by Rev. Herbert Nichols

A friend of mine used to say: I was an expert on women until I married one. What he was saying is that he went through a transformative experience because of being intimately present to his wife. We can all have experiences that enable us to perceive others more definitively, more clearly, more sincerely. This is true of God and because we are images of God-ultimately we have a transformed image of ourselves.

But it all begins with trust. In the first reading from Genesis, in a few verses, just prior to today’s section Abram is just about at the end of his rope. He wonders out loud how He and his aged and barren wife Sarah will ever have children.

God answers by taking him to view the beautiful night sky and makes a remarkable covenant unlike the customary Semitic covenants in which the weak were obliged to buy/earn favor from the powerful. God willingly obligates himself to the powerless Abram; making it very clear that Abram need do nothing to earn God’s generosity. All God asks is that Abram and all of us trust in Him.

How many people today are still locked in that Semitic mentality where Lent is a time to buy/earn God favors. Even when we are unfaithful; God is always faithful. .That is so difficult for us to understand because we are so conditioned to lose trust to loose confidence when we have been hurt--or to feel guilt, fear, and anger when we have hurt someone else-- but the good news of the gospel is one of unconditional reconciliation. Unconditional love is the key to understanding our relationship to God and to one another.

The Rite of Christian Initiation (RCIA) has brought great vitality to many parishes by emphasizing sound doctrine, conversion of heart and strong community as a model for the parish, the diocese and the entire Church. Strong relational bonds are created through honest sharing of faith and life that facilitate openness to the gospel and Church teaching.

How much could parish life and the life of the larger Church benefit from replicating this style of RCIA. In our very privatized society, the Church has a unique opportunity to meet deep human needs and offer opportunities for people to bond together in a very personal way and rich communion.

How we long to be understood! Renewed understanding must be followed by positive actions as well as renewed structures so that clergy, hierarchy and laity will never again feel so isolated and alienated. Within our Church, within our communities we can discover and create understanding, patience, and forgiveness, and solidarity.

Do we listen to every word of God or only the selected ones we find comfortable and consoling. We must also be attending to the challenges and the calls to deeper commitment. In the letter to the Philippians Paul says: Look to the example of the one person you can trust. Imitate me. Observe my conduct as a model for proper behavior. Lest one get the impression that Paul is boasting and congratulating himself; he also goes on to say in another place. I am not perfect. I am no saint. And I boast of nothing except that I know Jesus Christ and I am known by Him.

If we truly have this relationship with God, then as we saw last week it must be truly lived out in the conduct of our lives. Paul makes this warning clear: I have said this to you before; this time I say it with tears. It breaks my heart to see you so slow to believe. There are some of you, and I am talking about those who occupy their minds with earthly things, who conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ and end in disaster.

When there are trials and serious difficulties within the Christian community, either local or universal; our loving relationship with Christ provides us the wisdom, the strength, the patience, the courage, the hope and forgiveness for which we long.

How enriched would we be if we all could live up to the fullness of our vocations! How enriched we are to the extent that, with God’s help, we strive each day to become what we are called to be. How blessed when we help one another fulfill those respective callings. How important it is for us to mutually seek means and structures that foster good communications and strong communal bonds.

Look to, but do not imitate the example of the his disciples in today’s gospel who observe little of what is happening; and upon awakening are filled with confusion and awe.

Here Jesus is wrapped in the glory of his Father accompanied by the great lawgiver Moses and the prophet Elijah attentive to the voice of God in a gentle whispering wind, there to remind Him of his rites of passage--Passover through suffering and death.

Desertion by these closest friends who now slept. Just as the temptations of last week would repeat themselves at Gethsemane; so too would the disciples repeat with sleepiness and half-heartedness.

As the disciples awaken, all the heavens break loose. The voice of the Father comes from a l just as it did when leading the Israelites out of Egypt, as it did on the peak of Mt. Sinai, at the Jordan river when Jesus was baptized. This voice identifies Jesus as the Son of God and Suffering Servant, My chosen one, Listen to Him.