[00:00:05] Hello, my name is Sally Moriarty-Flask. Welcome to: From His Word to Our Hearts, my weekly Bible Study podcast. Together we will explore the readings to be proclaimed at the Catholic Mass on Sunday, March 1, 2026, the Second Sunday of Lent.
[00:00:23] This week's episode is entitled: Rise and Have No Fear, and in these readings, we are reminded that making sacrifices is part of living. Jesus sacrificed his divine glory to save us, Abram sacrificed his home to become the father of all the faithful, Paul sacrificed his comfort and safety to preach the good news of Jesus. We may not yet know all the sacrifices that will be required of us in this life, but Lent helps us learn humility so that we can let go of our expectations to experience the life that is waiting for us.
As we journey through the readings this week, consider the following:
It is still early in our Lenten journey, but chances are we've already experienced some type of setback. But we can't let that discourage us. We must all, at times, be uncomfortable in order to do God's will. So, let's embrace that! Here's to being uncomfortable!
Let's begin in prayer:
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you for our weaknesses, our setbacks, and our failings, for they teach us to be humble and to trust in you. May our prayer, fasting and almsgiving this Lent teach us to welcome every experience you offer and embrace the life that awaits us. We ask this through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now that we've opened our hearts in prayer, let's listen to what God is telling us in the Scriptures.
[00:02:17] Our Gospel this week is from Matthew 17: 1-9.
[00:02:23] “Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Eli’jah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Eli’jah.’ He was still speaking, when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’ When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear.’ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, ‘Tell no one the vision, until the Son of man is raised from the dead.’”
[00:03:40] On the Second Sunday of Lent, we hear one of the accounts of the Transfiguration of Jesus - since we are in Cycle A this year, we hear Matthew's version. We must keep in mind, however, that Matthew did not personally witness this event, but relied on the testimony of those who did to craft his narrative. In actuality, none of the other authors of the Synoptic Gospels witnessed the Transfiguration… only Jesus' Inner Circle were present at the top of the Mount of the Transfiguration. Meaning that, as the disciples followed Jesus, as they traveled together, shared meals and camped out together, they spent a lot of time talking to each other, swapping stories and experiences, and - how could they not?
[00:04:34] No one had ever witnessed what they were privileged to be witnessing! And just as the authors of the Synoptic Gospels relied on the witness of their fellow apostles for details they otherwise would never have known, we too rely on their witness as the basis for our faith. Their words are what allows us to know the person of Jesus. The Church has always relied on the witness of the apostles… that's what the Gospel texts are - Apostolic witness!
[00:05:13] So, let's listen to what Matthew has to tell us about the Transfiguration…
“Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother,”
Meaning that Inner Circle - Jesus' Inner Circle - three of the first disciples called by Jesus to follow him, the three that were closest to Jesus, that witnessed events others did not.
[00:05:44] “And [Jesus] led them up a high mountain apart.”
In the Bible, mountains had always been regarded as places of divine encounter. And notice that Matthew does not name the mountain on which the Transfiguration occurred… he just says that it was a high mountain. As early as the 3rd century, Origen identified Mount Tabor as the location, and both Saint Jerome and Saint Cyril affirmed that in the 4th century. Now Mount Tabor is just under 2,000 feet high… a large mountain, but by no means the most impressive one around.
[00:06:31] In the 17th century, an English scholar suggested that Mount Hermon, at over 9,000 feet, was a much more impressive location for such an awe-inspiring event.
[00:06:45] We will never know for certain where this took place, but time and tradition are certainly on the site of Mount Tabor and that is where the Church of the Transfiguration stands today. I do have photos of that Church and of Mount Tabor and the surrounding countryside that I will include on my Instagram post this week.
[00:07:09] “And [Jesus] was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light.”
[00:07:20] The brightness that these three apostles see is the glory that belongs to Jesus by virtue of his divine nature. It is a precious glimpse of his divinity, hidden within his humanity. In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew presents Jesus as the new Moses giving a new law.
[00:07:51] Here in the Transfiguration, we are invited to encounter a profound truth about Jesus… that he inherently possesses the glory that Moses only saw. Jesus does not encounter the reflected glory of God in the burning bush as Moses did… Jesus’ face does not just shine with the reflected glory of God as Moses’ face did after he descended Mount Sinai… Jesus actually possesses that divine glory!
[00:08:32] “And behold,”
Remember Matthew uses that word like a trumpet blast to grab our attention!
[00:08:39] “there appeared to them Moses and Eli’jah,”
[00:08:44] Moses represents the law and Elijah represents the prophets - so all of Jewish teaching and tradition are embodied in those two pivotal figures. And they were…
“talking with [Jesus].”
