Reading 1 Genesis 12:1-4a The LORD said to Abram: “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.
“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.”
Abram went as the LORD directed him.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 33 R. (22) Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you. Upright is the word of the LORD, and all his works are trustworthy. He loves justice and right; of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full. R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you. See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness, To deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine. R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you. Our soul waits for the LORD, who is our help and our shield. May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us who have put our hope in you. R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Reading 2 2 Timothy 1:8b-10 Beloved: Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.
He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Gospel Matthew 17:5 From the shining cloud the Father’s voice is heard: This is my beloved Son, hear him.
Gospel Matthew 17:1-9 Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.” And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone.
As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
POPE FRANCIS - ANGELUS 5 March 2023 Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno!
On this Second Sunday of Lent, the Gospel of the Transfiguration is proclaimed. Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him up the mountain and is revealed to them in all his beauty as Son of God (cf. Mt 17:1-9).
Let us pause a moment over this scene and ask ourselves: Of what does this beauty consist? What do the disciples see? A spectacular effect? No, that is not it. They see the light of God’s holiness shining on Jesus’ face and clothes, the perfect image of the Father. God’s majesty, God’s beauty is revealed. But God is Love. Therefore, the disciples saw with their eyes the beauty and splendour of divine Love incarnate in Christ. They had a foretaste of paradise. What a surprise for the disciples! They had had the face of Love before their very eyes for a long time without ever being aware of how beautiful it was! Only now do they realize it, and with great joy, with immense joy.
In reality, through this experience, Jesus is forming them, preparing them for an even more important step. Soon after that, in fact, they will have to recognize the same beauty in him when he is placed on the cross and his face is disfigured. Peter struggles to understand: he would like to stop time, “pause” the scene, stay there and prolong this marvellous experience. But Jesus does not allow it. Indeed, his light cannot be reduced to a “magical moment”! It would thus become something false, artificial, something that would dissolve into the fog of passing sentiment. On the contrary, Christ is the light that orients our journey like the pillar of fire for the people in the desert (cf. Ex 13:21). Jesus’ beauty does not alienate his disciples from the reality of life, but gives them the strength to follow him all the way to Jerusalem, all the way to the cross. Christ’s beauty is not alienating. It always brings you forward. It does not make you hide. Go forward!
Brothers and sisters, this Gospel traces a path for us too. It teaches us how important it is to remain with Jesus even when it is not easy to understand everything he says and does for us. In fact, it is by staying with him that we learn to recognize on his face the luminous beauty of love he gives us, even when it bears the marks of the cross. And it is in his school that we learn to glimpse the same beauty on the faces of the people who walk beside us every day — family, friends, colleagues who take care of us in the most varied ways. How many bright faces, how many smiles, how many wrinkles, how many tears and scars reveal love around us! Let us learn to recognize them and to fill our hearts with them. And then let us set out in order to bring the light we have received to others as well, through concrete acts of love (cf. 1 Jn 3:18), diving into our daily affairs more generously, loving, serving, and forgiving with greater earnestness and willingness. The contemplation of God’s wonders, the contemplation of God’s face, of the Lord’s face, must move us to the service of others.
We can ask ourselves: Do we know how to recognize the light of God’s love in our lives? Do we recognize it with joy and gratitude on the faces of the people who love us? Do we look around us for the signs of this light that fills our heart and opens it to love and service? Or do we prefer the straw fires of idols that alienate us and lead us to withdraw into ourselves? The great light of the Lord and the false, artificial light of idols. Which do I prefer?
May Mary, who kept the light of her Son in her heart even in the darkness of Calvary, accompany us always on the way of love.
