Genesis 12:1-4a; 2 Timothy 1:8b-10; Matthew 17:1-9 (Sunday, February 17, 2008; Second Sunday of Lent) Homily by Deacon George Showalter

When we look at our lives we become aware of many desires and needs we long to see fulfilled. These needs might include happiness security, love, good health, purpose in life, peace of mind, and many others. The list seems endless. However, the greatest need we will ever have on this earth is to know God intimately! A deep relationship with Him will affect every area of our lives and actually transform us into the persons He wants us to be. Therefore, Holy Mother Church offers to us the season of Lent. It, as Fr. Peterson told us on Ash Wednesday, is not intended to be so much a season of atonement as a season of seeking a closer unity with our maker and Lord.
In our busy world, at work, at practice, at play, each with their own stresses and pressures, it is easy to neglect God and live most of the time as if He doesn’t exist. Some Catholics even settle for a token appearance at Mass on Sundays. We desperately need to have a close relationship with Jesus, our Lord and Savior. He teaches ”I am the vine; you are the branches…apart from me you can do nothing.”
Abram, of our first reading, was human, undoubtedly with the same wants and desires as ourselves. God told Abram, who had not known of or been close to God before, “Follow my directions and I will bless you. I will make your name great. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” Abram accepted God’s offer. God was as good as his word. We know the rest of the story.
Paul in his letter to Timothy wrote: “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.”
In Lent, we move persistently towards the greatest commemoration possible for any Christian.
In five weeks we will celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Is it possible for Easter Sunday to be just another of the 52 Sundays of the calendar year? Is it possible to turn one’s back of the invitation, the call, that each of us receives from God? Do we wait for Moses and Elijah? Must they appear to us?
In the Gospel proclaimed today, as God spoke from the cloud and said ”This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him,” He was not only speaking to the three who accompanied Jesus up the mountain. He was speaking to you. He was speaking to me. He was speaking to all who would hear those words proclaimed.
With that in mind, speaking of giving up things for Lent, perhaps all of us should struggle “to give up” what ever remains of an indifference we still have to the Word of God. God speaks to us. He calls to us. It was He who, as Paul writes, calls us to a holy life bestowing on us grace in Christ Jesus before time began, and then made manifest in our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
The greatest need we will ever have on this earth is to know God intimately! A deep relationship with Him will affect every area of our lives and actually transform us into the persons He wants us to be. It is my belief, the call Abram received is a call given to the world and each individual within it.
God said, “Follow my directions and I will bless you. I will make your name great. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” Abram accepted God’s offer. May we be so bold to follow his lead!
God is as good as his Word.