FAITH VISION

FAITH VISION – 2nd Sunday of Lent, Year C

            People who go through many years of training for some vocation like the priesthood or profession like a doctor are helped by the vision of what they will become and what they will be able to do. Without the vision, the sacrifices demanded may not be able to be sustained. As disciples of Jesus, we can only take up the cross when we know it will end in glory with Christ. We do the work of the spiritual desert of combating temptation and conquering sin, and living as disciples, if we know the promised glory of heaven awaits us. We do the works of Christ’s reign if we are convinced the Risen Lord lives and is present to us by the Holy Spirit with His power. We can only go up to Jerusalem and make the passage through passion and death on the cross if we have before us the vision of transfiguration and Jesus glorified.

            Jesus spent time in prayer strengthening His vision of the glory of His Father, so that He would be strengthened for His mission on earth of combating the devil, establishing the reign of God on earth, and undergoing His suffering, passion and death on the cross. The stronger the disciple’s faith vision of the Risen Lord, the more one is willing to live according to God’s will. Jesus’ strong faith vision of His Father in heaven strengthened Him to do the Father’s will. Shortly before His Passover, Jesus took Peter, James and John to the mountain with Him for a time of prayer. He felt the need to be strengthened as His public ministry encountered greater opposition from the chief priests and the Pharisees which was leading to His death.

            On the mountain of prayer, Jesus received the strength He needed. The vision of the glory of His Father, and the words of Moses and Elijah strengthened Him for the terrible ordeal of His passage through betrayal, scourging, crowning with thorns, trial, carrying the cross, crucifixion and death. To make such a passage, His mind, heart, will and strength remained fixed on the glory of resurrection and the saving triumph for the human race by the fulfillment of His mission received from His Father. “While He was praying His face changed in appearance and His clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with Him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His exodus that He was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.” Those two great saints had passed through many sufferings in fulfilling their mission from God.

            The disciples with Jesus were overcome by the experience, and only later realized how the vision of transfiguration helped them in their mission and life of discipleship. They would come back many times to the vision of the transfiguration as we can see from the New Testament accounts. “Peter and his companions…saw His glory and the two men standing with Him.”

            With the help of the Holy Spirit, the disciple of Jesus keeps the vision of the transfigured Risen Jesus and the words of the Father in mind. The vision motivates us to live the cross in our life. Without the faith vision, we are less likely to imitate the great disciples who have gone before us. The vision of the Risen Jesus became the driving force in the life of Paul; who so imitated the way of Jesus, he could present himself as an example to fellow disciples. “Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us.” Without the faith vision of our Risen Lord, we cannot embrace the cross of following Him and may even become enemies of the Lord’s cross. “For many…conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ.”

            Abram kept before his mind the vision of the great number of descendants and the land the Lord promised him. He lived by his vision of faith. We know him as Abraham, our father in faith. As disciples of Jesus, we are to keep and live by the vision of the Risen Jesus and the promised kingdom of heaven. By growing as disciples, we nurture, support, and help others to be faithful disciples of Jesus. “The Lord is my light and my salvation.”

From the Diary of St. Faustina – 1578

“The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is – trust. The more the soul trusts, the more it will receive.”