THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT - MARCH 13, 2022

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

God not only makes promises, He manifests His promises through signs as a foretelling of what will come. His promise to Abraham was foretold through the ritual of the Covenant, and His promise of the Resurrection was foretold through the Transfiguration. Anything we can expect from God will reveal itself through signs first.

READ THIS SUNDAY'S MESSAGE

The scene of God’s covenant with Abraham is quite frightening: there are carcasses split in half and laid out to make a path, while Abraham is frightened by the trance which he is put under that envelops him with a terrifying darkness. God manifests Himself physically in the form of a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch that walks down the path of the carcass. God is indicating to Abraham what is to be expected of His people from this point forward - as we pass through death and destruction that might frighten us or make us question God’s plan, He is there with us, and He has forged that path before us, serving as a source of light and comfort along the way. This is indicative of the earthly Christian life, filled with trials and difficulties. But Christ indicates to the three Apostles during the Transfiguration of what awaits Him and subsequently what awaits us at the end of that journey. The Transfiguration gives the world a glimpse of Christ in his glorified form, which will be revealed in perpetuity at the Resurrection. All the trials and difficulties that God’s people have undergone and will continue to undergo will eventually pass away, and we will be left in the presence of God in His full glory.

FAMILIES, ACTIVATE!

Family activity to do at home: We all walk “through the valley of the shadow of death,” but our first leg of that journey can be particularly frightening since we have not yet been able to properly armor ourselves with hope in God’s presence. This makes it particularly important to teach children how to hope in God in the midst of the work of the Devil so that they may be prepared when they face trials in life. Use the words of St. Dominic to help your children find strength in God at all times.