Scripture Reflection, 2nd Sunday of Lent, March 16, 2025

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 Philippians 3:17--4:1 Luke 9:28b-36

All of life is more than the eye can see.

In today's gospel, Peter, John and James get a master class in that reality. They go with Jesus up the mountain and see him transfigured. "His face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white,” says Luke. This was not a different Jesus, but the same person they knew all along. The real Jesus. Now they saw him more deeply, more than their eyes had ever before seen.

How appropriate for us to read this gospel at the beginning of Lent. Though we may have somber associations with the word "lent ", it actually means "spring.“ And now, in the spring of the year, the natural world is really more than the eye can see. Beneath those piles of dirty snow at the edge of the parking lot, underneath the layer of last year's fallen leaves, new life is beginning. We may not be able to see those little green shoots yet, but they are there. More than the eye can see.

The same thing can be said of the people we pass. The homeless person pushing all of her belongings in a grocery cart, the heavily-tattooed cashier, the young family at the border escaping violence in their home country, they are all more than we can see. Their histories, their challenges, their hopes and dreams, and, most importantly, the divine spark within them, are all invisible to our naked eye, yet a real part of each person.

In "Fratelli Tutti,” Pope Francis tells us, "For Christians, the words of Jesus have an even deeper meaning. They compel us to recognize Christ himself in each of our abandoned or excluded brothers and sisters.” # 85.

As we pray, fast and offer works of charity this Lent, may we do so with attentiveness to the reality invisible to our naked eye…to Christ himself in each other human being.

by: Pat Schnee