BENEDICT XVI ANGELUS Second Sunday of Lent, 20 March 2011
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I thank the Lord who has granted me over the past few days the experience of the Spiritual Exercises and I am also grateful to all who have been close to me in prayer. This Sunday, the Second Sunday of Lent, is called “of the Transfiguration” because the Gospel recounts this mystery of Jesus’ life. After Jesus had foretold his Passion to the disciples, “he took with him Peter, James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light” (Mt 17:1-2). According to the senses the light of the sun is the brightest light known in nature but, according to the spirit, the disciples briefly glimpsed an even more intense splendour, that of the divine glory of Jesus which illumines the whole history of salvation. St Maximus Confessor says that “[the Lord’s] garments appear white, that is to say, the words of the Gospel will then be clear and distinct, with nothing concealed” (Ambiguum 10: PG 91, 1128 B).
The Gospel tells that beside the transfigured Jesus “there appeared... Moses and Elijah, talking with him” (Mt 17:3); Moses and Elijah, figure of the Law and of the Prophets. It was then that Peter, ecstatic, exclaimed “Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” (Mt 17:4). However St Augustine commented, saying that we have only one dwelling place, Christ: “he is the Word of God, the Word of God in the Law, the Word of God in the Prophets” (Sermo De Verbis Ev. 78:3: PL 38, 491).
In fact, the Father himself proclaims: “this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Mt 17:5). The Transfiguration is not a change in Jesus but the revelation of his divinity: “the profound interpenetration of his being with God, which then becomes pure light. In his oneness with the Father, Jesus is himself ‘light from light’” (Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, Doubleday, New York, 2007, p. 310).
Peter, James and John, contemplating the divinity of the Lord, are ready to face the scandal of the Cross, as it is sung in an ancient hymn: “You were transfigured on the mountain and your disciples, insofar as they were able, contemplated your glory, in order that, on seeing you crucified, they would understand that your Passion was voluntary and proclaim to the world that you are truly the splendour of the Father” (Κοντάκιον είς τήν Μεταμόρφωσιν, in: Μηναια, t. 6, Rome 1901, 341).
Dear friends, let us too share in this vision and in this supernatural gift, making room for prayer, and for listening to the Word of God. Further, especially in this Season of Lent, I urge you, as the Servant of God Paul VI wrote, “to respond to the divine precept of penitence by some voluntary act, apart from the renunciation imposed by the burdens of everyday life” (Apostolic Constitution Pænitemini, 17 February 1966, III, c: AAS 58 [1966], 182).
Let us invoke the Virgin Mary so that she may help us always to listen to and follow the Lord Jesus, even to the Passion and the Cross, in order to also participate in his glory.
APPEAL
In the past few days the disturbing news from Libya has given rise to keen anxiety and fears also in me. I said special prayers to the Lord about it during the week of Spiritual Exercises.
I am now following the latest events with deep apprehension, I am praying for those involved in the dramatic situation in this country and I address a pressing appeal to all who have political and military responsibilities, so that they may first of all have at heart the safety and security of citizens and guarantee their access to humanitarian aid. I would like to assure the people of my heartfelt closeness, while I ask God to obtain that a horizon of peace and concord may dawn as soon as possible on Libya and on the entire region of North Africa.
