Every Sunday in the liturgical year has a proper Entrance Antiphon (Introit) assigned to it. (I discussed liturgical “propers” more fully back in an Advent column). In the major seasons of the year, such as Lent and Eastertide, we sometimes give each Sunday a name based on its Introit (like Gaudete Sunday for the Third Sunday of Advent or Quasimodo Sunday for the Second Sunday of Easter). These Introits set the tone, quite literally, for the day. The Entrance Antiphon (Introit) for today, “Of you my heart has spoken” (Psalm 27). On this Second Sunday of Lent not only do we hear the Father’s voice speaking to his beloved Son but also we hear “with the ears of our heart” the Father speaking to each of us, his adopted children through Holy Baptism, telling us that we are his beloved sons and daughters. The Father’s heart is for us. He speaks to bring forth life and renewal of life in us. It is the Holy Spirit, the breath of the Father, which drives Jesus into the desert and it is the same Holy Spirit who draws us into the desert each Lent where, free from distractions, we can be quiet enough to hear the Father speak in our hearts. It is here, in the stillness of the desert, that the Father seeks to woo us back to himself (Hosea). From the wilderness the Father is speaking his words to your heart, to my heart, to lead you and me up the mountain of Transfiguration whereupon he reveals his and our truest identity. As we continue our climb toward Easter don’t be too hard on yourself if those Lenten promises you made aren’t going as perfectly as you hoped. God is fighting for and alongside you so that you can enter the Promised Land; God is faithful to his covenants and never gives up on those who turn toward him, those who turn around and repent (Luke 15). Today’s Entrance Antiphon is also the motto of our Archbishop Emeritus Peter Sartain and I’ll provide below a connection to another great spiritual leader in the Church.
I mentioned in last week’s column the short course of salvation history through which Lent takes is an opportunity to go deeper into The Bible Timeline and I suggested your family might, each week, make a symbol representing each of the covenants and enthrone them in your prayer corner. This Sunday we hear about the covenant God establishes with Abraham so making a ram or a model stone altar with wood on it would capture well the binding of Isaac (Genesis 22). You might also read the whole of Genesis 22 and ponder the typological connections between this troubling Old Testament event and the love the Father and the Son reveal for each other and for all people in the forthcoming Passion of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Our Gospel this Second Sunday of Lent is the account of the Transfiguration from Mark’s Gospel (Year B). This is another of those moments in the life of Jesus as he journeys toward Jerusalem that is so important that we hear one of the synoptic accounts every year on the Second Sunday of Lent and also have a whole Feast of the Transfiguration on August 6. It would be hard to overstate the importance of this moment in shaping Jesus’ disciples—including you and me—as we begin to see the new world that Jesus which is inaugurating, a world bathed in the light of his glory, a world as God intended it. I really encourage you to spend time this week pondering an icon of the Transfiguration. Try to lose yourself in its gaze upon you and allow yourself to be drawn into gazing on Jesus, the beloved Son of whom the Father’s heart has spoken. For me pondering the Transfiguration awakened a new chapter in my spiritual life fifteen years ago.
I invite you also to pray, by name, for the Elect as they prepare to be initiated into Christ. If you don’t know any Elect please join me in praying for Josiah, an O’Dea sophomore, whom I am blessed to be accompanying up this Lenten mountain toward Easter. If you don’t have an Elect to accompany I encourage you to pray by name for someone whom you could invite to journey toward Christ with you as her or his guide. Who is someone you know who longs to see the face of Jesus and who might be open to partake of his divine life if only someone would invite her or him? What is a first step you might take to have a conversation with her or him about what they’re really longing for in life? Are you willing to reveal your heart to her or him and share with her or him the love of the Father who desires to speak to her or his heart?
As I mentioned last week the the sanctoral (the calendar of feasts and saint’s memorials) is rather sparse during Lent so that we can spend time focusing on our Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving and our holy reading. A notable exception this week is the optional memorial of St. Gregory Narek (on Tuesday, February 27), the most recently named Doctor of the Church. St. Gregory of Narek (c. 950 -1005) was an Armenian monk and mystic. His writings, especially The Book of Lamentations is considered the gold standard of lyrical Armenian poetry, like Shakespeare to we English speaker, but also a spiritual classic from the Christian East akin to Thomas a Kempis or even St. Augustine of Hippo in the West. As St. Gregory of Narek pondered God’s grace and his participation in the sacramental life on the shores of Lake Van he penned 100 verses that all begin “Words unto God from the depths of my heart…” Indeed it is not only the Father whose heart speaks of the Son and of us, his beloved, but when our hearts are fixed on God we too ring out that praise and our hearts speak only of God and his wonderful things he has done for us. This might be a good time to learn about the oldest Christian kingdom in the world, Armenia, and the rich tradition of Armenian Christians, the terrible events of recent history, and pray for all those who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. St. Gregory of Narek, pray for us!
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