The story of the Transfiguration of Jesus in the Luke’s Gospel this week is like the ones in Matthew and Mark. One difference is that Jesus does not tell the three disciples to keep it secret. It seems they decided on their own not to tell anyone. Maybe Luke knew that Jesus asked them to keep quiet but wanted to show that the disciples were not about to tell what they had seen and heard. Why not?

One reason may be that the experience was so personal and overwhelming that they didn’t have the words to express it fully. All three Gospels mention white clothing and Matthew says that Jesus’ face shone like the sun (17:2). Perhaps they could not look at Jesus directly without hurting their eyes. It recalls the Old Testament idea that if you looked at the face of God, you would die. So, the disciples may not have wanted to talk about what they could not understand.

The other reason may be what they heard. While Matthew and Mark just say that Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah, Luke is more specific: They “spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem” (9:31). Jesus had just said that he would suffer, die, and be raised from the dead in Luke 9:22. It was bad enough that Jesus was telling them this. They probably hoped he was just telling them the worst that could happen, not what really would happen.  So hearing it from Moses and Elijah as well as from Jesus was too much for them.

This is where we come in. The apostles were afraid to face the coming passion and death of Jesus.  We are like them in that we suffer more in anticipating what would hurt us than we do going through it. Our fears are often worse than the reality. That is where faith can help. In faith, we hear Jesus tell us not to fear, as he often told his disciples. We know that Jesus suffered on the cross, so he knows what suffering is. And faith tells us that he is with us even when the suffering is the result of our own sins. After all, he himself suffered because of our sins. So have faith!                  -Tom Schmidt, Diocesan Publications

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SAINT JOSEPH,

HUSBAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

March 19

Joseph, someone once joked, was indeed the perfect husband: the only major character in Jesus’ story who never utters a word! But the Gospel recounts and the liturgy celebrates his silent witness of faith-filled deeds: “With a husband’s love he cherished Mary, the Virgin Mother of God; with fatherly care he watched over Jesus” (Preface of Saint Joseph, Sacramentary). Catholic devotion, therefore, hails him as patron-protector of the universal Church. Some cultures set a festive “Saint Joseph’s Table,” welcoming the poor and strangers to feast with family and friends. Tradition keeps March 19th as the anniversary of his death, which we presume was peaceful, with Jesus and Mary present. Thus, Catholics invoke Joseph as “patron of a happy death.” Descended from David’s house, which God finished “building” through Joseph’s provision of a home for Mary and Jesus, he was, fittingly, a carpenter by trade; thus, patron of workers. Spring, nature’s rebirth, begins between his feast and Annunciation (March 25), appropriately, since Joseph’s silent obedience and Mary’s “Let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38) usher in humanity’s spiritual rebirth.

—Peter Scagnelli, Diocesan Publications

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TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION – Second Sunday of Lent

By now, many may have failed in Lenten discipline to some measure or another: the daily doughnut is simply too alluring, or a furtive puff on a cigarette irresistible. There is meaning even in the failure, though, a kind of reminder that we cannot save ourselves. Part of the power of Lent is that we do it together, and although individuals decide on different ways to keep it, it is fundamentally the same journey. We fall, we get up, we keep moving. The desire to “give something up” for Lent is an age old impulse in the Christian heart. We get better at it over the years, and move more deeply into the meaning and message of acts of sacrifice. There is no shame in stumbling, as long as we are not discouraged by the failure and give up. We are clearing space in our lives, after all, and some of the things we desire to give up are worth rooting out completely anyway. What do we do with the space we have cleared out by our sacrifice? The Lenten question of giving up is balanced by the Easter question of our response to Christ’s embrace of us in love: “What are you taking on for Easter? —James Field, Diocesan Publications