«
Sunday, March 8, 2020 »
Second
Sunday of Lent
Lectionary: 25
It-Tieni
Ħadd tar-Randan
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.
Qari
I mill-Ktieb tal-Ġenesi 12, 1-4a
F’dak iż-żmien,
il-Mulej qal lil Abram: “Qum u itlaq minn artek, minn art twelidek, u minn dar
missierek, lejn l-art li jien nurik.U jien nagħmlek ġens kbir, inbierkek u
nkabbarlek ismek, u int tkun barka. Jien inbierek lil min ibierkek, u nisħet
lil min jisħtek. U jitbierku bik it-tribujiet kollha tal-art”. U telaq Abram
kif kien qallu l-Mulej. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Responsorial
Psalm Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22.
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.
Salm
Responsorjali Salm 32 (33),
4-5.18-19.20 u 22
R/. (22): Ħa tkun,
Mulej, it-tjieba tiegħek fuqna
Sewwa hi l-kelma
tal-Mulej,
kollox bil-fedeltà huwa
għamel.
Hu jħobb id-dritt u
s-sewwa;
bit-tjieba tal-Mulej
mimlija l-art. R/.
Ara, għajnejn il-Mulej
fuq dawk li jibżgħu minnu,
fuq dawk li jittamaw
fit-tjieba tiegħu,
biex jeħilsilhom
mill-mewt ħajjithom,
u jaħjihom fi żmien
il-ġuħ. R/.
Ruħna tixxennaq
għall-Mulej,
hu l-għajnuna u t-tarka
tagħna.
Ħa tkun, Mulej,
it-tjieba tiegħek fuqna,
kif fik hi t-tama
tagħna. R/.
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 gospl.
Qari
II mit -Tieni Ittra ta’ San Pawl lil
Timotju 1, 8b-10
Għażiż, aqsam miegħi
t-tbatija għall-Evanġelju, u afda fil-qawwa ta’ Alla, li salvana u sejħilna
b’sejħa qaddisa, mhux għax qies l-għemejjel tagħna, imma skond il-pjan tiegħu
stess u skond il-grazzja tiegħu. Din il-grazzja tahielna qabel iż-żmien tal-eternità
fi Kristu Ġesù, imma dehret issa permezz tad-dehra tas-Salvatur tagħna Kristu
Ġesù li qered il-mewt, u dawwal il-ħajja bla tmiem permezz tal-Evanġelju.
Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
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.”
Evanġelju Qari
skond San Mattew 17, 1-9
F’dak iż-żmien, Ġesù ħa
miegħu lil Pietru u lil Ġakbu u lil ħuh Ġwanni, tellagħhom fuq muntanja għolja
weħidhom, u tbiddel quddiemhom. Wiċċu sar jiddi bħax-xemx, u lbiesu sar abjad
bħad-dawl. U dehrulhom Mosè u Elija jitħaddtu miegħu. Qabeż Pietru u qal lil Ġesù:
“Mulej, kemm hu sew li aħna hawn! Jekk trid intella’ hawn tliet tined, waħda
għalik, waħda għal Mosè u waħda għal Elija”. Kif kien għadu jitkellem, sħaba
kollha dawl għattiethom, u minn ġos-sħaba nstema’ leħen jgħid: “Dan hu Ibni
l-għażiż, li fih sibt l-għaxqa tiegħi; isimgħu lilu”. Id-dixxipli, kif semgħu
dan, waqgħu wiċċhom fl-art, mimlijin biża’. Ġesù resaq lejhom, messhom u
qalilhom: “Qumu. La tibżgħux”. Huma refgħu għajnejhom u ma raw lil ħadd ħlief
lil Ġesù waħdu. Huma u neżlin minn fuq il-muntanja, Ġesù ordnalhom u qalilhom:
“Tgħidu lil ħadd b’din id-dehra sa ma Bin il-bniedem ikun qam
mill-imwiet”.Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
/////////////////////////////////////
Falling
in Love With Christ
Gospel Commentary by Father Raniero
Cantalamessa, OFM Cap
Why are faith
and religious practice in decline and why do they not seem to constitute, at
least not for most people, the point of reference in life?
Why the
boredom, the weariness, the struggle for believers in performing their duties?
Why do young people not feel attracted to the faith? In sum, why this dullness
and this lack of joy among the believers in Christ? The event of Christ’s
transfiguration helps us to answer these questions.
What did the
transfiguration mean for the three disciples who were present? Up until now
they knew Jesus only in his external appearance: He was not a man different
from others; they knew where he came from, his habits, the timber of his voice.
Now they know another Jesus, the true Jesus, the one who cannot be seen with
the eyes of ordinary life, in the normal light of the sun; what they now know
of him is the fruit of a sudden revelation, of a change, of a gift.
Because things
change for us too, as they changed for the three disciples on Tabor; something
needs to happen in our lives similar to what happens when a young man and woman
fall in love. In falling in love with someone, the beloved, who before was one
of many, or perhaps unknown, suddenly becomes the only one, the sole person in
the world who interests us. Everything else is left behind and becomes a kind
of neutral background. One is not able to think of anything else. A very real
transfiguration takes place. The person loved comes to be seen as a luminous
aura. Everything about her is beautiful, even the defects. One feels unworthy
of her. True love generates humility.
Something
concrete also changes in one’s own habits. I have known young people whose
parents could not get them out of bed in the morning to go to school; or they
neglected their studies and did no graduate. Then, once they fall in love with
someone and enter a serious relationship, they jump out of bed in the morning,
they are impatient to finish school, if they have a job, they hold onto it.
What has happened? Nothing, it is just that what they were forced to do before
they now do because of an attraction. And attraction allows one to do things
that force cannot make one do; it puts wings on one’s feet. “Everyone,” the
poet Ovid said, “is attracted by the object of his pleasure.”
Something of
the kind must happen once in our lives for us to be true, convinced Christians,
and overjoyed to be so. Some say, “But the young man or young woman is seen and
touched!”
I answer: We
see and touch Jesus too, but with different eyes and different hands — those of
the heart, of faith. He is risen and is alive. He is a concrete being, not an
abstraction, for those who experience and know him.
Indeed, with
Jesus things go even better. In human love we deceive ourselves, we attribute
gifts to the beloved that she does not have and with time we are often forced
to change our mind about her. In the case of Jesus, the more one knows him and
is together with him, the more one discovers new reasons to be in love with him
and is confirmed in one’s choice.
This does not
mean that with Christ too we must wait for the classic “lightning bolt” of
love. If a young man or woman stayed at home all the time without seeing
anyone, nothing would ever happen in his or her life. To fall in love you have
to spend time with people!
If one is
convinced, or simply begins to think that it is good and worthwhile to know
Jesus Christ in this other, transfigured, way, then one must spend time with
him, to read his writings. The Gospel is his love letter! It is there that he
reveals himself, where he “transfigures” himself. His house is the Church: It
is there that one meets him.
[Translation from the Italian original by Joseph G. Trabbic]
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