FAUSTI – In pagan metamorphoses the divinity takes on human form and form. Here humanity takes on divine form and splendour: it lets the Glory of the Son shine through. This is the destination of every man in the Son of man. In Luke the Other. In Matthew it becomes radiant like the sun that "de te, Altissimo, brings significatione". The clothes, for Marco become white in a superhuman way, for Luca resplendent like lightning, for Matteo white as the light. Light is the most appropriate symbol of God: the principle of creation and knowledge, it makes everything what it is and shows it for what it is. But it is also a source of joy, a sign of love that makes us bright. The Son shines with the very Light of God, firstfruits of the new Creation: as everything is done through Him, in Him and for Him, so everything participates in His same destiny in the Light. We too are called to see the Lord face to face and to reflect His Glory with our faces uncovered, until we are transformed into Him, ( 2 Cor 3:18) configured to the icon of the Son, the firstborn among many brothers. We are called to clothe ourselves in light and to be light "Arise, be Light, because Your Light is coming and the Glory of the Lord shines upon you!" (Is 60,1). The Incarnation, which leads to the Cross, makes God equal to us; the Transfiguration, down payment of the Resurrection, makes us equal to Him. Not only our spirit, but also our body is for the Lord, destined for the resurrection. The Transfiguration of the Son also represents the anticipation of what we will be. The seed of our divine glory is sown when we truly decide to "listen" to him and to do his Word: this is the "form" that transforms our life into his image, to the full measure of him. The law, given through Moses, is the first tent of God among men. The prophecy, which began with Elijah, is the second tent of God among men. The mediator of the law and the father of the prophets conversed with him: indeed, they speak of him, the very word of God. Furthermore, Moses and Elijah did not taste death. one was transported to heaven in a chariot of fire, the other, who spoke to God face to face, according to tradition was enraptured by a kiss from him on his mouth. The flesh of Jesus is the definitive tent of God among us (Jn 1:14). In Him we see the Glory of him, as of the Only Begotten from the Father. In fact: "he who has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9). In his humanity, Jesus shows his divinity: the disciples see his Body which shines with the Glory of the Son in whom the Father is pleased, an anticipated ray of the Resurrection. The Church is represented by the three apostles who, with uncovered faces, reflect the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, and are transformed into that same image, from glory to glory, according to the action of the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor.3.18) . Pietro understood that it's beautiful! On the Face of the Son appears the original beauty in which God
Second Sunday of Lent
RispondiEliminaLectionary: 25
Reading 1
Genesis 12:1-4a
The LORD said to Abram:
“Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk
and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.
“I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you
and curse those who curse you.
All the communities of the earth
shall find blessing in you.”
Abram went as the LORD directed him.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 33
R. (22) Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Reading 2
2 Timothy 1:8b-10
Beloved:
Bear your share of hardship for the gospel
with the strength that comes from God.
He saved us and called us to a holy life,
not according to our works
but according to his own design
and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made manifest
through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,
who destroyed death and brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel.
Gospel
Matthew 17:5
From the shining cloud the Father’s voice is heard:
This is my beloved Son, hear him.
Gospel Matthew 17:1-9
Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother,
and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them;
his face shone like the sun
and his clothes became white as light.
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them,
conversing with him.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Lord, it is good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make three tents here,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, behold,
a bright cloud cast a shadow over them,
then from the cloud came a voice that said,
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;
listen to him.”
When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate
and were very much afraid.
But Jesus came and touched them, saying,
“Rise, and do not be afraid.”
And when the disciples raised their eyes,
they saw no one else but Jesus alone.
As they were coming down from the mountain,
Jesus charged them,
“Do not tell the vision to anyone
until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
The words of the Popes
RispondiEliminaPOPE FRANCIS - ANGELUS 5 March 2023
Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno!
On this Second Sunday of Lent, the Gospel of the Transfiguration is proclaimed. Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him up the mountain and is revealed to them in all his beauty as Son of God (cf. Mt 17:1-9).
Let us pause a moment over this scene and ask ourselves: Of what does this beauty consist? What do the disciples see? A spectacular effect? No, that is not it. They see the light of God’s holiness shining on Jesus’ face and clothes, the perfect image of the Father. God’s majesty, God’s beauty is revealed. But God is Love. Therefore, the disciples saw with their eyes the beauty and splendour of divine Love incarnate in Christ. They had a foretaste of paradise. What a surprise for the disciples! They had had the face of Love before their very eyes for a long time without ever being aware of how beautiful it was! Only now do they realize it, and with great joy, with immense joy.
