Transfiguration: an event of prayer

Second Sunday of Lent - Year A - March 1st, 2026

Roman Rite

Gn 12,1-4a; Ps 33; 2 Tm 1,8b-10; Mt 17,1-9

 

 Ambrosian Rite

Ex 20.2 to 24; Ps 18; Eph 1.15 to 23; Jn 4,5-42

Sunday of the Samaritan woman

 

 

1) Transfiguration of Christ

Last Sunday, the Lenten liturgy has made us relive the mystery of the three temptations of Christ in the desert and his victory over them.

 In this second Sunday of Lent, we are asked to understand what it means to relive the mystery of Christ's life through conversion. The path of conversion involves listening to the Word of God: “There is a link, therefore, between the gift of the Word of God, the space of hospitality we offer him and the transformation he brings about. For this reason, the Lenten itinerary becomes a propitious opportunity to lend an ear to the voice of the Lord and renew the decision to follow Christ on the path that climbs to Jerusalem, where the mystery of his passion, death and resurrection is fulfilled” (Pope Leo XIV, Message for Lent 2026). The journey to conversion is to do with the Redeemer, the new Moses, an exodus of liberation. It is not a physical “return journey” from the exile in Egypt to the Holy Land, but a spiritual one from the exile of falsehood and evil - provoked by sin – to the truth and the goodness of the House of the Father, "prodigal" of mercy.

In the story of the Transfiguration, Jesus is presented as the new Moses who encounters God "on a high mountain" (Mt 17: 1) in the "bright cloud" (Mt 17: 5) with his face shining (Mt 17: 2). Even Moses meets God in the cloud on Mount Sinai (see Ex 24: 15-18) with a bright face (see Ex 34: 29-35). Moses was the instrument, the collaborator of God in the liberation of the Jewish people. Jesus Christ not only frees but transfigures the people of the redeemed. The gospel of this Sunday “shows us again the other Sinai, the most precious mountain in Sinai, thanks to the wonders and events that took place there. There the appearance of Divinity transcends the visions that, however divine, were still expressed in images and still obscure. And so, as on Mount Sinai the images were sketched showing the future, so on Mount Tabor the truth now shines. There darkness reigns, here the sun; there darkness, here a luminous cloud. On one side the Decalogue, on the other the Word, eternal over every other word. The mountain of Sinai did not open the Promised Land to Moses, but Tabor led him to the land that constitutes the Promise” (Anastasius Sinaita, Homelia De Trasfiguratione).

In the history of Western Christianity, the advent of salvation has been often considered more in terms of liberation than of transfiguration. However, the liberation brought by Jesus is truly realized only in the transfiguration. Jesus doesn’t leave humanity with her weaknesses and suffering, loneliness, and death, but transfigures everything taking it upon himself and making the poorest human condition the very sign of the closeness of God to the world

Jesus is transfigured on Mount Tabor: the white robes and the shining face of the Son of God reveal to us that Jesus, though he is walking towards the Cross, is the Lord, the Resurrected. The "Via Crucis" that Jesus is walking hides an Easter meaning because it is a "Via Lucis". The Transfiguration that we celebrate today is a charitable but fleeting anticipation: the road ahead is still that of the Cross. In fact, to support the show of weakness of Christ, captured in Gethsemane and crucified on Calvary, the Apostles Peter, James, and John are called to see in advance the glory of Jesus.

The glory of the Only-Begotten, the Beloved of the Father, had been veiled, hidden in the mystery of his incarnation. He, in fact, did not considered his conditions of equality to the Father as a treasure to be jealously guarded, but he humbled himself (see Phil 2). In the transfiguration, that glory invests with all its might the humble humanity of Christ and makes it full of the splendor of his divinity. Revealing to the three "privileged" disciples his face shining like the sun, full of grace and truth, Jesus prepares them to the drama of death that precedes the resurrection.

Beside the fact of being a support to face the passion and death of the Savior, revealing the identity of Jesus and the final positive outcome of his journey, Transfiguration also reveals the identity of the disciple and the way that must be taken by those who want to follow Christ. Even the journey of the disciple is directed to the cross and the resurrection.

The word of God today introduces us to a new dimension of our participation in the mystery of Christ. To relive the mystery of Christ, negatively means to deny ourselves and our egoism, positively it means to be transfigured in Christ and like Christ.

 In short, in this second stage of the penitential journey, the Gospel reveals to us the mystery of the transfiguration of Christ and of our transfiguration. Transfiguration is an event which concerns us all not only because we must witness the glory of the Son of God, risen from the dead, but because we are one with Christ and his glory also invests us, transforming even our body, our soul and especially our spirit. Rightly, the Orthodox theology teaches that Transfiguration changes nothing in Christ, but changes something in the eyes of the apostles, who finally see what Christ has always been: the Son of God.

Today the Church, celebrating the mystery of the Transfiguration of the Lord, shows us the goal toward which our penitential journey is oriented. With the Transfiguration, in fact, it "was given foundation to the hope of the Holy Church, so that the entire body of Christ could know what transformation would be donated to it, and its parts could make sure to take part in the beauty that had shone in the head" (St. Leo the Great, Sermon 38,3.4).

 

2) Our Transfiguration: to share the beauty of Christ.

At this point a question arises spontaneously: “How can we transfigure ourselves as Christ and make His beauty shine within us?  The answer is given to us by St. Paul in the second reading of this Sunday. The Apostle of the Gentiles teaches us that our transfiguration in Christ is possible “by virtue of the power he has to submit all things to himself”. Christ exercises in each of us the power that He possesses, to configure us to Himself by sending His Holy Spirit into us.  

The Holy Spirit is the intimate force that, living in us, transforms us in Christ. Therefore, let us call upon the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts and to turn away all that prevents us from being fully transfigured in Christ.

Do not forget, though, that our cooperation and the consent of our freedom are required for the transfiguring action, as St. Augustine taught: "The One who made you without, you will not save you without you."

And do not forget even to contemplate the "great mystery", Jesus Christ transfigured Lord, that during the passion was disfigured. He is the "great mystery" not only in the sense that effects salvation, but because he is the splendor of the Father in our humanity.

Then, with "spiritual eyes", let us contemplate the resplendent beauty of Christ, meditating on this verse of St. John of the Cross, “In your beauty let us go to contemplate ourselves ". The Saint explains: " Let's act in a way to be reflected in your beauty through the practice of love, that is to say that we may be like You in beauty and may your beauty be such that, looking at each other interchangeably, I may appear to you in your beauty, and you see me in it. That will happen transforming me into your beauty. Then, I'll see you in your beauty and you me in your beauty, and you will see yourself in me in your beauty and I'll see myself in you in your beauty. May I seem you in your beauty, and may you look like me in your beauty, and may my beauty be yours and yours be mine, so I'll be you in your beauty, and you'll be me in your beauty for your own beauty will be mine. "( see John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle, 35/3).

 

 

3) Transfigured by love.

Jesus is "the fairest of the children of men" (Ps 44.3), but he is also the one who mysteriously “has no beauty or majesty to attract us to him" (Is 53.2). Why, then, it is reasonable to look at Christ crucified? Because the Cross shows us that true beauty is the love of God who "can transform even the dark mystery of death into the radiant light of his resurrection" (Emeritus Pope Benedict XVII). To enter eternal life - then - you must listen to Jesus, following him on the way of the cross. We must listen to him as did the Ever-Virgin Mary, who gave her flesh to the Word.

