end. But Jesus’ transfiguration not only helped the disciples during his crucifixion. Even more, it foreshadowed an even greater revelation of his divinity: the resurrection!

Jesus’ glory was just as present on the cross as it was on the mountaintop. The disciples just couldn’t see it. They needed a heavenly perspective—and so do we. That’s why Jesus invites us to go up the mountain every day for a glimpse of his glory: to see Jesus, the Son of God, who will be with us always, to the end of time.

So whether you’re at Mass or confined to your bed, look to Jesus today. Ask him to open your eyes. Let him strengthen your faith and fill you with hope!

“Jesus, help me to see your glory.” (Meditation on Mark 9:2-10, n.d.)

Jack Mahoney SJ, Emeritus Professor of Moral and Social Theology in the University of London, asks what can we learn from this event, as Peter, James and John did, about the Christ towards whom we journey throughout Lent?

When we read in the Gospel about Jesus conversing with someone we tend to think that he is addressing them, but it could imply that they are also speaking to him. The description given by Luke alone (9:31) of Jesus’s conversation with Moses and Elijah fills out what seems to have been only implicit in the other gospel accounts of the event (Mk 9:4; Mt 17:3): that these two major figures from the Old Testament and the history of Israel were confirming Jesus’s own conclusions about his future and were enlightening him on what was going to happen in Jerusalem, with its significance for him and for the people of Israel he was about to save. (Mahoney, 2010)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the concern of Abraham for his son as they go up the mountain in the Genesis account of the sacrifice or binding of Isaac. He notes how the ram, substituting for Isaac, resonates with Jesus, Son of God, substituting for us on the Cross. Friar Jude notes the representation of Law and the Prophets in the presence of Moses and Elijah.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, discusses attending a meeting in Washington, D.C. with nineteen representatives of various denominations. We wrote a statement that listed six different issues where we felt what Jesus teaches and what our government was doing are almost exact opposites. The issues revolved around racism, nationalism, classism that always favors the rich and the powerful, the terrible lack of truth in government, and our constant idealizing of money, war, and power. On every issue, the teaching of Jesus is in direct contradiction to the way our government has often operated.

Whenever religion gets into the business of the “buying and selling” of God, or of requiring sacrifices to earn God’s love, we have a problem. When Jesus said, “Get these birds out of here,” it’s a clue to the source of Jesus’ anger. The ordinary people had to sacrifice to be right with the priesthood and the temple. They sacrificed oxen and sheep, but the very poor were allowed to offer doves. Mary and Joseph had to give doves when they brought the infant Jesus to the temple (Luke 2:22–24). Jesus knows that his religion is not taking care of the poor; in fact, it’s stealing from the poor, and making them give even the little they have to feel they are right with God.

Jesus is angry about this, and many use this passage to justify violence because Jesus appears pretty violent here. But note that he’s violent toward things, not toward people. He’s liberating animals and trying to liberate the poor from their oppression. Of course, the religious leaders want to protect the building, the temple, but Jesus is redefining the temple. He identifies his body as the temple (John 2:21). The new temple is the human person; we are the body of Christ.

We see Jesus making this great revolution, transforming religion from a concern for sacrifice to earn God’s love to trust through which we know God’s love. And where does that trust happen? In the human heart. (Rohr, 2024)

We invoke the Holy Spirit as our guide to the luminous and transcendent experiences of the Divine that challenge and encourage us on our journey.

References

Amu, V. (2024, February 25). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved February 25, 2024, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/022524.html 

Genesis, CHAPTER 22 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 25, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/22?1 

Mahoney, J. (2010, February 24). The Transfiguration of Jesus. Thinking Faith. Retrieved February 25, 2024, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20100224_1.htm 

Mark, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 25, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/9?2 

Meditation on Mark 9:2-10. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved February 25, 2024, from https://wau.org/meditations/2024/02/25/901698/ 

Psalms, PSALM 116 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 25, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/116?10 

Rohr, R. (2024, February 25). Jesus' Anger — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 25, 2024, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/jesus-anger/ 

Romans, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 25, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/8?31 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 25, 2024, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2024&date=feb25 

Obedience and Healing

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us with the model of obedience of Abraham and console us as we reflect on healing by the Holy Spirit.

Healing Moments

The reading from the Book of Genesis details the response of  Abraham to  the command to sacrifice Isaac.

* [22:1–19] The divine demand that Abraham sacrifice to God the son of promise is the greatest of his trials; after the successful completion of the test, he has only to buy a burial site for Sarah and find a wife for Isaac. The story is widely recognized as a literary masterpiece, depicting in a few lines God as the absolute Lord, inscrutable yet ultimately gracious, and Abraham, acting in moral grandeur as the great ancestor of Israel. Abraham speaks simply, with none of the wordy evasions of chaps. 13 and 21. The style is laconic; motivations and thoughts are not explained, and the reader cannot but wonder at the scene. In vv. 15–18, the angel repeats the seventh and climactic promise. Moriah: the mountain is not given a precise geographical location here, though 2 Chr 3:1 identifies Moriah as the mountain of Jerusalem where Solomon built the Temple; Abraham is thus the first to worship there. The word “Moriah” is a play on the verb “to see” (Heb. ra’ah); the wordplay is continued in v. 8, “God will provide (lit., “see”)” and in v. 14, Yahweh-yireh, meaning “the Lord will see/provide.” (Genesis, CHAPTER 22, n.d.)

Psalm 115 declares the impotence of idols and the Greatness of God

* [Psalm 115] A response to the enemy taunt, “Where is your God?” This hymn to the glory of Israel’s God (Ps 115:1–3) ridicules the lifeless idols of the nations (Ps 115:4–8), expresses in a litany the trust of the various classes of the people in God (Ps 115:9–11), invokes God’s blessing on them as they invoke the divine name (Ps 115:12–15), and concludes as it began with praise of God. Ps 135:15–18 similarly mocks the Gentile gods and has a similar litany and hymn (Ps 135:19–21). (Psalms, PSALM 115, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus heals a paralytic.

* [9:8] Who had given such authority to human beings: a significant difference from Mk 2:12 (“They…glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this’”). Matthew’s extension to human beings of the authority to forgive sins points to the belief that such authority was being claimed by Matthew’s church. (Matthew, CHAPTER 9, n.d.)

Larry Gillick, S.J. comments that the man could have become quite comfortable with his stretcher-life and paralyzed by his illness, physical or spiritual, but his real healing was rising and living beyond what the Scribes or the crowds expected.

Jesus has authority not only to forgive sin, which drives the Scribes crazy, because they want, only, the authority to allow people to be back into the pure-culture, but His authority urges those forgiven to reveal God’s Love to be lived as healingers themselves. So that authority of Jesus is shared with those of us who have experienced a past which has been confining, debilitating and stretcherful. The real miracle, for us, is that we can accept the healing from our deeds, attitudes and memories which can lay us low and we can rise and live beyond. The rising is not so much the healing as the going home and bringing new life. (Gillick, 2023)

Don Schwager quotes “Healing of soul and body,” by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD).

"Now in the narrative of the paralytic a number of people are brought forward for healing. Jesus' words of healing are worthy of reflection. The paralytic is not told, 'Be healed.' He is not told, 'Rise and walk.' But he is told, 'Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven you.' The paralytic is a descendant of the original man, Adam. In one person, Christ, all the sins of Adam are forgiven. In this case the person to be healed is brought forward by ministering angels. In this case, too, he is called a son, because he is God's first work. The sins of his soul are forgiven him, and pardon of the first transgression is granted. We do not believe the paralytic committed any sin [that resulted in his illness], especially since the Lord said elsewhere that blindness from birth had not been contracted from someone's sin or that of his parents" [John 9:1-3]. (excerpt from commentary ON MATTHEW 8.5) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Genesis 22:1-19 comments that Abraham’s trusting obedience is a model for us. Sometimes we have to offer our own “Isaac” to God. He may ask us to let go of something or someone we dearly love: a child moving away, perhaps, or a job, a home, or a cherished dream. But he also promises to provide for us, just as he provided for Abraham.

God asks for your whole life, not because he is selfish, but because he wants you to find the meaning and comfort that come only from him. Look back over your journey with God. Hasn’t he provided for you? Hasn’t he shown you his faithful love? Hasn’t he proved himself worthy to be trusted with your “Isaacs”?

Don’t be afraid to surrender your life to your loving Father. He will provide.

“Lord, I trust you. I put everything I am and have into your hands.” (Meditation on Genesis 22:1-19, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler notes the different descriptions of Abraham and Isaac as “sacrifice” in Christian translations and “binding” in Jewish texts. The emphasis of the sacrifice of Isaac is obedience that Abraham has accepted over time during the events of his life. Friar Jude explores Jesus' question about the ease of healing a broken limb compared to a heart broken by sin.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that Jesus consistently stands with the excluded: outsiders, sinners, and poor people. That is his place of freedom from every local culture, his unique way of critiquing all self-serving culture, and his way of standing in union with the suffering of the world—all at the same time. That is his form of world healing.

I am sure you see how Jesus’ insight has led us to our emphasis on contemplation and spiritual conversion here at the CAC, over pure and simple activism. If universal kinship, solidarity, communion with God, with ourselves, and with the rest of the world, is daily experienced and lived, we do have a very grounded plan and runway for peacemaking, justice work, social reform, civil and human rights—but now from a very positive place, where “I and the Father are one” [John 10:30]. 

This demands our own ongoing transformation, our changing places, and even a new identity, as Jesus shows in his great self-emptying (Philippians 2:6–7). He stood in solidarity with the problem itself, hardly ever with specific answers for people’s problems. This was his strategy and therefore it is ours. It feels like weakness, but it finally changes things in very creative, patient, and humble ways. Such solidarity is learned and expressed in two special places—contemplation and actions of communion with human suffering.  

This is our name and our task, and it comes from watching Jesus. (Rohr, 2023)

We reflect on the meaning to our journey of being people of faith and solidarity with the people we encounter who are struggling with the events of life. 

References

Genesis, CHAPTER 22. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/22?1 

Gillick, L. (2023, July 6). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/070623.htm 

Matthew, CHAPTER 9. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/9 

Meditation on Genesis 22:1-19. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/07/06/728202/ 

Psalms, PSALM 115. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/115?1 

Rohr, R. (2023, July 6). Solidarity Is Jesus' Strategy — Center for Action and Contemplation. CAC Daily Meditations 2023. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/solidarity-is-jesus-strategy-2023-07-06/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Take Heart - Your Sins Are Forgiven. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 6, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=jul6