In reality, through this experience, Jesus is forming them, preparing them for an even more important step. Soon after that, in fact, they will have to recognize the same beauty in him when he is placed on the cross and his face is disfigured. Peter struggles to understand: he would like to stop time, “pause” the scene, stay there and prolong this marvellous experience. But Jesus does not allow it. Indeed, his light cannot be reduced to a “magical moment”! It would thus become something false, artificial, something that would dissolve into the fog of passing sentiment. On the contrary, Christ is the light that orients our journey like the pillar of fire for the people in the desert (cf. Ex 13:21). Jesus’ beauty does not alienate his disciples from the reality of life, but gives them the strength to follow him all the way to Jerusalem, all the way to the cross. Christ’s beauty is not alienating. It always brings you forward. It does not make you hide. Go forward!
Brothers and sisters, this Gospel traces a path for us too. It teaches us how important it is to remain with Jesus even when it is not easy to understand everything he says and does for us. In fact, it is by staying with him that we learn to recognize on his face the luminous beauty of love he gives us, even when it bears the marks of the cross. And it is in his school that we learn to glimpse the same beauty on the faces of the people who walk beside us every day — family, friends, colleagues who take care of us in the most varied ways. How many bright faces, how many smiles, how many wrinkles, how many tears and scars reveal love around us! Let us learn to recognize them and to fill our hearts with them. And then let us set out in order to bring the light we have received to others as well, through concrete acts of love (cf. 1 Jn 3:18), diving into our daily affairs more generously, loving, serving, and forgiving with greater earnestness and willingness. The contemplation of God’s wonders, the contemplation of God’s face, of the Lord’s face, must move us to the service of others.
We can ask ourselves: Do we know how to recognize the light of God’s love in our lives? Do we recognize it with joy and gratitude on the faces of the people who love us? Do we look around us for the signs of this light that fills our heart and opens it to love and service? Or do we prefer the straw fires of idols that alienate us and lead us to withdraw into ourselves? The great light of the Lord and the false, artificial light of idols. Which do I prefer?
May Mary, who kept the light of her Son in her heart even in the darkness of Calvary, accompany us always on the way of love.
BENEDICT XVI
RispondiEliminaANGELUS Second Sunday of Lent, 20 March 2011
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I thank the Lord who has granted me over the past few days the experience of the Spiritual Exercises and I am also grateful to all who have been close to me in prayer. This Sunday, the Second Sunday of Lent, is called “of the Transfiguration” because the Gospel recounts this mystery of Jesus’ life. After Jesus had foretold his Passion to the disciples, “he took with him Peter, James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light” (Mt 17:1-2). According to the senses the light of the sun is the brightest light known in nature but, according to the spirit, the disciples briefly glimpsed an even more intense splendour, that of the divine glory of Jesus which illumines the whole history of salvation. St Maximus Confessor says that “[the Lord’s] garments appear white, that is to say, the words of the Gospel will then be clear and distinct, with nothing concealed” (Ambiguum 10: PG 91, 1128 B).
The Gospel tells that beside the transfigured Jesus “there appeared... Moses and Elijah, talking with him” (Mt 17:3); Moses and Elijah, figure of the Law and of the Prophets. It was then that Peter, ecstatic, exclaimed “Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” (Mt 17:4). However St Augustine commented, saying that we have only one dwelling place, Christ: “he is the Word of God, the Word of God in the Law, the Word of God in the Prophets” (Sermo De Verbis Ev. 78:3: PL 38, 491).
In fact, the Father himself proclaims: “this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Mt 17:5). The Transfiguration is not a change in Jesus but the revelation of his divinity: “the profound interpenetration of his being with God, which then becomes pure light. In his oneness with the Father, Jesus is himself ‘light from light’” (Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, Doubleday, New York, 2007, p. 310).
Peter, James and John, contemplating the divinity of the Lord, are ready to face the scandal of the Cross, as it is sung in an ancient hymn: “You were transfigured on the mountain and your disciples, insofar as they were able, contemplated your glory, in order that, on seeing you crucified, they would understand that your Passion was voluntary and proclaim to the world that you are truly the splendour of the Father” (Κοντάκιον είς τήν Μεταμόρφωσιν, in: Μηναια, t. 6, Rome 1901, 341).
