“Our soul waits for the Lord, who is our help and our shield. May your kindness, O Lord, be upon us who have put our hope in You.”
~ Psalm 33, 20 to 22
Friend,
The second week of Lent… and transformation is definitely the message of today’s Gospel. Are you up to the challenge?
In the company of his disciples—Peter, James and John his brother—Jesus revealed his divinity. At that moment, Matthew says “his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.” What Jesus is telling us by example is that we can be changed, too.
Lent is the time for a quiet transformation of our spiritual lives, a time to shine our light and proclaim through prayer and good works salvation in Christ. The best way I know to be transformed is to give ourselves over to God so that each day we are a new creation, reflecting in some way an expression of infinite love and endless compassion.
With the words of a humble missioner, let’s ask God to transform us today. Here’s a suggestion: Stop for a moment and think about the things in your life that may be going in the wrong direction. Pick just one thing you want to change, and place your intentions in God’s hands. Pray over it. Then be open to the Spirit and let yourself be transformed.
Friend, we can be comforted knowing that the goodness we do as God’s children will not only change us, but every life we touch. In this second week of Lent, I’ll be working on my own transformation right beside you. Let’s pray for each other and place our trust in God. God never fails.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Father Raymond J. Finch, M.M.
Prayer for 2nd Sunday of Lent
It is good for us to be here, Jesus,
alone with You in prayer and praise.
For here You reveal to us
not only who You are but also
who You call us to become.
You do not take away our suffering,
You transform it into the door
that opens the way to You.
You do not protect us from temptation
but give us the grace to resist.
You do not spare us from failing
but rather show us Your love even there.
For when we offer You our faults and failures
and give our temptations and testing
over to Your Holy Will in that daily dying to ourselves
we find we too have been transformed and transfigured.
Amen.
Prayer by Maryknoll Missioner, Father Joseph Veneroso