[00:09:03] Moses and Elijah had both undertaken 40-day fasts - as Jesus did… both heard the voice of God speak to them directly - as Jesus did, now they are the ones chosen to meet God face-to-face… God the Son - the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
“And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Eli’jah.’”
The text implies that this event probably took place around the time of the Feast of Booths, a seven-day Jewish harvest feast that recalls God's provident care for the Hebrews as they wandered in the desert during the Exodus. That feast usually falls in late September or early October. Leviticus 39 names the temporary structures that the Jews were to inhabit for those seven days booths and says they are to be constructed out of natural materials… palm and willow branches and the boughs of leafy trees.
[00:10:23] The NAB text translates booths as tents, but tents would probably have been made out of woven cloth, so that's not really a good translation in this instance.
“He was still speaking when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them,”
There's that word “behold” again… Matthew is directing our attention to something important - this time it's a cloud. Modern Christians think of clouds scientifically, but in biblical times, clouds were viewed as things that both concealed and revealed God.
[00:11:11] God himself told Moses in Exodus 33: man cannot see the face of God and live. So, clouds both conceal God's countenance and reveal his glory. And remember, a pillar of cloud led the Hebrews out of bondage during the Exodus, a cloud settled on Mount Sinai when God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, a cloud descended on the Tent of Meeting in the desert to indicate God was present, the same cloud filled the Holy of Holies when Solomon first dedicated the temple in Jerusalem.
[00:11:56] In Ezekiel 10, however, we are told that the prophet experienced a vision of God's glory leaving the temple. This cloud that overshadows the Mount of the Transfiguration signifies the return of God's glory, which both Ezekiel and Isaiah foretold.
“and a voice from the cloud”
[00:12:26] That voice, of course, is God the Father, who said…
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;”
Those are the same words that the Father spoke at Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, but then he adds…
“listen to him.”
[00:12:48] God speaks those words to us as well! He tells us directly that we are to listen to his Son! It seems to me that if our Creator is going to speak to us, we should probably pay attention!
[00:13:09] And listening to Jesus is not always easy and it's not often comfortable. Jesus challenges us… to love others as he loves us, to be holy as our Father in heaven is holy, and to know that whatever we do to the least of us - we do to Jesus himself.
[00:13:33] Those are not easy words to live, but we have to try.
[00:13:39] “When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe.”
Falling prostrate on the ground like that convinces us that Peter, James, and John were completely overwhelmed by encountering God's glory. We hear those words… fell on their faces, filled with awe… but all too often they're just that - words that we hear before moving on.
What if instead we really tried to imagine being there ourselves? What if we tried to put ourselves next to them on the Mount of the Transfiguration?
In the early 2000s, the Christian band Mercy Me released a song called “I Can Only Imagine” that attempted to capture what it might be like to meet God. The lyrics, in part, ask some very penetrating questions:
Surrounded by your glory what will my heart feel?
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing hallelujah?
Will I be able to speak at all?
[00:14:58] We hear the account of the Transfiguration every year during Lent, maybe this year we could spend some time trying to really understand the experience of the apostles.
[00:15:15] “Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear.’”
[00:15:20] Have no fear… be at peace… do not be afraid…
Those are typical reassurances offered when mere humans come face to face with the divine. Jesus is saying the same thing to us. Rise - get up - there's a lot we still have to do… and we can't accomplish anything if we're paralyzed by fear.
“And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”
Jesus now stands alone.
From the Fall onward, it was always Jesus' mission to redeem mankind… alone.
[00:16:05] The Old Testament foretold that Elijah's return would herald the coming of the Messiah in Malachi 4, and that a prophet like Moses - a new Moses - would arise in Deuteronomy 18. Jesus is the promised Messiah, the new Moses, and he alone can fulfill God's plan for the salvation of mankind… he alone can complete the work of man's redemption.
“And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, ‘Tell no one the vision, until the Son of man is raised from the dead.’”
[00:16:46] Jesus' Resurrection is, of course, still in their future at this point. So, the words “raised from the dead” must have been both confusing and frightening. But this event does help the apostles understand Jesus' identity and mission… not immediately, but eventually.
[00:17:14] In a three-volume commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, W.D. Davies and Dale Allison, Jr. noted significant parallels between the Transfiguration and the Crucifixion.
Both events take place upon a height.
In the Transfiguration, all is light, Jesus’ garments shine, he is flanked by two great biblical figures, and the Father says: “listen to him.”
