Word to the Wise
Sunday, February 17, 2008 - Second Sunday of Lent
[Genesis 12:1-4A; 2 timothy 1:8B-10; Matthew 17:1-9]Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.
Generations of us remember the great moment at the movies when the cartoon came on! It was like having dessert first! One of the favorite cartoons was Popeye the Sailor! His message was simple: Somehow at the last second before all was lost, a can of spinach would make its appearance, and he would show immense biceps before clobbering the enemy. Of course, for those kids who hated spinach (I was not one of them) the cartoon was not terribly persuasive. Our parents would have to find some other way like threats to make us eat what was good for us so that we would "grow strong!" Hardship and strength seem to go together. We rather take strength for granted when we don't need it. The early Christian community discovered that it needed strength rather quickly because persecution was not long in coming. In addition to that, there were more than enough difficulties in preaching the new and exciting gospel about Jesus Christ. In the description of the Transfiguration in today's Gospel, the apostles and we are given a glimpse of the strength of Jesus in the voice that says, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him!" That is where Timothy would be finding strength to bear his share of the hardship for the gospel. We don't have to look far to find hardship. It can be great and small. Pictures of devastation from storms or famines or wars certainly provide us with dramatic instances. We find ourselves wondering how we would bear up! Yet we discover that many make it through these hard times because of their faith. On a different scale, the loss of a beloved one or an illness or job loss can be very hard to bear. Yet we find strength in faith to deal with it. For many Catholics, it is hard to share faith with others. We leave it somehow to the folks who are priests or "activists" who run the RCIA programs. We let the strength provided by God be a private strength. We fail to see how strength actually grows when it is shared and how hardship lessens when it is shared. Lent offers us a great opportunity to share "the strength that comes from God" in our faith. Finding ways to share the hardships of our own lives as well as those of our neighbors will bring us a profound appreciation of the strength of faith. AMEN
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