2nd Sunday of Lent Cycle C
February 28, 2010
Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 28b-
36
Spring Training. There’s nothing like it. The Red Sox are in the
air.
I remember growing up when baseball players would report to
spring training, and almost every one of them would be out of
shape. Most of them were at least 20 pounds overweight. Smoking
cigarettes and drinking alcohol all winter long to fill their time away
from the baseball diamond, and waiting for reporting day to arrive
in warm, sunny Florida (except for this
winter).
And the period of spring training, from the end of February until
about the 1st week of April, was used by players as a time to
literally change the shape and makeup of their bodies. There were
no physicals at the beginning of spring training like they do today
with all the players, trying to find out if something was not
physically healthy. They were all out of shape. And they busted
their humps for six weeks getting ready for Opening Day. It’s
amazing how money – big money – has changed this approach.
There’s no longer a bodily transfiguration because they stay in
shape year round. How boring! I like the old days better, when a
player would be huffing and puffing the first two weeks of practice.
And you could see a transfiguration in the body.
The 2nd Sunday of Lent is about just that; a transfiguration of the
body. Literally, in our bodies. It’s truly fascinating how many
different conditions and reactions the human body is capable of
taking on. In the many ways our bodies can and do react to
different situations we experience. From the glory of ecstasy say,
from winning a sporting event; i.e. the Red Sox in 2004. To the
misery of the pain and suffering of emotional distress, injury,
and/or disease that can lead to the “eventual transfiguration” of
eternity.
Each year, Lent is a welcome and annual challenge to conform our
bodies, hearts, and minds to the inviting condition known as
transfiguration, and preparing ourselves over the course of a
lifetime for the eventual transfiguration of eternity. And today’s
readings give us an image of such a
journey.
In today’s 1st reading from Genesis, Abram, who is not yet
Abraham, prepares a sacrifice at God’s behest; a heifer, a she-goat,
a ram, a turtledove, a pigeon, and a partridge in a pear tree. At the
end of the day, as the vultures are swooping down on the sacrifice,
and the sun is setting, Abram falls into a trance. His body is
transfigured by way of a trance. This is the transfiguring condition
of many of the great saints in the Church when they prayed. And it’
s in the midst of Abram’s body changing its form that God makes a
covenant with him. It’s a wonderful image for us this Lent because
it connects so closely to our own prayer, one of the major tenets of
this season, along with fasting and
almsgiving.
So, like Abram and many of the saints, when we pray well, we have
this awesome capacity within our bodies to slide into a trance-like
condition. (Some folks may say they know someone who is like
this all the time)! And also like Abram, our covenant with God, the
covenant sealed in the blood of His Son, grows and solidifies over
the course of our lives. Thus, the importance of sincere prayer.
This is one form of transfiguration that can draw us into a deeper
experience of Lent.
In the Gospel is the mother of all transfigurations. In the language
of spring training, Jesus reports to the top of the mountain in great
shape. But within the twinkling of an eye, Jesus is transfigured into
top heavenly shape. Top heavenly condition. Jesus’ top heavenly
condition, where his faced changed appearance and his clothes
became dazzling white, is the condition athletes seek on an earthly
level. Except Jesus’ body changes to a form that no human being
has yet experienced, except for Jesus and his mother Mary, who
was assumed body and soul into heaven.
And in the midst of this event on the mountain, what’s the bodily
condition of Peter, James, and John? The Gospel tells us they go
from sleeping to becoming fully awake. Sort like a dog who is
sleeping, you say the word “cookie,” and they jump up in a split
second and have this immediate, boundless energy. Once awake,
the trio of Apostles see Jesus’ glory, and then when the cloud
appeared they became frightened. They have a number of bodily
transfigurations in the presence of a heavenly
transfiguration.
What the transfigurations of Abram, Jesus, and the three Apostles
lead toward is the hope found in today’s 2nd reading from St.
Paul.
But I first go back to the past couple weeks with Paul’s writings to
show how the Church develops a continuity with these readings. A
couple weeks ago in the 2nd reading I mentioned Paul’s letter to
the Corinthians that says that if we believe in Christ in this life only,
then we are the most pitiable people of all. To prevent us from
being the most pitiable people of all though, we were reminded of
God’s closeness in last week’s 2nd reading from Paul; that the
word is near us; in our mouths and in our hearts. That the Word
made flesh is near us; in our mouths in the Eucharist, and in our
hearts in belief and faith. In the
Spirit.
But this week the Church continues Paul’s progressive style of
writing that reveals the ultimate hope of our bodily transfiguration;
that our citizenship is in heaven, and the he (Jesus) will change
our lowly bodies to conform with his glorified body. And my
friends, this is the fullness of the covenant that God established
while Abram was in a trance, and fulfilled in the bodily sacrifice of
His only Son. This is our ever changing destiny filled with
hope.
As we continue through Lent, may we embrace the bodily
transfigurations the Lenten season calls us to. The trance of
prayer. The hunger pains of fasting. The reaching out of our hands
and hearts in almsgiving. These are all bodily transfigurations. It all
connects to the continuous process of being conformed to the
glorified body of Jesus Christ, who is Lord forever and ever.