On the example of the Mother of the Redeemer, the consecrated virgins in the world say a total yes to Christ, offering their bodies as pure temple and an abode for the Bridegroom Jesus. "His full adherence to the Father's will makes his humanity transparent to the glory of God, who is the Love that transfigures all "(Pope Francis). These virgins are of example in the listening to his Word, which is preserved in the Bible. The lives of these women are also a testimony of how we can listen to Christ in all the events of life, trying to read in them the plan of Providence. They testify that their virginal love of Christ does not separate them from the world, but pushes them to listen to him in our brothers and sisters in humanity, especially in the lowly and the poor for whom Jesus himself demands the concrete love of the Christian. Finally, they show that listening to Christ and obeying to his voice of Bridegroom, is the true way and the only one that takes to the fullness of love that transfigures and gives happiness forever.

 

 

Patristic reading

Saint Leo the Great

Sermon LI. A Homily Delivered on the Saturday Before the Second Sunday in Lent—On the Transfiguration, S. Matt. XVII. 1-13.

 

I. Peter’s Confession Shown to Lead Up to the Transfiguration.

 

The Gospel lesson, dearly-beloved, which has reached the inner hearing of our minds through our bodily ears, calls us to the understanding of a great mystery, to which we shall by the help of God’s grace the better attain, if we turn our attention to what is narrated just before.

 

The Saviour of mankind, Jesus Christ, in founding that faith, which recalls the wicked to righteousness and the dead to life, used to instruct His disciples by admonitory teaching and by miraculous acts to the end that He, the Christ, might be believed to be at once the Only-begotten of God and the Son of Man. For the one without the other was of no avail to salvation, and it was equally dangerous to have believed the Lord Jesus Christ to be either only God without manhood, or only man without Godhead1 , since both had equally to be confessed, because just as true manhood existed in His Godhead, so true Godhead existed in His Manhood. To strengthen, therefore, their most wholesome knowledge of this belief, the Lord had asked His disciples, among the various opinions of others, what they themselves believed, or thought about Him: whereat the Apostle Peter, by the revelation of the most High Father passing beyond things corporeal and surmounting things human by the eyes of his mind, saw Him to be Son of the living God, and acknowledged the glory of the Godhead, because he looked not at the substance of His flesh and blood alone; and with this lofty faith Christ was so well pleased that he received the fulness of blessing, and was endued with the holy firmness of the inviolable Rock on which the Church should be built and conquer the gates of hell and the laws of death, so that, in loosing or binding the petitions of any whatsoever, only that should be ratified in heaven which had been settled by the judgment of Peter.

 

II. The Same Continued.

 

But this exalted and highly-praised understanding, dearly-beloved, had also to be instructed on the mystery of Christ’s lower substance, lest the Apostle’s faith, being raised to the glory of confessing the Deity in Christ, should deem the reception of our weakness unworthy of the impassible God, and incongruous, and should believe the human nature to be so glorified in Him as to be incapable of suffering punishment, or being dissolved in death. And, therefore, when the Lord said that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and scribes and chief of the priests, and the third day rise again, the blessed Peter who, being illumined with light from above, was burning with the heat of his confession, rejected their mocking insults and the disgrace of the most cruel death, with, as he thought, a loyal and outspoken contempt, but was checked by a kindly rebuke from Jesus and animated with the desire to share His suffering. For the Saviour’s exhortation that followed, instilled and taught this, that they who wished to follow Him should deny themselves. and count the loss of temporal flyings as light in the hope of things eternal; because he alone could save his soul that did not fear to lose it for Christ. In order, therefore, that the Apostles might entertain this happy, constant courage with their whole heart, and have no tremblings about the harshness of taking up the cross, and that they might not be ashamed of the punishment of Christ, nor think what He endured disgraceful for themselves (for the bitterness of suffering was to be displayed without despite to His; glorious power), Jesus took Peter and James and his brother John, and ascending a very high2 mountain with them apart, showed them the brightness of His glory; because, although they had recognised the majesty of God in Him, yet the power of His body, wherein His Deity was contained, they did not know. And, therefore, rightly and significantly, had He promised that certain of the disciples standing by should not taste death till they saw “the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom3 ,” that is, in the kingly brilliance which, as specially belonging to the nature of His assumed Manhood, He wished to be conspicuous to these three men. For the unspeakable and unapproachable vision of the Godhead Itself which is reserved tilt eternal life for the pure in heart, they could in no wise look upon and see while still surrounded with mortal flesh. The Lord displays His glory, therefore, before chosen witnesses, and invests that bodily shape which He shared with others with such splendour, that His face was like the sun’s brightness and His garments equalled the whiteness of snow.

 

 

III.the Object and the Meaning of the Transfiguration.

 

And in this Transfiguration the foremost object was to remove the offence of the cross from the disciple’s heart, and to prevent their faith being disturbed by the humiliation of His voluntary Passion by revealing to them the excellence of His hidden dignity. But with no less foresight, the foundation was laid of the Holy Church’s hope, that the whole body of Christ might realize the character of the change which it would have to receive, and that the members might promise themselves a share in that honour which had already shone forth in their Head. About which the Lord bad Himself said, when He spoke of the majesty of His coming, “Then shall the righteous shine as the sun in their Father’s Kingdom4 ,” whilst the blessed Apostle Paul bears witness to the self-same thing, and says: “for I reckon that the sufferings of this thee are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us5 :” and again, “for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. For when Christ our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory6 .” But to confirm the Apostles and assist them to all knowledge, still further instruction was conveyed by that miracle.

 

 

 

Transfiguration : un évènement de prière

          2e Dimanche de Carême - Année A – 1er mars 2026

         Rite Romain 

         Gen 12,1-4a ; Ps 32 ; 2 Th 1, 8b-10 ; Mt 17, 1-9

         

         Rite Ambrosien 

         Ex 20, 2-24 ; Ps 18 ; Eph 1, 15-23 ; Jn 4,5-42

         Dimanche de la Samaritaine 

         

 

         1) La transfiguration du Christ 

 

         Dimanche dernier, la liturgie du carême nous a fait revivre le mystère des 3 tentations du Christ dans le désert et de sa victoire.

         En ce 2ème Dimanche de Carême, il nous est demandé de comprendre que revivre le mystère de la vie du Christ par la conversion qui implique un chemin qui passe par l’écoute de la Parole de Dieu : « Il existe donc un lien entre le don de la Parole de Dieu, l’espace d’hospitalité que nous lui offrons et la transformation qu’il opère. C’est pourquoi le chemin du Carême devient une occasion propice pour écouter la voix du Seigneur et renouveler notre décision de suivre le Christ, en marchant avec lui sur le chemin qui monte vers Jérusalem, où s’accomplit le mystère de sa passion, de sa mort et de sa résurrection » (Pape Léon XIV, Message pour le Carême 2026). Donc en nous unissant au Rédempteur, Parole de Dieu et nouveau Moïse, nous pouvons faire un exode de libération. C’est une sorte de « voyage-retour » de l’exil en Égypte à la Terre Sainte. Un « voyage-retour », plus spirituel que physique qui va de l’exil du mensonge et du mal, causé par le péché, à la vérité et à la bonté de la Maison du Père, prodigue en miséricorde. 

         Dans l’épisode de la Transfiguration, Jésus est présenté comme le nouveau Moïse qui rencontre Dieu « sur une haute montagne  (Mt 17,1) avec le visage qui « resplendit comme le soleil » (Mt 17, 2) dans une « nuée lumineuse » (Mt17, 5). 

