History of Salvation

02-28-2021Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

The first reading today continues the “history of salvation” narrative that we hear throughout Lent this year. Today’s story was among the best-loved in the Jewish tradition (surely Joseph told the story to young Jesus as he formed him in the ways of their faith); the early fathers of the Church were very fond of it as a means of explaining the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

The overall tone of the first reading, psalm, and second reading seems a little incongruous with the dazzling Gospel, until we remember that the Transfiguration was placed as the Gospel for this Sunday precisely to remind us of the glory that awaits those who live faithfully and obediently to the will of God. In the life of Jesus, it is a preview of the glory of His Resurrection; for us it is a glimpse of the destiny of those who continue, as we heard in last week’s Gospel, to repent and believe in the Good News.