Today’s Gospel reading (Luke 9:28b-36) provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the messages that can be derived from the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Who better to tell us who Jesus is than His Father in heaven? God’s words spoken to Peter, James and John from the cloud apply to us also: “This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him.”
Lent is a time when we engage in introspection and soul-searching; a time when we reflect on our relationship with Christ and seek to deepen our faith; a time for renewal/spiritual growth and inner transformation. Let us ask ourselves, are we listening to Him – some of the time, always or are we living “divided lives?” Gaudium et Spes (43) reminds us that “This split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age.”
The challenge we face is not to allow the culture in which we live to mould our lives, but to transform the culture to reflect Gospel values. If we are truly listening to Jesus, then this would be evident by the way in which we live our lives and fulfil our baptismal vows.
Developing a personal relationship with Christ starts when the foetus is in his/her mother’s womb and continues from the time the child is born. Recently I dropped in to see one of my school friends, Janet, who was babysitting her beautiful 18 month-old granddaughter. She told me that she has her TV on all day on Channel 10 and she also plays religious DVDs to ensure that the beauty of our Catholic faith permeates the infant’s life.
On Ash Wednesday, Archbishop Harris made it clear that our “homes must be schools of authentic discipleship.” I urge you during this Lenten season and during the Year of Faith, to reflect on whether or not you have created within your homes an environment that will promote such discipleship. Building the civilisation of love begins in the home.
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Building God’s Kingdom requires us to pray for our leaders. At this time, we must pray in particular for our Holy Father whose recent resignation will take effect this week on Thursday, February 28 at 8:00 p.m. (3:00 p.m. local time). While we are sad at the news of the Holy Father’s resignation, we thank God for his ministry and service for almost eight years as Supreme Pontiff of our Church.
I had the pleasure of meeting the Holy Father on two occasions – in 2009 and 2011 during private audiences arranged for those of us who attended two conferences organised by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the Vatican. What struck me as we listened to his message to us on each occasion were his gentleness and the warmth he exuded.
We were indeed fortunate to have as our Vicar of Christ such a great scholar, theologian, teacher, and spiritual leader; a man with an incisive mind who spoke out for the poor, for distributive justice/a fairer world economy, for environmental justice, and who urged us to dismantle the “dictatorship of relativism”.
I see his resignation as a profound act of courage and humility. From the start he saw himself as a “simple and humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard.” He will continue working in the Lord’s vineyard, albeit in a different way. He said in his Declaratio on February 11, that he wishes to “devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.” Let us pray for him as he moves to this new phase of his life. I urge you to read some of his scholarly writings e.g. his three encyclicals: God Is Love, Saved by Hope, and Charity in Truth.
May the Holy Spirit guide the Cardinals during the forthcoming Conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI’s successor.