         Même Moïse rencontre Dieu dans une nuée sur le Mont Sinaï (v. Ex 24, 15-18), le visage rayonnant (v. Ex 34, 29-35). 

            Moïse était l'instrument et le collaborateur de Dieu dans la libération du peuple juif. Jésus-Christ ne se limite pas à libérer mais en plus il transfigure le peuple des repentis, des rachetés. L’évangile de ce dimanche «’nous montre une fois de plus l'autre Sinaï, une montagne bien plus précieuse que le Sinaï, grâce aux merveilles et aux événements qui s'y sont déroulés : là, l'apparition de la Divinité transcende les visions qui, si divines fussent-elles, restaient exprimées par des images obscures. Ainsi, tout comme sur le Sinaï furent esquissées les images révélant l'avenir, de même sur le Thabor resplendit la vérité. Là règnent les ténèbres, ici le soleil ; là les ténèbres, ici un nuage lumineux. D'un côté le Décalogue, de l’autre le Verbe, éternel au-dessus de toutes les paroles… Le mont Sinaï n’ouvrit pas la Terre promise à Moïse, mais le Thabor le conduisit au pays qui constitue la Promesse » ( Anastase du  Sinaï, Homelia De Transfiguratione)

Dans l’histoire du christianisme occidental, on pense plus souvent au Salut en termes de libération que de transfiguration. En réalité, la libération portée par Jésus se réalise vraiment seulement dans la transfiguration. 

         Jésus laisse l’être humain à ses faiblesses, ses souffrances, sa solitude et à sa mort, mais il transfigure tout cela en le prenant sur lui-même. Et en faisant de la condition humaine la plus pauvre le symbole même de la proximité de Dieu avec le monde. 

         Sur le Mont Tabor Jésus se transfigure : les vêtements blancs et le visage rayonnant du Fils de Dieu nous indiquent que Jésus, même s'il marche vers la Croix, est en réalité le Seigneur, le Ressuscité. 

La « Via Crucis » que Jésus parcourt cache derrière elle un sens de Pâques car il s’agit en réalité d’une « Via Lucis ». 

         La Transfiguration que nous célébrons aujourd’hui c’est une avance généreuse mais fugace : il reste encore à parcourir le chemin de la Croix. 

         A cette occasion en effet les apôtres Pierre, Jacques et Jean sont appelés à voir à l'avance la gloire de Dieu, ce qui leur permettra de tenir devant le drame de la faiblesse du Christ emprisonné dans le Gethsémani et crucifié sur le Mont du Calvaire. 

         La gloire du Fils Unique de Dieu, l'Aimé du Père, avait été comme voilée, cachée dans le mystère de son incarnation. Le Christ n'a pas considéré sa condition d'égalité avec le Père comme un trésor à entretenir, mais il s'est lui-même humilié (v. Phil 2). Dans la Transfiguration, cette gloire investit avec toute sa vigueur l'humble humanité du Christ et la comble de la splendeur de sa divinité. En dévoilant son visage rayonnant comme le soleil, plein de grâce et de vérité, aux trois disciples « privilégiés », Jésus les prépare au drame de la mort qui anticipe la résurrection. 

         Le fait de la Transfiguration, qui dévoile l’identité de Jésus et le résultat final et positif de son chemin, n'est pas seulement le moyen pour faire face à la passion et à la mort du Salvateur. Ce fait révèle aussi l'identité du disciple et le chemin que doit parcourir celui qui veut suivre le Christ. Même le chemin du disciple vise la croix et la résurrection. 

         La parole de Dieu d'aujourd'hui nous amène dans une nouvelle dimension de notre participation au mystère du Christ : le fait de revivre le mystère du Christ nous amène à renier nous-mêmes, notre égoïsme, mais aussi à être transfigurés dans le Christ et comme le Christ. 

         En ce dimanche, deuxième étape du chemin de pénitence, l'Evangile nous révèle le mystère de la transfiguration du Christ ainsi que de notre propre transfiguration. En effet, la Transfiguration est un événement qui nous concerne tous : non seulement parce que nous devons assister à la Gloire du Fils de Dieu ressuscité de la mort mais aussi parce que nous sommes « un seul » avec le Christ. Et sa gloire nous investit tous, en transformant notre corps, notre âme et surtout notre esprit. 

         A raison, la théologie orthodoxe enseigne qu'avec la Transfiguration rien ne change dans le Christ. Ce qui change est le regard des apôtres qui voient enfin celui que le Christ a toujours été : le Fils de Dieu. 

         Aujourd'hui l'Eglise, en célébrant le mystère de la Transfiguration du Seigneur, nous montre le but de notre chemin de pénitence. Par la Transfiguration en effet "on trouve un fondement à l'espoir de la Sainte Eglise, pour faire en sorte que le corps du Christ entier puisse connaître la transformation qu'il lui serait donnée, et les membres puissent être sûrs de participer de la même beauté qui avait brillé dans le visage" (S. Léon le Grand, Sermon, 38,3.4). 

 

 

         2) La Transfiguration de nous tous : nous participons de la beauté du Christ

         Cela soulève une question : "Comment pouvons-nous nous transfigurer comme le Christ et faire rayonner en nous sa beauté ?". La réponse nous est donnée par Saint Paul dans la deuxième lecture de ce Dimanche. L’Apôtre des Nations nous apprend que notre transfiguration dans le Christ est possible « en vertu du pouvoir qu'il a d'assujettir toutes les choses ». Le Christ exerce sur chacun d'entre nous le pouvoir qu'il possède de nous faire à sa forme en nous renvoyant le Saint-Esprit. Celui-ci est la force intime qui, habitant en nous, nous transfigure dans le Christ. Nous invoquons le Saint-Esprit pour qu’il remplisse nos cœurs et éloigne de nous tout ce qui nous empêche d’être pleinement transfigurés dans le Christ. 

         Il ne faut pas oublier que notre correspondance, c’est-à-dire le consentement de notre liberté à l'acte transfigurant, est nécessaire. Comme le disait déjà Saint Augustin : « Celui qui t’a créé sans toi, ne te sauvera pas sans toi » .

         Il ne faut pas oublier non plus de contempler le « grand sacrement », c’est-à-dire celui de Jésus Christ notre Seigneur qui se transfigure, alors qu’il est défiguré pendant la passion. Jésus Christ est le « grand sacrement » pas seulement car il donne le salut, mais parce-que, premièrement, il est la splendeur du Père dans notre humanité. 

         Ensuite nous contemplons la beauté rayonnante du Christ avec un regard spirituel, en analysant ce verset de Saint Jean de la Croix : « allons-nous voir en ta beauté ». C’est ainsi que ce Saint explique son verset : « Si vous me changez en votre beauté, je vous verrai en votre beauté, et vous me verrez aussi en votre beauté; vous vous verrez vous-mêmes en moi dans votre beauté, et je me verrai moi-même en vous dans votre beauté : de cette sorte il semblera que dans votre beauté je serai vous-même, et que vous serez moi-même; il semblera que votre beauté sera la mienne, et que la mienne sera la vôtre ; et que dans votre beauté je serai une même chose avec vous, et que vous serez une même chose avec moi » (Jean de la Croix, Cantique Spirituel, 35/3). 

