Heaven keeps us on course

Second Sunday of Lent Year A

Most of us start off our Lenten journey by making big and ambitious resolutions - we will stop smoking, stop drinking, stop watching seedy movies over Netflix, we resolve to go vegan for the next 40 days, we will make sure we attend daily Mass and the list goes on. It’s one thing to feel energised at the start, but it’s another thing to sustain the momentum. This seems to be a reflexion of life too. There are lots of things we set out to do early in life or at significant moments of transition, resolutions to amend our lives and better ourselves, promises we make to God and others that we will be “the better man” or the better woman,” only to find all the initial enthusiasm fizzling out as time passes and as the painful reality sets in.

We soon realise that both Lent and life demand more than just quick spurts of speed to the finishing line. It often feels more like a long distance marathon stretching on-and-on with no sight of the end. How do we sustain our resolve for the long haul? This Sunday’s readings provide us the encouragement needed to persevere, not just for Lent but also for life, especially when the going gets tough, the obstacles seem too daunting, and the end of our trials seem beyond the horizon of our vision.

In the first reading, God promises Abram that he will be rewarded with endless blessings, blessings that will continue to be poured on him in all future generations, if Abram is willing to give up the security of his homeland and the support of his countryman for the unknown. In a fierce and arid land, where he will now become a wanderer and stranger, with no family or even children to support him in his old age, it must have taken great faith on the part of Abram to believe in the words of God. Faith in God’s boundless Providence rather than in our own strength and resources is what is needed to sustain us to the very end. Our strength may give out, our resources may run out, our circle of support may leave us, but God’s fidelity to His promises will never waiver.

From the patriarch’s utterly obedient willingness to leave everything behind - country, father’s house, kinship and familiarity - issues forth the promise of universal blessing. In other words, only when Abram is willing to surrender his limited possessions or blessings, can he fully experience the divine blessing God intends for him. No pain, no gain. This is what the Transfiguration reveals.

In the second reading, St Paul writes to Timothy and exhorts him to “bear the hardships for the sake of the Good News, relying on the power of God who has saved us and called us to be holy – not because of anything we ourselves have done but for his own purpose and by his own grace.” Paul is telling us that sharing in his sufferings and in the sufferings of Christ, we are doing so not to earn salvation (as one would be rewarded for a meritorious act) but as a response to the grace of salvation which “had already been granted to us, in Christ Jesus, before the beginning of time, but it has only been revealed by the Appearing of our saviour Christ Jesus.” This again is what the Transfiguration reveals. That victory stands in the middle of defeat, glory in the middle of humiliation, and life in the middle of death.

Finally, we come to the story of the Transfiguration in the gospel. It is important to note that we would hear this story, told by the different Evangelists, every Second Sunday of Lent. It provides us with a kind of teaser of how the story of Lent ends, a needed motivation, since it is easy to just give up before we even get to hear how the story plays out in the events of Holy Week. As the story of Holy Week progresses, we see how the crowds gradually leave our Lord and turn against Him. Even His own disciples flee at the very end when our Lord is arrested. They will be denied the privilege of witnessing our Lord’s resurrection because they had refused to witness His passion and crucifixion. But though none was there to see our Lord resurrect and emerge from the tomb, here at the Transfiguration they get a glimpse of our Lord’s true glory. This experience of the Transfiguration was, therefore, God’s way of delivering the disciples from a crisis of faith by providing them with a glimpse into the glory of heaven. When we have sight of the finishing line, the rigours of the race become less demanding and we gain a second wind.

The cause of a crisis of faith often arises from the way in which we see people and things around us. Death, suffering, separation seem to be defining moments in our lives. The disciples needed a vision from God’s point of view, to see that in spite of the death sentence hanging over the head of Jesus, God was still with Him, God was still in control of events, God would see to it that in the end, He would be victorious over His foes, even over death. In the Transfiguration, Peter, James and John saw that there was more to Jesus than what they could see and hear and touch; they got a glimpse of the future glory of the Lord’s resurrection. His death would not be the end; it would only inaugurate the beginning of Eternal Life.

An important truth shines forth from the centre of this mystery. Glimpses of this transfigured world are not only good for our mental health but are essential for our salvation. They help us see through the illusions cast by the devil who constantly tempts us with his greatest weapon, which is despair. Our dreams of an earthly utopia, where we will be shielded from all pain, trouble, and disappointment is merely delusional. Unlike utopia, heaven is real. Heaven is not the elusive Promised Land which the patriarchs and Israelites sought for generations, but an eternal reality awaiting us at the end of our earthly journey as long as we remain faithful to God and stay on course. The disciples saw it, or at least a glimpse of it in the Transfiguration. We too see it at every Eucharist where mere bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, truly, really and substantially. Every Mass gives us an experience of “heaven on earth!” Heaven makes the journey worth travelling. Heaven helps us to see that giving up all our worldly securities is worth the sacrifice. Heaven provides the strength to bear the weight of our tribulations. Heaven keeps us on course, away from the distractions that tie us to this earthly life and its lies. Heaven must exist, or our present suffering will lose its meaning. Heaven must exist, if we are to persevere and keep running till we reach the finishing line.