This Wednesday and Thursday (Feb 24, 25), I will participate in the Lenten Retreat at St Phillip and St James RC Church, Chaguanas (7.15 p.m.); I will focus on the themes: Be merciful to ourselves, and Be merciful to our environment.
The overall retreat theme is: The Lord is generous and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. During this Jubilee Year of Mercy, let us accept that we cannot build the civilisation of Love unless we reconcile with God, neighbour, creation and self.
Today’s Gospel (Luke 9: 28-36), which focuses on The Transfiguration, comes after Luke 23-26 which highlight the condition of following Christ. This involves dying to ‘self’, taking up our cross every day and following Christ.
As Charles Spurgeon says: “Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion – it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.”
In relation to today’s Gospel reading, the writer R Alan Culpepper states: “Discipleship involves following, going on. As much as they (Peter, John and James) were awed by what they had seen, they were not yet ready to be witnesses to Jesus. Only later, after further following the grief of the cross and the joy of the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, would they be ready to speak their witness to what God had done in Jesus. Faithfulness is not achieved by freezing a moment, but by following on in confidence that God is leading and that what lies ahead is even greater than what we have already experienced.”
Notice that when the cloud covered them Peter, James and John were afraid.
“And a voice came from the cloud saying,‘This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him’.” These words apply to us also, particularly during the Year of Mercy. Discipleship requires us to speak out and to act in the face of injustice. If we listen to Him, we will not be afraid; we will do as Pope Francis asks us to do in his Lenten message – reflect and act on the Corporal and Spiritual works of Mercy.
In it, he quotes from his Papal Bull for the Year of Mercy, Misericordiae Vultus, 21: “Mercy expresses God’s way of reaching out to the sinner, offering him a new chance to look at himself, convert, and believe thus restoring his relationship with Him. In Jesus crucified, God shows his desire to draw near to sinners, however far they may have strayed from Him.”
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There are many who have strayed far from God, and as disciples, we are called to reach out to them. It is for this reason that CCSJ is partnering with the Greater Caribbean for Life (https://gcforlife.org/) by organising a seminar on Saturday February 27 at Our Lady of Fatima Church Hall, Curepe, to discuss the theme: “Divine Mercy and the Death Penalty” (see Ad in Catholic News).
Pope Francis constantly speaks out against the death penalty which he says is “inadmissible, no matter how serious the crime committed”.
“It is an offence against the inviolability of life and the dignity of the human person, which contradicts God’s plan for man and society, and his merciful justice, and impedes the penalty from fulfilling any just objective. It does not render justice to the victims, but rather fosters vengeance…. There is discussion in some quarters about the method of killing, as if it were possible to find ways of ‘getting it right’. … But there is no humane way of killing another person.”
He is correct in saying that the use of capital punishment signifies “a failure” on the part of any State.
The Church through its teachings and missionary work expresses its concerns and acts to support the victims of crime. However, it is clear that the Holy Father is leading the way in promoting non-lethal means to defend and protect society from aggressors.
Let us reflect on the words of St Pope John Paul II (Papal Mass, St. Louis, Missouri, Jan 27, 1999): “The new evangelisation calls for followers of Christ who are unconditionally pro-life: who will proclaim, celebrate and serve the Gospel of life in every situation. A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. . . I renew the appeal I made . . . for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary.”