 

         3) Transfigurées par l’amour

         Jésus est « le plus beau fils de l’homme » (Ps 44,3), mais il est aussi, mystérieusement, celui qui « n'avait ni beauté, ni éclat pour attirer nos regards » (Ex 53,2). 

         Pourquoi est-il raisonnable de regarder le Christ crucifié ? Car la Croix nous montre que la vraie beauté est l’amour de Dieu qui « sait transfigurer même le mystère obscur de la mort dans la lumière irradiante de la résurrection » (Pope émérite Benoît XVI). Pour accéder à la vie éternelle il faut donc écouter Jésus et le suivre sur le chemin de la croix. 

         L’écouter comme l’écouta la Vierge Marie, qui a offert sa chair à la Parole de Dieu. 

         Suivant l’exemple de la Mère du Rédempteur, les vierges consacrées dans le monde disent oui à Dieu en offrant leur corps comme un temple pur, comme abris pour l’Epoux Jésus et « sa (du Christ) pleine adhésion à la volonté du Père rend son humanité transparente à la gloire de Dieu, qui est Amour que tout transfigure » (Pape François). Le rituel de consécration des vierges ajoute aussi à travers la prière de l’Evêque n°11 : « Dieu qui as inspiré à nos sœurs le désir de garder la virginité, daigne achever en elles ton œuvre (de Transfiguration). Pour que leur offrande soit parfaite, donne leur de rester fidèles jusqu’au bout. » Ces vierges nous servent d’exemple dans l’écoute de la Parole de Dieu, gardée dans la Bible. La vie de ces femmes est aussi un témoignage de comment on peut écouter de Dieu dans les faits de la vie et essayer de lire en ceux-là le dessin de la Providence. Elles démontrent que leur amour virginal au Christ ne les éloigne pas du monde, mais les encourage à L’écouter parmi les frères et les sœurs en humanité, en particulier parmi les enfants et les pauvres que Jésus demande aux chrétiens d’aimer concrètement. 

            En conclusion, ces vierges nous montrent qu’écouter le Christ et suivre sa voix d’Epoux est la voie royale, la seule, qui conduit à la plénitude de l’amour. Amour qui transfigure et rend heureux pour toujours. 

 

 

Lecture Patristique

Saint Léon le Grand (+ 461)

Sermon 51, 3-4

CCL 138 A, 290-300

 

Le Seigneur découvre sa gloire devant les témoins qu'il a choisis, et il éclaire d'une telle splendeur cette forme corporelle qu'il a en commun avec les autres hommes que son visage a l'éclat du soleil et que ses vêtements sont aussi blancs que la neige.

 

Par cette transfiguration il voulait avant tout prémunir ses disciples contre le scandale de la croix et, en leur révélant toute la splendeur de sa dignité cachée, empêcher que les abaissements de sa Passion volontaire ne bouleversent leur foi.

 

Mais, il ne prévoyait pas moins de fonder l'espérance de l'Église, en faisant découvrir à tout le Corps du Christ quelle transformation lui serait accordée; ses membres se promettraient de partager l'honneur qui avait resplendi dans leur chef.

 

Le Seigneur lui-même avait déclaré à ce sujet, lorsqu'il parlait de la majesté de son avènement: Alors les justes brilleront comme le soleil dans le royaume de leur Père (Mt 13,43). Et l'apôtre saint Paul atteste lui aussi: J'estime qu'il n'y a pas de commune mesure entre les souffrances du temps présent et la gloire que le Seigneur va bientôt révéler en nous (Rm 8,18). Et encore: Vous êtes morts avec le Christ, et votre vie reste cachée avec lui en Dieu. Quand paraîtra le Christ qui est votre vie, alors, vous aussi vous paraîtrez avec lui en pleine gloire (Col 3,3-4).

 

Cependant, pour confirmer les Apôtres et les introduire dans une complète connaissance, un autre enseignement s'est ajouté à ce miracle. En effet, Moïse et Élie, c'est-à-dire la Loi et les Prophètes, apparurent en train de s'entretenir avec le Seigneur. Ainsi, par la réunion de ces cinq hommes s'accomplirait de façon certaine la prescription: Toute parole est garantie par la présence de deux ou trois témoins (Dt 19,15).

 

Qu'y a-t-il donc de mieux établi, de plus solide que cette parole? La trompette de l'Ancien Testament et celle du Nouveau s'accordent à la proclamer; et tout ce qui en a témoigné jadis s'accorde avec l'enseignement de l'Évangile.

 

Les écrits de l'une et l'autre Alliance, en effet, se garantissent mutuellement; celui que les signes préfiguratifs avaient promis sous le voile des mystères est montré comme manifeste et évident par la splendeur de la gloire présente. Comme l'a dit saint Jean, en effet: Après la Loi communiquée par Moïse, la grâce et la vérité sont venues par Jésus Christ (Jn 1,17). En lui s'est accomplie la promesse des figures prophétiques comme la valeur des préceptes de la Loi, puisque sa présence enseigne la vérité de la prophétie, et que sa grâce rend praticables les commandements. 

 

Que la foi de tous s'affermisse avec la prédication de l'Évangile, et que personne n'ait honte de la croix du Christ, par laquelle le monde a été racheté.

 

Que personne donc ne craigne de souffrir pour la justice, ni ne mette en doute la récompense promise; car c'est par le labeur qu'on parvient au repos, par la mort qu'on parvient à la vie. Puisque le Christ a accepté toute la faiblesse de notre pauvreté, si nous persévérons à le confesser et à l'aimer, nous sommes vainqueurs de ce qu'il a vaincu et nous recevons ce qu'il a promis. Qu'il s'agisse de pratiquer les commandements ou de supporter l'adversité, la voix du Père que nous avons entendue tout à l'heure doit retentir sans cesse à nos oreilles: Celui-ci est mon Fils bien-aimé, en qui j'ai mis tout mon amour; écoutez-le! (Mt 17,5).

 

 

La Trasfigurazione: un avvenimento di preghiera.

II Domenica di Quaresima – Anno A – 1° marzo 2026

Rito Romano

Gn 12,1-4a; Sal 32; 2 Tm 1,8b-10; Mt 17,1-9

 

Rito Ambrosiano

Es 20,2-24; Sal 18; Ef 1,15-23; Gv 4,5-42

Domenica della Samaritana

 

 

 

 

            1) Trasfigurazione di Cristo

            Domenica scorsa, la Liturgia quaresimale ci ha fatto rivivere il mistero delle tre tentazioni di Cristo nel deserto e della sua vittoria. 

In questa seconda Domenica di Quaresima ci è chiesto di capire che rivivere il mistero della vita di Cristo mediante la conversione. Il cammino della conversione implica l’ascolto della Parola di Dio: “Vi è un legame, dunque, tra il dono della Parola di Dio, lo spazio di ospitalità che le offriamo e la trasformazione che essa opera. Per questo, l’itinerario quaresimale diventa un’occasione propizia per prestare l’orecchio alla voce del Signore e rinnovare la decisione di seguire Cristo, percorrendo con Lui la via che sale a Gerusalemme, dove si compie il mistero della sua passione, morte e risurrezione” (Papa Leone XIV, Messaggio per la Quaresima 2026). È un itinerario da fare con il Redentore, nuovo Mosè, che ci guida in un esodo di liberazione, una sorta di “viaggio di ritorno” non tanto fisico, dall’esilio dell’Egitto a Terra Santa, quanto spirituale, dall’esilio di falsità e di male - provocato dal peccato - alla verità e alla bontà della Casa del Padre, “prodigo” di misericordia.

