Sunday, February 24, 2013

Second Sunday of Lent

[Station at St. Mary’s in Dominica.]

Let the sight of the grandeur of Jesus transfigured prepare us for the contemplation shortly of the humiliation of His Passion. In St. John’s Gospel (I: 51), our Lord applies the vision of Jacob’s ladder to Himself, to show that in the midst of the persecutions of which He was the object, He was constantly under the protection of almighty God and His angels. So St. Hippolytus says: “As Esau planned his brother’s death so the Jews plotted against Christ and the Church. Jacob must needs fly into a far country; in the same way Christ, thrust out by the unbelief of His Own nation, had to depart into Galilee where the Church sprung from the race of Gentiles, is given to Him as His Spouse. Moreover, at the end of time, these two peoples will be reconciled as were Esau and Jacob.”

Today’s Mass, then, taken in connection with the breviary lessons for this week, acquires its full sense and helps us understand the true meaning for us of the Paschal mystery which we are about to celebrate. Jacob beheld the God of Glory; the apostles saw Jesus transfigured; soon the Church will show us the risen Savior.

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