Word for the Weekend: March 20

Transfiguration by Lewis Bowman

Time to take a look at the scriptures for this coming weekend. The texts and background material on them can be found here.

Bringing children to Mass with you?  Check here for hints on helping your younger ones prepare to hear the Word of the Lord.

In all three years of the lectionary, the gospel for the first Sunday of Lent is the story of Jesus being tempted by the devil in the desert and for the second Sunday, the story of his Transfiguration.  The first lesson, from Genesis, gives us God's pledge to make of Abram a great nation, a blessing for all peoples.  And writing to Timothy, St. Paul encourages us to bear our share of the hardship of the gospel - with strength that comes from God.

While reading and pondering these texts, you might pray these words from Evening Prayer in the Byzantine rite which beautifully places the Transfiguration in its Lenten context:

Before your crucifixion, O Lord,
the mountain became as heaven
and a cloud spread itself out to form a tent.
When you were transfigured,
and the Father testified of you,
Peter with James and John were with you,
who were to be present with you also
at the time of your betrayal:
that having beheld your glory,
they should not be afraid before your sufferings.
Grant in your great mercy
that we, too, may be counted worthy
to venerate your suffering in peace.

 
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