            Nel racconto della Trasfigurazione Gesù è presentato come il nuovo Mosè che incontra Dio “su un alto monte” (Mt 17, 1) nella “nuvola luminosa” (Mt 17, 5), con il volto che brilla (Mt 17, 2). Anche Mosè incontra Dio nella nube sul monte Sinai (cfr. Es 24, 15-18), con il volto luminoso (cfr. Es 34, 29-35).  Mosè fu lo strumento, il collaboratore di Dio per la liberazione del popolo ebreo. Gesù Cristo non solo libera, ma trasfigura il popolo dei redenti. Il vangelo di questa domenica “ci mostra ancora l’altro Sinai, monte quanto più prezioso del Sinai, grazie ai prodigi e agli eventi che vi si svolsero: lì l’apparizione della Divinità oltrepassa le visioni che per quanto divine erano ancora espresse in immagini ed oscure. E così, come sul Sinai le immagini furono abbozzate mostrando il futuro, così sul Tabor splende ormai la verità. Lì regna l’oscurità, qui il sole; lì le tenebre, qui una nube luminosa. Da una parte il Decalogo, dall’altra il Verbo, eterno su ogni altra parola... La montagna del Sinai non aprì a Mosè la Terra Promessa, ma il Tabor l’ha condotto nella terra che costituisce la Promessa” (Anastasio Sinaita,  Homelia De Trasfiguratione).

            Nella storia del Cristianesimo occidentale si è pensato all’avvento della salvezza più spesso in termini di liberazione che non di trasfigurazione. Tuttavia la liberazione portata da Gesù si realizza veramente solo nella trasfigurazione. Gesù non lascia l’uomo con le sue debolezze e le sue sofferenze, la sua solitudine e la sua morte, ma trasfigura tutto ciò prendendolo su di sé e facendo della condizione umana più povera il segno stesso della prossimità di Dio al mondo

            Sul Monte Tabor Gesù si trasfigura: le vesti candide e il volto splendente del Figlio di Dio ci rivelano che Gesù, anche se sta camminando verso la Croce, è in realtà il Signore, è il Risorto. La “Via Crucis” che Gesù sta percorrendo nasconde un significato pasquale, perché, in effetti, è una “Via Lucis”. La Trasfigurazione che celebriamo oggi è, un anticipo caritatevole, ma fugace: la strada da percorrere è ancora quella della Croce. Infatti per sostenere lo spettacolo di debolezza di Cristo catturato nel Getsemani e crocifisso sul Calvario, gli Apostoli Pietro, Giacomo e Giovanni sono chiamati a vedere in anticipo la gloria di Gesù.

            La gloria dell’Unigenito, l’Amato del Padre, era stata come velata, nascosta nel mistero della sua incarnazione. Lui, infatti, non considerò come un tesoro da custodire gelosamente la sua condizione di uguaglianza al Padre, ma umiliò se stesso (cfr. Fil 2). Nella trasfigurazione, quella gloria investe con tutta la sua forza l’umile umanità di Cristo e la rende piena dello splendore della sua divinità. Rivelando il suo Volto brillante come il sole, pieno di grazia e di verità ai tre discepoli “privilegiati”, Gesù li prepara al dramma di morte che precede la risurrezione.

            Ma oltre che essere di sostegno per affrontare la passione e morte del Salvatore, rivelando l’identità di Gesù e l’esito finale, positivo, del suo cammino, il fatto della Trasfigurazione rivela anche l’identità del discepolo e il cammino che deve compiere colui, che vuole seguire Cristo. Anche la via del discepolo è diretta alla croce e la risurrezione.

            La parola di Dio oggi ci introduce in una nuova dimensione della nostra partecipazione al mistero di Cristo: rivivere il mistero di Cristo, negativamente significa rinnegare noi stessi, il nostro egoismo, positivamente significa essere trasfigurati in Cristo e come Cristo.

            Insomma, in questa seconda tappa del cammino penitenziale il Vangelo ci rivela il mistero della trasfigurazione di Cristo e della nostra trasfigurazione. In effetti, la Trasfigurazione é un evento che ci riguarda tutti: non solo perché noi dobbiamo assistere alla gloria del Figlio di Dio risorto da morte, ma perché noi siamo uno con il Cristo e la sua gloria investe anche noi, trasformando anche il nostro corpo, la nostra anima e soprattutto il nostro spirito. Giustamente la teologia ortodossa insegna che con la Trasfigurazione non cambia nulla in Cristo, ma cambia qualche cosa negli occhi degli apostoli, i quali finalmente vedono quello che il Cristo è sempre stato: il Figlio di Dio.

            Oggi la Chiesa nella celebrazione del mistero della Trasfigurazione del Signore, ci mostra la meta a cui è orientato il nostro cammino penitenziale. Con la Trasfigurazione infatti “veniva dato fondamento alla speranza della santa Chiesa, in modo che l’intero corpo di Cristo potesse conoscere quale trasformazione gli sarebbe stata donata, e le membra potessero rendersi sicure di aver parte a quella bellezza che aveva rifulso nel capo” (S. Leone Magno, Sermone 38,3.4).

 

            2) Trasfigurazione nostra: partecipi della bellezza di Cristo.

            A questo punto nasce spontanea la domanda: “Come possiamo trasfigurarci come Cristo e far rifulgere in noi la Sua bellezza?  La risposta ci è data da San Paolo nella seconda lettura di questa Domenica. L’Apostolo delle Genti ci insegna che la nostra trasfigurazione in Cristo è possibile “in virtù del potere che ha di sottomettere a sé tutte le cose”. Il Cristo esercita in ciascuno di noi il potere che Egli possiede, di configurarci a Sé inviando in noi il suo Santo Spirito. 

            È Questi la forza intima che, abitando in noi, ci trasfigura in Cristo. Dunque, invochiamo lo Spirito Santo perché riempia i nostri cuori ed allontani da noi da tutto ciò che ci impedisce di essere pienamente trasfigurati in Cristo. 

            Non dimentichiamo, però, che è necessaria la nostra collaborazione, il consenso della nostra libertà all’azione trasfigurante, come già insegnava Sant’Agostino: “Chi ha fatto te senza te, non salva te senza te”. 

            E non dimentichiamo neppure di contemplare il “grande sacramento”, Gesù Cristo Signore trasfigurato, che durante la passione fu sfigurato. Lui è il “grande sacramento” non solo nel senso che opera la salvezza, ma perché, in primo luogo, Lui è lo splendore del Padre nella nostra umanità.

            Poi con gli occhi “spirituali” contempliamo la bellezza splendente di Cristo, meditando questo verso di San Giovanni della Croce: In tua beltà a contemplarci andiamo", che lo stesso Santo spiega così: “Comportiamoci in maniera tale da arrivare a specchiarci nella tua bellezza per mezzo della pratica dell'amore, vale a dire: siamo simili nella bellezza e sia la tua bellezza tale che, mirandoci scambievolmente, io appaia a te nella tua bellezza e tu mi veda in essa, il che avverrà trasformandomi nella tua bellezza. Così io vedrò te nella tua bellezza e tu me nella tua bellezza, e tu ti vedrai in me nella tua bellezza ed io mi vedrò in te nella tua bellezza. Che io sembri te nella tua bellezza e tu sembri me nella tua bellezza e la mia bellezza sia la tua e la tua sia la mia, così io sarò te nella tua bellezza e tu sarai me nella tua bellezza poiché la tua stessa bellezza sarà la mia”. (Giovanni della Croce, Cantico Spirituale, 35/3).

