Sunday February 28 – claretonline

Second Sunday of Lent

Cross and Glory
On the Mountain… For a Moment

Greeting (see Second Reading)

“God did not spare his own Son
but gave him up to benefit us all.”
He preferred his Son to die
rather than to give up his love for people.
This Jesus is with us now
as the guarantee of God’s love.
May the Lord Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction by the Celebrant

Cross and Glory

It is a happy moment when we are in pain to hear a word of concern and encouragement. It is a happy experience when in our questions and problems there comes a ray of light that uplifts us and tells us that Jesus is with us on our weary way. It is comforting for us during Lent that Jesus himself gives us a glimpse of his victory at Easter. All this is wonderful and we want it to last, but like Peter and with Jesus we have to go back to the realities of life. But Jesus is still with us always even when we are not aware of it.

On the Mountain… For a Moment

We continue our journey through Lent. Where will the road lead us? For Jesus it led to Jerusalem, to the cross. With Jesus we have to take up our cross, but with Jesus we also know that the end will be not death but life, not suffering but resurrection. This consolation may look meager at times, but for a Christian it is real. We don’t have to ask for suffering; but when it comes we take it, like Jesus, for God, for the sake of others. That is why, again like Jesus, we see an encouraging vision on the mountain. God is with us, he sees us, he loves us. We trust him.

Penitential Act

Our ways are not always the ways of the Lord.
Let us ask the Lord Jesus to forgive us
and to transform our lives.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, in our affliction and trials
we keep trusting in you:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, we are your servants.
You have set us free from the bonds of sin:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you are God’s beloved Son.
We want to listen to you and to follow you:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us all our sins.
Show us the light of your face
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray the Father
that the light of Christ may shine on us
(pause)
Loving Father,
for a fleeting moment
you glorified your Son on the mountain
to encourage him to carry out his mission
and to strengthen his disciples.
Let the presence of your Son in this eucharist
and the words he speaks to us
transform us and give us light and strength
to take up our task in life
and to lighten the burden
of our brothers and sisters,
until you transforms us with him
in the lasting light of your glory.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.

First Reading: Not Refusing God Anything

As a man of deep faith, Abraham was ready to sacrifice his own Son to God. But the God of life gave him back his son as the sign of the covenant.

Reading 1: Gen 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18

God put Abraham to the test.
He called to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he replied.
Then God said:
“Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah.
There you shall offer him up as a holocaust
on a height that I will point out to you.”

When they came to the place of which God had told him,
Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.
Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the LORD’s messenger called to him from heaven,
“Abraham, Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he answered.
“Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger.
“Do not do the least thing to him.
I know now how devoted you are to God,
since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.”
As Abraham looked about,
he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.
So he went and took the ram
and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

Again the LORD’s messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said:
“I swear by myself, declares the LORD,
that because you acted as you did
in not withholding from me your beloved son,
I will bless you abundantly
and make your descendants as countless
as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore;
your descendants shall take possession
of the gates of their enemies,
and in your descendants all the nations of the earth
shall find blessing—
all this because you obeyed my command.”

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19

(116:9) I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
I believed, even when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted.”
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
R. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

Second Reading: God Sacrificed His Own Son for Us

God did not spare his own Son from the cross and death, but allowed this to be Jesus’ way to victory and the source of our victory.

Reading 2: Rom 8:31b-34

Brothers and sisters:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son
but handed him over for us all,
how will he not also give us everything else along with him?

Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?
It is God who acquits us, who will condemn?
Christ Jesus it is who died—or, rather, was raised—
who also is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us.

Verse Before the Gospel Cf. Mt 17:5

From the shining cloud the Father’s voice is heard:
This is my beloved Son, listen to him.

Gospel: Before the Cross, a Glimpse of Glory

Jesus and his closest apostles are given a glimpse of the glory that will be his at his resurrection. This vision will sustain them during the Lord’s passion.

Gospel: Mk 9:2-10

Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.

As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.

Intercessions

God has not spared his own Son. We may be sure that after such a gift he will not refuse us anything he can give. With faith we pray to our Father, and say: