2nd Sunday of Lent - A Homily with Father Dom

From the 2nd Sunday of Lent, Fr. Dom discusses the liturgy of the Transfiguration and the importance of Lent. He shares a story about teaching children about Lent and emphasizes that Lent is about Jesus. Fr. Dom then explores the story of Abraham and Isaac as a type of God and Jesus, highlighting the virtue of faith and the need for obedience. He also emphasizes the importance of hearing the truth and being obedient to God. He concludes by discussing the significance of the Transfiguration and the Eucharist as the Transfiguration.

Takeaways

• Lent is a time to deepen our relationship with Jesus and focus on Him alone.
• Abraham and Isaac are a type of God and Jesus, highlighting the virtue of faith and obedience.
• Being a disciple of God requires obedience and submission to His truth.
• The Eucharist is a re-presentation of the transfiguration, and we should prepare ourselves to receive Jesus fully in the sacrament.

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Transcript

Fr. Dom (00:00.142)
Welcome to the Manly Catholic. In this podcast, we will inspire, challenge, and equip all men to become the men they were created to be. Join us as we journey together to become the best versions of ourselves and strive to change our communities one man at a time.

Fr. Dom (00:21.71)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Good morning.

As we celebrate this second Sunday of Lent, we also get to celebrate the great liturgy of the transfiguration of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So it's a great day that the church puts before us, the transfiguration. Of course, all of our readings are pointing towards that. Our first reading about Abraham and Isaac. Our second reading to the letter, our second reading to the Romans from St. Paul's letter talks about

God is for us who can be against us. And then our gospel from Mark, the entirety of the transfiguration is laid out before us. In what perfect readings, in what great celebration of transfiguration that we get to enter into, as we continue to deepen our journey through the desert of Lent, as we pray, which draws us closer to God, as we fast, which draws us.

closer to God and as we give alms, which draws us closer to God. And so I've been praying and fasting for all of you, hoping that you are praying like you've never prayed before, you're fasting like you've never fasted before and that you're giving alms like you've never given alms before. Don't let the opportunity of Lent pass you by, enter deeply into it. As I reflect on our readings today, I'm reminded of,

One of my favorite things that I like to do here at OLC, there are many beautiful things about this wonderful community and family, but I really enjoy Fridays, going into the school for an hour or so, speaking to the kids. And this past Friday, I was in the first grade, second grade, and third grade. And so what I did when I walked into the classrooms, I pretended like I wasn't Catholic, that I didn't know anything about the church or anything about Lent. So I would ask them, say, hey, what?

Fr. Dom  (02:27.406)
What are you Catholics doing now? You're doing something like, what is it, lint? Like, you know, you find in your belly button sometimes? Like, no, Father, it's lint. Then one of the kids in one of the classrooms piped up and said, what are you, Father, crazy?

And then I would just continue asking them questions. Oh, it's Lent. Well, tell me something about Lent. And they said, you know, there's 40 days of Lent. There's the color violet that the priest wears. There's the desert. But every single class, there were multiple kids who said this when I said, what's Lent about? They said Jesus. And then I would say, who's Jesus?

And they would say God. That's it. They were right. Lent is about Jesus. Who is Jesus? Jesus is God, period, full stop. There are no other gods. If they are, they're what St. Paul says, demons. There is only one God, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the kids got it right. Oh, what comes from the mouth of babes.

Jesus is God, and that's what Lent is about. That's what the transfiguration is all about as well too. Jesus is God. We hear it all the time, but think of all the other gods in the world that are trying to grapple for your attention. Worship me, worship me, worship me, worship me. If it's not Jesus Christ, then it comes from the devil.

So as you journey through lent, your heart is being purified. It's being formed. It's entering a crucible, because the idols are coming to the surface. And then you have to let God skim that out from your heart so that you may be purified, so that you could focus on Jesus and Jesus alone. So our great reading from Genesis is Abraham and Isaac. We could spend hours on this reading.

Fr. Dom(04:42.378)
Abraham and Isaac, as we all know, is a type of God and Jesus. For God, just like Abraham, had a only begotten son. Abraham's was Isaac, God is Jesus. Isaac carried wood up Mount Moriah. Jesus carried the wood of the cross up Calvary. Mount Moriah is Calvary. That's where the temple would later be built, and that's where Jesus would later be crucified. Isaac was...

almost sacrificed, but wasn't, but almost in the vigor of his youth, same with Jesus. Isaac was around 30 years old, and Jesus, as we all know, was 33. So Abraham and Isaac is truly a type of what was to come. And so, God blesses Abraham, doesn't he? So much so that in our Eucharistic liturgy, in the canon, we say what? Abraham, our father in faith.

Such was his faith, it was so deep that he was trusting God that he would even sacrifice his only begotten son, just like God sacrifices his only begotten son. We later discovered that they saw a ram in a thicket or a lamb representing a sacrificial lamb, Jesus who would be the definitive sacrifice, the sacrifice of all sacrifices. So Abraham truly is our father in faith and he shows us what it means to have faith.

to blindly trust in God, that God will take care of us because he loves us so much. He shows what it means to be a true disciple, doesn't he? Faith is an integral component of following our Lord. As I've said before, it is a theological virtue that is infused into our soul at baptism, along with hope and charity.