 

 

            3) Trasfigurate dall’amore.

            Gesù è “il più bello tra i figli dell’uomo” (Sal 44,3), ma è anche misteriosamente colui che “non ha apparenza né bellezza per attirare i nostri sguardi” (Is 53,2). Perché, dunque, è ragionevole guardare Cristo crocifisso? Perché la Croce ci mostra che la vera bellezza è l’amore di Dio che “sa trasfigurare anche l’oscuro mistero della morte nella luce irradiante della risurrezione” (Benedetto XVII). Per entrare nella vita eterna – allora – bisogna ascoltare Gesù seguendolo sulla via della croce. Ascoltarlo come fece Maria la Sempre Vergine, che diede la sua carne alla Parola.

            Sull’esempio della Madre del Redentore le vergini consacrate nel mondo dicono un sì totale a Cristo offrendo il loro corpo come tempio puro, come tenda per lo Sposo Gesù e “La sua piena adesione alla volontà del Padre rende la sua umanità trasparente alla gloria di Dio, che è l’Amore che trasfigura tutto” (Papa Francesco). Queste vergini ci sono di esempio nell’ascolto della sua Parola, che è custodita nella Bibbia. La vita di queste donne è anche una testimonianza di come si può ascoltare Cristo nei fatti della vita, cercando di leggere in essi il disegno della Provvidenza. Infine, testimoniano che il loro amore verginale a Cristo non le separa dal mondo, ma le spinge ad ascoltarLo nei fratelli e nelle sorelle in umanità, specialmente nei piccoli e nei poveri, in cui Gesù stesso domanda l’amore concreto del cristiano. Infine, ci mostrano che ascoltare Cristo e ubbidire alla sua voce di Sposo è la via maestra, l’unica, che conduce alla pienezza dell’amore, che trasfigura e da gioia per sempre.

 

Lettura Patristica

Anastasio Sinaita, Hom. de Transfigurat.

La rivelazione del Tabor

 

       Oggi sul monte Tabor Cristo ha ridato alle sue sembianze umane la beltà celeste. Perciò è cosa buona e giusta che io dica: "Quanto è terribile questo luogo! È davvero la casa di Dio, è la porta dei cieli" (Gn 28,17).... Oggi, infatti, il Signore è veramente apparso sul monte. Oggi, la natura umana, già creata a somiglianza di Dio, ma oscurata dalle deformi figure degli idoli, è stata trasfigurata nell’antica bellezza fatta a immagine e somiglianza di Dio (Gn 1,26). Oggi, sul monte, la natura, fuorviata dall’idolatria, è stata trasformata, rimanendo tuttavia la stessa, e ha cominciato a risplendere nel fulgore della divinità. Oggi, sul monte colui che un tempo fu vestito di squallidi e tristi abiti di pelli, di cui parla il libro della Gn (Gn 3,21), ha indossato la veste divina avvolgendosi di luce come di un manto (Ps 103,2). Oggi, sul monte Tabor, in modo del tutto misterioso, si è visto come sarà la vita futura nel regno del gaudio. Oggi, in modo mirabile si sono adunati sul monte, attorno a Dio, gli antichi precursori della Vecchia e della Nuova Alleanza, recando un mistero pieno di straordinari prodigi. Oggi, sul monte Tabor, si delinea il legno della Croce che con la morte dà la vita: come Cristo fu crocifisso tra due uomini sul monte Calvario, così è apparso pieno di maestà tra Mosè ed Elia.

 

       E la festa odierna ci mostra ancora l’altro Sinai, monte quanto più prezioso del Sinai, grazie ai prodigi e agli eventi che vi si svolsero: lì l’apparizione della Divinità oltrepassa le visioni che per quanto divine erano ancora espresse in immagini ed oscure. E così, come sul Sinai le immagini furono abbozzate mostrando il futuro, così sul Tabor splende ormai la verità. Lì regna l’oscurità, qui il sole; lì le tenebre, qui una nube luminosa. Da una parte il Decalogo, dall’altra il Verbo, eterno su ogni altra parola... La montagna del Sinai non aprì a Mosè la Terra Promessa, ma il Tabor l’ha condotto nella terra che costituisce la Promessa.

 

 

Nerses Snorhali

Jesus, 492-493

La Trasfigurazione (Mt 17,1-8)

 

Tu che hai manifestato la tua Divinità

Ai discepoli tuoi sulla montagna,

E del Padre hai mostrato l’ineffabil gloria

Sfolgorante ai loro occhi,

 

Purifica così il mio oscuro spirito

E i sensi miei sì tenebrosi,

Perché chiaramente al luogo della Parusia

Saziarmi lo possa di tua divina Gloria!

 

 

Lent: The priority of the inner exodus

Roman Rite - 1st Sunday of Lent - Year A – February 22^nd, 2026

Gen 2: 7-9; 3, 1-7; Ps 51; Rom 5, 12-19; Mt 4, 1-11

Ambrosian Rite - 1st Sunday of Lent

Is 58, 4b-12b; Ps 102; 2Cor 5, 18-6,2; Mt 4, 1-11

 

Introduction.

A) Lent is a favorable time for a journey from outside to inside us.

Today is the first Sunday of Lent, a time that the Church proposes so that the path of life may become increasingly a path to “take one's life in hand and make it a masterpiece” (St. John Paul II) through the grace of sharing the life of the risen Christ. Indeed, Lent is the time that prepares us for the celebration of Easter. During this time of preparation for the Resurrection of Jesus, the baptized relive their Christian initiation, their insertion into the mystery of Christ and the regeneration of his humanity.

From this perspective, we understand the fundamental characteristics of Lent and what the Church always invites Christians to during this period: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Living Lent is not only living listening to the Word of God, but also living prayer, the aspiration to Him. There is no need to multiply prayers. So many times, by multiplying words, one lives less intensely the act of our gift to God. Even in love: the deeper it is, the quieter it is, the more it tends towards silence. So is God: feeling that our whole life is a continuous transport that moves us towards Him. 

Let us take the example of lovers. When a man is in love, he is obsessed with the woman’s presence in his life; his entire life is naturally focus on his beloved, and she, the woman loved and lover, is focus on the beloved. Love drives us. Well, once we have heard God, we become word, aspiration to Him, transport of all being to Him. With all our strength we tend to Him: in our feelings, in our intelligence that wants to know Him, in our will that loves Him, in all our beings that rise ever higher towards the Lord. In short, we must live during this Lent a more lively and continuous prayer. It is not so much about saying more prayers, but about living the prayers we do more intensely. “The early Christians – according to the Didache – said only three Pater Nosters a day, but they said them well (…)”. 

B) For the inner journey: prayer, fasting and alms.

            Other things are then proposed: penance, mortification, fasting. What are fasting, penance, and mortification? They are freeing us from the passions that still tyrannize our soul and prevent us from listening and praying. If we are slaves to ourselves, slaves of our passions, we are not available to God. Hence the importance that Lenten time has in making this detachment. Let us keep in mind, however, that penance, the most serious mortification, is not so much corporal mortification, but the mortification of the spirit.  