In the Crucifixion, all is darkness, Jesus’ garments are stripped from his body and divided, he is flanked by two thieves, and Jesus himself says: “Father, forgive them.”
[00:18:03] No ordinary man will be Crucified on Calvary to redeem mankind, the one that will be crucified IS the divine Son of God - his only beloved Son. Jesus not only sacrificed his glory to become Incarnate and dwell among us, he sacrificed his life, his very self… for us.
[00:18:32] We all make sacrifices in life, some are easy… some are not... and they are often uncomfortable. Whatever sacrifices life requires of us, we must embrace them because Jesus never promised easy… he did, in fact, promise that we would have crosses to carry.
[00:18:58] So, let's embrace our crosses, embrace our sacrifices, embrace our personal challenges, embrace our times of suffering… so that in humility, we can let go of what we think our life should be, and embrace the life that awaits us… here on earth AND in heaven.
[00:19:27] That takes us to our First Reading, which is from Genesis 12: 1-4a.
[00:19:35] “[T]he LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.’ So Abram went, as the LORD had told him.”
This passage comes at the beginning of chapter 12 in Genesis… and we hear it after we heard the account of the Fall last week. That's not coincidental. So, to understand why this passage was chosen - to flesh out the context - we have to do so by comparing it to the Fall… last week we heard that Adam and Eve didn't obey God, didn't trust God, didn't listen to God.
In contrast, we hear this week that Abram does obey God, he does trust God, he does listen to God. Through Abram, God begins his great rescue operation to redeem mankind.
[00:21:04] And we have to understand that God doesn't effect our salvation without our cooperation… he wants us to be involved in the process… he wants us to choose him!
[00:21:21] God won't force us to do that - we all have free will - but we were created for union with God and that is the destiny he wants for us.
[00:21:36] So, let's explore the text a bit more deeply…
[00:21:41] “[T]he LORD said to Abram,”
This is God's Divine Commission to Abram. Just as God instructed Adam to keep until the garden - instructions that Adam failed to accomplish - God now instructs Abram to…
“Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.”
[00:22:11] Abram is told that he must sacrifice his home, his family, his identity in order to cooperate with God's plan. But then God offers a Divine Promise as a reward for Abram's obedience. He says…
[00:22:34] “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.”
[00:23:01] Notice that all of these promises are from God made directly to Abram… meaning that Abram mediates those blessings, he will become the source of those blessings for himself and his descendants. And what are those blessings?
[00:23:26] God starts with the promise of land, a place to settle and put down roots for people who were traditionally nomadic… then he promises descendants to Abram and Sarai, people who had no expectation of children because of their advanced age and Sarai's previous inability to conceive… God then promises that Abram's name will be
well-known and respected… that blessings - or curses - will be given to those Abram encounters, depending on how they treat Abram… and lastly, that all the families of the earth shall be blessed because of Abram.
[00:24:25] Those are all amazing promises, but they come as a result of much sacrifice. Of course, we know how this story ends…
[00:24:40] “Abram went, as the LORD had told him.”
Meaning that Abram did what God asked him to do… he was obedient to God, unlike Adam who disobeyed God.
[00:24:56] This pivotal event is the beginning of God's grand rescue plan to redeem mankind that will culminate in Jesus's self-sacrifice on the Cross.
[00:25:12] When faced with God's Divine Commission to him, Abram must have been filled with fear, trepidation, uncertainty. And in choosing to undertake God's Commission, he had to make a lot of sacrifices… he had to give up his own personal comfort in order to do God's will.
[00:25:38] Sometimes we too have to be uncomfortable in order to do God's will. That is why our Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are so important. They teach us that it's okay to be uncomfortable… that we can survive that discomfort, we can handle it. So, let's embrace discomfort… at least for the remainder of Lent!
[00:26:11] That takes us to our Responsorial Psalm, which is Psalm 33, and the refrain is:
“Let your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”
[00:26:24] And here are the verses:
“For the word of the LORD is upright; and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the mercy of the LORD.”
“Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his merciful love, that he may deliver their soul from death, and keep them alive in famine.”
“Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and shield. Let your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.”
[00:27:04] This Psalm is a Liturgical Hymn… a call to praise God. Rather than a prayer dedicated to God, this Psalm actually contains a series of instructions directed toward the people, inviting them to praise the Lord.
In the first stanza, we hear that the word of the Lord is upright, which reminds us that the spoken word is powerful, and the greater the speaker, the more powerful the words that are spoken. God speaks - and what he says comes about because he is God.
The second and third stanzas encourage us to hope in God because such hope brings both temporal and eternal rewards.
