Fat Tuesday: Listen to Him!

Posted by admin on February 23, 2010 under 2. Fat Tuesday | Be the First to Comment

For this Sunday’s gospel, we are given a transfigured Christ and a transfiguring message: “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” The Church places the Transfiguration narrative on the Second Sunday of Lent more because this is a turning point in the ministry of Jesus. Up to this point, he has been experiencing great success in his Galilean ministry. The signs of the kingdom have accompanied his preaching. After this experience during the day of prayer on the mountain, Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem and “his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.”

Though it is only the Second Sunday of Lent, we are heading soon to Holy Week and to our celebration of Christ’s Exodus, our own Passover. Many of our campuses have Lent interrupted by Spring Break. The opportunities of Lent are fleeting.

Amid the hubub of Peter’s activity on the mountain, the command is clear: “listen to him.” This Sunday is a good opportunity to encourage students to stop and listen during Lent. Suggest an “unplugged day,” much like a meatless Friday, to give oneself a chance to listen to Christ. As T.S. Eliot wrote in “Ash Wednesday” only in stillness can the Word be heard:

Where shall the word be found, where will the word
Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence
Not on the sea or on the islands, not
On the mainland, in the desert or the rain land,
For those who walk in darkness
Both in the day time and in the night time
The right time and the right place are not here
No place of grace for those who avoid the face
No time to rejoice for those who walk among noise and deny
the voice.

We need his prayer to become ours this Lent:

Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will