We don't have to multiply our works, much less multiply everything we do to escape the presence of Christ: superficial readings, television, the internet, etc. It is impossible to become people of prayer, people of listening if we waste a lot of time looking at things that have more hold onto us than simple readings. Images are more effective at imprinting themselves in our imagination than what can be simple reading. So, we live only by reflex: what we have stored with frivolous relationships, with superficial reading, with being on television or surfing the internet for no reason. Of course, we need to know what's happening in the world, but in Lent all it would take is turning on the television or connecting to the internet to get some news, avoiding spending time on trivial distractions. This is the true fast that the Lord asks from you.

Corporal fasting is much less important than spiritual fasting. One of the things that most harm spiritual life is curiosity. Understood as a search for gossip, it is the spirit that wanders here and there and never gathers in God. Now we live precisely this futile curiosity: we are often carried away by this curiosity that threatens integrity and unity in our inner lives. Then, first, I commend you to the fasting of the spirit. Don't digress, don't look for reasons to pass the time, as they say. Time passes anyway. Therefore, it is not a question of passing the time: it takes the time itself to pass. Instead, let us stand firm before the Lord. As far as possible, we live our lives in this listening of God. As Pope Leo XIV paternally recalled in his Message for this Lent: “Every path of conversion begins when we allow ourselves to be reached by the Word and welcome it with docility of spirit. There is a link, therefore, between the gift of God's Word, the space of hospitality we offer it, and the transformation it brings about. For this reason, the Lenten itinerary becomes a propitious opportunity to lend an ear to the voice of the Lord and renew the decision to follow Christ on the journey that goes up to Jerusalem, where the mystery of his passion, death and resurrection is fulfilled”.

Listening to God is the greatest penance because our spirit, so superficial and distracted, always wants something new to enrich it. However, it does not enrich it: it impoverishes it.

Obviously, it should be remembered that penance consists in contrition of the heart and mortification of the body: two parts that are essential to it. It was man's heart that wanted evil, and often the body helped. On the other hand, man, being composed of one and the other, must unite them both in the homage he pays to God. The body will have part either in the joys of eternity or in the torments of hell; there is, therefore, no complete Christian life, nor even valid atonement, if in both it does not associate with the soul.

But the principle of true penance lies in the heart: we learn it from the Gospel in the examples of the prodigal son, the sinner, Zacchaeus the tax collector and St. Peter. Therefore, the heart must forsake sin forever, grieve bitterly, detest it and flee from its opportunities. To signify such disposition, the Sacred Scriptures use an expression that has passed into Christian language and admirably portrays the state of the soul sincerely repented: it calls it Conversion. During Lent we must practice the penance of the heart and consider it as the essential foundation of all the acts proper to this holy time. But it would always be illusory if it did not add the body's homage to the internal feelings it inspires. The Savior, on the mountain, is not satisfied with weeping over our sins: he atones for them with the suffering of his own body; and the Church, who is his infallible interpreter, admonishes us that the penance of our hearts will not be accepted unless we unite it with the exact observance of abstinence and fasting.

 

1) Lent to convert to a loving relationship.

 A few days have passed since Ash Wednesday when we were reminded that we are dust and that we are called to conversion, that is, to love.

On this first Sunday of Lent the Church makes us pray in this way: " Grant, almighty God, through the yearly observances of holy Lent, that we may grow in understanding  the riches hidden in Christ and by worthy conduct pursue their effects.”(Collect Prayer) In fact, charity takes us into the truth of God and it is a conversion because it makes our heart and mind turn to God and do good deeds. However, conversion is not only doing good deeds; it is a change to reveal the ultimate truth of us, human beings made in the image and likeness of God.

 In conversion the human being, with heart and mind, turns completely to God. When Jesus says “Repent ", he means that all our being, the center of the being, must turn to God and not only our will or our intelligence (it is not enough to theologize, and it is not enough to even engage oneself only in virtues).

  "Conversion" means to turn; therefore, it implies a new sense, to be understood not only as a direction but also as a meaning of life. And what does this turn mean? It is living in us, in our human nature, what the three persons of the Trinity live among them: a pure relationship of love.  Our conversion is a turning of our whole being to God. We do not live without love: for every human being to live means to love. But be careful, we can love ourselves, our body, our pride, we can even love evil, but we can also love God.

Conversion is love turned to God and, in him, to our neighbor. Let us live Lent to turn permanently to God. Therefore, the conversion to which we are called consists of a relationship: “You turn to One who calls you, you meet with One who speaks to you; you see him, you turn to him and you open yourself to love "(Divo Barsotti)

 

2) Lent: 40 days of exodus to go to the promised land, The Kingdom of God

       The way to live the conversion of love in this Lenten period is to remember and relive with Christ the 40 days of fasting and prayer that he spent in the desert, and that ended passing three tests.

       The three diabolical temptations that Christ overcomes summarize the three weak sides of man's life, which prevent him from loving in truth: 1 - possession and disproportionate accumulation of material goods (the stones to be transformed into bread); 2 - the search for selfish and oppressive power (possession of the kingdoms of the earth); 3 - the desire for omnipotence (refusal to worship God). To overcome these tests, man has an infallible tool: the Word of God. In this regard, we recall this sentence of Saint Augustine of Hippo: "When you are seized with the pangs of hunger - and I allow myself to add also temptation - let the Word of God become your bread of life”.

        In the narration that Jesus did ​​for his disciples the three temptations, which summarize this time of trial, let quite clearly understand that, in a battle that foreshadowed his agony, He chose love of the Father and charity for us, and started drinking the cup of the New Covenant which He would have later sealed with his offering on the Cross.

       This love offered and refused is already presented in the first reading, taken from the book of Genesis, that shows that man is dust shaped by the “creative hands” of God and animated by His breath of life and mercy. A few lines later, the book of Genesis presents the tragedy of wrong choices in front of good and evil, an evil that is born in the heart of man from his choices, his refusals and his stubbornness in using his own criteria instead of those of God. We are asked to reflect on the seriousness of the refusal to fit into God’s plan demanding absolute autonomy in deciding what is good and what is bad. It is the claim to be the equal of God, to be God to ourselves and to others.

     Then, in the second reading, taken from the Letter to the Romans, we see that St. Paul refers to the narration of Genesis and compares the behaviors of Adam and Christ and the results of their actions. The rebellion and the disobedience of the first caused his separation from God and the death of all men; the perfect obedience of Christ, on the other hand, has obtained fullness of grace and of life for all. Adam and Eve experiment that their presumption has taken them away from each other, from the creation and from God.  Jesus repairs this tear and cancels this gap.

     Finally, the passage from the Gospel of Matthew, offered to us today as third reading, presents the same temptation of Adam and Eve but shows how Jesus is victorious and points out the way to live a life faithful to God and free from the profound evil that threatens us.

     The devil puts into question the fact that Jesus is the son of God (” If you are the Son of God …”) which had been established at the time of his baptism on the banks of the Jordan River. In fact, the temptation concerns neither bread nor material things but how to live the relationship with things, with people and with God. We can live as children of God like Jesus or reject the loving fatherhood of God who offers a relationship stable, alive and vivifying with Him.

     God offers a covenant between two freedoms: his, which is the initiative of infinite love, and ours, which is called to live and flourish from and for the loving freedom of God.

     If by grace we overcome temptation, God expands our heart so that it may have the gift of Him who is Love and gives us the way to do good in order to make our entire life a praise to Him.

 

3) Hunger and desert.