But what does it really take to be a disciple of God? What's the first thing we need to do? And Abraham, again, exemplifies this quite powerfully. Is it faith? Yes, it's faith.

Fr. Dom (06:48.888)
It's obedience. Obedience is the first step of being a disciple of our Lord. And Abraham was obedient. And then a last sentence from our first reading, God says, because you obeyed me, I will bless you abundantly, all your descendants, us. Then how does God bless us? His holy Catholic Church and the graces of the sacraments that we receive, that's how he blesses us.

So he's already laying the framework in the foundation of his Catholic Church, in which he wants the whole entire world converted to, so that they can be baptized and receive the Eucharist and receive confession. All these beautiful graces, that's how we're blessed. We are Abraham's descendants, adopted sons and daughters of God through baptism to be sure, but nevertheless died for us. Obedience. We have to be obedient to God. We have to submit.

to our Lord, and that's a hard word, isn't it, for us to submit. Obedience in the Latin is obediere. It means to hear. It means to listen. So in order to hear or listen, someone must speak. But someone needs to speak the truth, because we're hearing all kinds of crazy things out there in the world, aren't we? Satan, like I said, is grappling for our attention, most especially trying to destroy marriage.

and trying to destroy the dignity of what it means to be human. We are born male and female and male and female alone. Marriage is between a man and a woman and a man and a woman alone. People speak and we listen. That's what our ears are for. But we need to hear the truth. And so we need to be obedient, obediere, to sit at the feet of the master. And then we can hear the truth speak to us. And it is God. God through his church and through his holy priests.

who speak the power of the truth, full of courage and bravery.

Fr. Dom (08:51.342)
That's the power of our first reading.

Then when we look at our gospel today, when we look at the transfiguration, transfiguration is the figure has been transformed. So Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, again, another mountain, up to the top of the mountain, and then he is transfigured. Peter, James, and John, they're very devout Jews. So when Jesus is transfigured on this mountain, they know exactly what is happening.

because they're remembering all the Old Testament readings that they were raised with, that they were taught with. First thing that they remember is a sentence that's not in our gospel, but it's the first sentence. I wish it was in our gospel. Our gospel really needs to begin with after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain. After six days. So Peter, James, and John would know what this means because it would take them back to what? It'd take them back to Genesis.

Jesus, God, the Holy Trinity, created everything we know. And it took six days for creation. But then after six days, what did God do? He rested. And then He made that day holy. He sanctified it. That's the day we celebrate here today, a very holy day.

So after six days, on the seventh, Jesus is transfigured. So Peter, James, and John are understanding what is happening here, that Jesus is showing them that he is God. And on top of that, Moses and Elijah show up too. Moses representing the law, Elijah representing the other prophets. Jesus in the middle of them, Moses and Elijah are bowing before Jesus because Jesus is the gospel, the fulfillment of everything.

Fr. Dom (10:45.614)
that the economy of salvation has pointed towards.

What a great powerful reading that's presented for us today. We too can participate in the transfiguration as well. For here there is an altar. Though Isaac is not being sacrificed, Jesus is.

He's not being sacrificed again. But the Catholic Church has always taught from the words of Jesus himself that what happens here is a re -presentation of the one -time sacrifice of Jesus. So every time you come to Mass, you come before the mountain. The bread and the wine are transubstantiated and consecrated, turning into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of God. Not only do you get to witness, really, the transfiguration, but you get to consume it.

What a gift. Every mass we come before Calvary. How do you dress? How do you prepare? How do you act? If you were to go to Calvary 2 ,000 years ago...

How would you dress? How would you act? How would you prepare yourself? It's the same thing. It's so important to prepare yourself for the holy sacrifice of the mass when you come here to Calvary, witness the transfiguration and get to consume God in the beautiful sacrament of the Eucharist, body, blood, soul, and divinity, knowing that when you receive the host, no matter if it's the smallest piece of the host, you're receiving what? All the flesh.

Fr. Dom (12:26.094)
and the blood. Don't forget that. Every host you receive, you're receiving all the blood. Why? Because it's alive. To separate the blood from the flesh is death. But that's not what we're receiving. If you think that when you receive the host, all you're receiving is the flesh, that's not Eucharistic theology. That's not taught by Jesus. If you receive the smallest piece of the host, it's all the flesh. It's all the blood and the soul and divinity of God.

and you come before the transfiguration.

Brothers and sisters, as we enter more deeply into Lent, let us continue to give our hearts to the Lord through intense prayer, intense fasting, and almsgiving. Don't let this Lent pass you by. So the church is presenting for us the transfiguration. And as you come before the mountain to receive our Lord, give your heart completely over to him. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Fr. Dom (13:32.206)
Thank you all so much for tuning in to another episode of The Manly Catholic. If you have not already done so, please hit that subscribe button wherever you get your podcasts to make sure you don't miss a single episode. It will also help grow the show and reach as many men as possible. We truly think this podcast can change families and help men to change the world. Thank you again so much for tuning in and God bless you.