Dear friends, let us too share in this vision and in this supernatural gift, making room for prayer, and for listening to the Word of God. Further, especially in this Season of Lent, I urge you, as the Servant of God Paul VI wrote, “to respond to the divine precept of penitence by some voluntary act, apart from the renunciation imposed by the burdens of everyday life” (Apostolic Constitution Pænitemini, 17 February 1966, III, c: AAS 58 [1966], 182).
Let us invoke the Virgin Mary so that she may help us always to listen to and follow the Lord Jesus, even to the Passion and the Cross, in order to also participate in his glory.
APPEAL
In the past few days the disturbing news from Libya has given rise to keen anxiety and fears also in me. I said special prayers to the Lord about it during the week of Spiritual Exercises.
I am now following the latest events with deep apprehension, I am praying for those involved in the dramatic situation in this country and I address a pressing appeal to all who have political and military responsibilities, so that they may first of all have at heart the safety and security of citizens and guarantee their access to humanitarian aid. I would like to assure the people of my heartfelt closeness, while I ask God to obtain that a horizon of peace and concord may dawn as soon as possible on Libya and on the entire region of North Africa.
FAUSTI – In pagan metamorphoses the divinity takes on human form and form. Here humanity takes on divine form and splendour: it lets the Glory of the Son shine through.
RispondiEliminaThis is the destination of every man in the Son of man.
In Luke the Other.
In Matthew it becomes radiant like the sun that "de te, Altissimo, brings significatione". The clothes, for Marco become white in a superhuman way, for Luca resplendent like lightning, for Matteo white as the light.
Light is the most appropriate symbol of God: the principle of creation and knowledge, it makes everything what it is and shows it for what it is. But it is also a source of joy, a sign of love that makes us bright. The Son shines with the very Light of God, firstfruits of the new Creation: as everything is done through Him, in Him and for Him, so everything participates in His same destiny in the Light. We too are called to see the Lord face to face and to reflect His Glory with our faces uncovered, until we are transformed into Him, (
2 Cor 3:18) configured to the icon of the Son, the firstborn among many brothers.
We are called to clothe ourselves in light and to be light "Arise, be Light, because Your Light is coming and the Glory of the Lord shines upon you!" (Is 60,1).
The Incarnation, which leads to the Cross, makes God equal to us; the Transfiguration, down payment of the Resurrection, makes us equal to Him. Not only our spirit, but also our body is for the Lord, destined for the resurrection.
The Transfiguration of the Son also represents the anticipation of what we will be.
The seed of our divine glory is sown when we truly decide to "listen" to him and to do his Word: this is the "form" that transforms our life into his image, to the full measure of him.
The law, given through Moses, is the first tent of God among men.
The prophecy, which began with Elijah, is the second tent of God among men.
The mediator of the law and the father of the prophets conversed with him: indeed, they speak of him, the very word of God.
Furthermore, Moses and Elijah did not taste death. one was transported to heaven in a chariot of fire, the other, who spoke to God face to face, according to tradition was enraptured by a kiss from him on his mouth.
The flesh of Jesus is the definitive tent of God among us (Jn 1:14). In Him we see the Glory of him, as of the Only Begotten from the Father. In fact: "he who has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9).
In his humanity, Jesus shows his divinity: the disciples see his Body which shines with the Glory of the Son in whom the Father is pleased, an anticipated ray of the Resurrection.
The Church is represented by the three apostles who, with uncovered faces, reflect the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, and are transformed into that same image, from glory to glory, according to the action of the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor.3.18) .
Pietro understood that it's beautiful!
On the Face of the Son appears the original beauty in which God
PSALM 33 https://salmiognigiorno.blogspot.com/2024/09/blog-post.html
RispondiElimina