     One thing that is not secondary is that today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus is tempted by Satan after forty days and forty nights of fasting that made him hungry.

    But his is not only a bodily hunger. Like every human being Jesus has three hungers:

a- for life which lures man to possession and accumulation of disproportionate assets (the stones to turn into bread),

b- for human relations that can be of friendship or of power (symbolized by the availability of power),

c- for  omnipotence, which pushes to suffocate the desire for God, which is the yearning for the infinite and limitless freedom, leading to the temptation of designing one’s own human existence according to the criteria of ease , success , power, and appearance, that is, the temptation to worship the Liar (the devil) instead of worshiping the true provident Love.

     Jesus chose another criterion, that of the faithfulness to God’s plan which He fully endorses and of which He is the Word made ​​flesh, taking our condition marked by poverty and suffering and choosing with courage to become the servant of all.

     To overcome these trials, this hunger for life, relationships and God, man has an infallible tool: the Word of God. Let’s then rewrite the sentence of St. Augustine: When you’re caught by the pangs of hunger – and we can also add of temptation – let the Word of God become your bread of life, let Christ be your Bread of Life.

     At this point I think it is fair to ask why Jesus went into the wilderness to fast.

     In the biblical tradition the desert was the place of preparation for a divine mission. It had been for Moses, who knew the revelation of Yahweh (Exodus 3.1), and for the people out of the slavery that experienced the fatigue of freedom. It was for Elijah, who listened to the word of God (1st Kings 19:18). Therefore, also Jesus remained in the solitude of the desert for forty days before beginning His public ministry.

     Jesus has done so to teach us to live life as an exodus in the desert as it was for the Jewish people, and as it must be for the Church, pilgrim toward heaven. This means that we cannot plan our life nor we can decide it, but we must abandon ourselves to a Word of promise. God says to us: “Nothing you’ll miss, but everything you must expect from me.” This is the meaning of faith, not only the assent to a body of doctrine, but trust in love and belief in love: a love that has started without us (the exodus from Egypt for the people of Israel as for us the exit from our mother’s womb), but that will only continue if it finds our acceptance.

      We are asked to translate our daily behavior and the care for ourselves into the Other who has made us free.

     Almost all of us are called to exist tomorrow not in the emergency of the desert but in the normal situation of a land to cultivate and to inhabit. However, all of us are called to have the same basic attitude: to live on that land but with a heart of desert.

     This kind of heart is particularly requested to Consecrated Virgins who, in physical solitude, are called to a face to face with God.

     The desert, the virginal solitude, is the special place, the place where we are face to face with God. The Bridegroom cannot force the bride to love Him. The Lord, however, has an infallible tool, as described by the prophet Hosea. In chapter 2, Hosea speaks of the terrifying adultery that is the return to worship the idols that the old fathers worshiped. The Lord, grieved and distressed, intervenes and says that he has a tool and will put it into action. He will return the people to the desert, will point out again the old roads, and will speak again to their heart in the desert when the evil categories and the opaque diaphragms have fallen. Then the heart of man, that is his intelligence, and the heart of God, that is the divine Wisdom, will be face to face and their encounter immediate, possible and fruitful.

     The consecrated virgins live the “desert” of their vocation as total availability. Theirs is the spirituality of the generous availability to others and of the total availability to the Lord from whom they expect everything.

     With prayer, almsgiving and fasting let’s learn this availability to walk united in the “desert” of Lent and of life so that hunger will become holy desire of God. We will be the Tent where the Emmanuel, God with us always, is at home.

I

 

NOTES

1] The Christian interpretation of Exodus is guided by the reading that is usually called “typological”.  Everything about Israel (characters and events, rituals and institutions) is the figure – the typos – of what happens in Christ and in the Church. Let’s recall briefly the main steps of Exodus to see how they are reproduced and reinterpreted based on the Christian event.

First stop: Egypt (and the Pharaoh) is intended as the figure of sin and especially of the universal condition of sin that, before the coming Christ, held the humanity enslaved. But Egypt can be also the one that causes sin, Satan, or his historical transcription, the pagan idolatry. As a result, the deliverance from Egypt through the passage of the Red Sea will be the figure of baptism, and the sacrificed Passover lamb will become the symbol of Christ in his passion.

The stop in the desert is taken as a figure of the believer’s life on the road. In it, as for Israel, test and temptation appear, but also the divine protection will unfold with intensity. The miracles of the Exodus become the miracle of the sacramental existence: the rock- Christ from which the water of baptism flows, and manna - the Eucharist. The desert can be internalized as the individual journey of the soul to contemplation and spiritual perfection or can be experienced as a journey (Lent) to prepare for Easter celebrations.

The Christian meaning of the Law is found, following Saint Paul indication, in the condensation of all ethical and social laws into charity, while the ritual laws find their truth in the Christian worship.

Finally, the Promised Land proposes once again the sacramental reason: the passage of the Jordan, like the one of the Red Sea, refers to baptism, while in the “land flowing with milk and honey” the Fathers of the Church see a striking figure of the Eucharistic banquet. Next to this, and even more frequently, is the interpretation of the promised land as the image of the eternal life with God

We can sum it all up by saying that the typological sense of Exodus is the route of the Christian people from the slavery of sin, through baptism and life in faith and charity, up to the heavenly homeland.

 

2] Forty is a symbolic number.  In this case, besides being connected to the forty years spent by the people of Israel in the wilderness, it means a whole generation. Jesus, becoming man, was tempted all his life.

 * * *

PATRISTIC READING

From a commentary on the psalms by Saint Augustine.

(Ps. 60, 2-3: CCL 39, 766)

In Christ we suffered temptation, and in him we overcame the devil

Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer. Who is speaking? An individual, it seems. See if it is an individual: I cried to you from the ends of the earth while my heart was in anguish. Now it is no longer one person; rather, it is one in the sense that Christ is one, and we are all his members. What single individual can cry from the ends of the earth? The one who cries from the ends of the earth is none other than the Son’s inheritance. It was said to him: Ask of me, and I shall give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession. This possession of Christ, this inheritance of Christ, this body of Christ, this one Church of Christ, this unity that we are, cries from the ends of the earth. What does it cry? What I said before: Hear, O God, my petition, listen to my prayer; I cried out to you from the ends of the earth. That is, I made this cry to you from the ends of the earth;that is, on all sides.Why did I make this cry? While my heart was in anguish. The speaker shows that he is present among all the nations of the earth in a condition, not of exalted glory but of severe trial.Our pilgrimage on earth cannot be exempt from trial. We progress by means of trial. No one knows himself except through trial, or receives a crown except after victory, or strives except against an enemy or temptations.The one who cries from the ends of the earth is in anguish, but is not left on his own. Christ chose to foreshadow us, who are his body, by means of his body, in which he has died, risen and ascended into heaven, so that the members of his body may hope to follow where their head has gone before.He made us one with him when he chose to be tempted by Satan. We have heard in the gospel how the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Certainly Christ was tempted by the devil. In Christ you were tempted, for Christ received his flesh from your nature, but by his own power gained life for you; he suffered insults in your nature, but by his own power gained glory for you; therefore, he suffered temptation in your nature, but by his own power gained victory for you.If in Christ we have been tempted, in him we overcame the devil. Do you think only of Christ’s temptations and fail to think of his victory? See yourself as tempted in him, and see yourself as victorious in him. He could have kept the devil from himself; but if he were not tempted he could not teach you how to triumph over temptation.