[00:28:04] That leads us to our Second Reading, which is from 2 Timothy 1: 8b-10.
[00:28:13] “[Beloved:] [T]ake your share of suffering for the gospel in the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago, and now has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
[00:28:53] 2 Timothy is one of Paul's Pastoral Letters - along with 1 Timothy and Titus. The early Church universally accepted Paul as the author of these letters, but that authorship was called into question in the 19th century.
[00:29:13] Many scripture scholars contend that this letter was written when Paul was imprisoned a second time before his execution by Nero in 67 AD. Acts, however, only mentions one imprisonment, so not all scripture scholars accept the contention that Paul was imprisoned on two different occasions.
[00:29:40] Timothy was likely in Ephesus at the time this letter was written, and through it Paul is encouraging Timothy to be strong in his ministry of spreading the good news of Jesus, while - at the same time - summoning him to Rome to be with Paul in his time of need.
[00:30:03] Paul's concept of his own vocation, his understanding of his mission, is on full display here and serves as the very basis upon which he builds his encouragement of Timothy - that suffering must be endured for the sake of the gospel (that's lowercase “g” gospel) - the good news of Jesus.
[00:30:31] So, let's explore what Paul has to say to Timothy in this passage…
[00:30:37] “[Beloved:] [T]ake your share of suffering for the gospel in the power of God,”
[00:30:44] The NAB translates take as “bear” - either way, Paul is saying that suffering is part of the Christian life and that Timothy must accept whatever suffering comes his way.
[00:30:58] And by “power of God” Paul means that God himself will provide the strength needed to do so. He says the same thing to us!
[00:31:11] Suffering is part of all life, and most certainly part of the Christian life. We can't avoid it, so the best we can do is endure suffering patiently.
[00:31:24] Then Paul says that it was God…
“who saved us and called us with a holy calling,”
[00:31:32] Paul is reminding Timothy that redemption, faith come from God - they are gifts freely offered by God to all of us. Because we have free will, we can accept or reject God's gifts, his rewards, his promises.
[00:31:53] The initiative - the outreach - is always God's, but the choice is always ours.
[00:32:03] “not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace we which he gave us”
Meaning that our salvation and God's grace are unmerited, nothing we do can earn our salvation, nothing we do makes us eligible to receive God's grace… they are free gifts from God bestowed extravagantly - gratuitously - upon us.
[00:32:37] We can reject those gifts, but we cannot earn them for ourselves!
[00:32:44] Then Paul says these gifts were given to us…
“in Christ Jesus ages ago,”
[00:32:53] By that, Paul means that these gifts are eternal. Remember, Paul was a scholar, he was a Pharisee, he was well-educated, he knew the Jewish Scriptures quite well, and he understood the promises made in the Jewish Scriptures - what we would call the Old Testament. In the prologue of his Gospel, John says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Paul is expressing that same idea before John ever wrote those words!
[00:33:38] Then Paul says those gifts are…
“now manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus,”
[00:33:49] Meaning that the same Messiah that was promised in the Jewish Scriptures - the same Christ - was made Incarnate in the person of Jesus, who accomplished God's plan for the salvation of mankind once and for all.
[00:34:12] Jesus was born and lived in a specific time in history… Jesus’ Passion and Death occurred at a specific time in history… Jesus’ Resurrection occurred once in history… and everything that was gained through that is offered freely to all. That Jesus’ actions…
“abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
[00:34:51] When Paul encountered the Risen Jesus, his life was forever changed… and he spent the remainder of his earthly existence sharing that experience - sharing the gospel (the lowercase “g” gospel), good news of Jesus with everyone he could. In this letter, Paul is encouraging Timothy to do the same… just as he encourages us.
[00:35:29] Paul endured many hardships - he was stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, abandoned, tortured - all for the sake of the good news of Jesus.
[00:35:45] By comparison, getting up and going to Church every Sunday doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice…. a few weeks of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving seem pretty do-able.
[00:35:57] But perhaps God is actually asking more of us… maybe he's asking us to undertake something new, something challenging, something a little scary.
[00:36:17] The prayer, fasting, and almsgiving we adopt during this Lenten season should make us uncomfortable… because that discomfort might just produce something beautiful.
Without being irritated by a speck of dust or debris, an oyster would never produce a pearl.
[00:36:41] So, when something seems to prod or irritate us, if we hear a call that stays with us, maybe it's God asking us to be uncomfortable so that we can do his will!
Maybe that's God telling us to let go of the things we expect out of life, so that our life can be what HE intends it to be.
Let's embrace that! Here's to being uncomfortable!
[00:37:20] If you would like to reach out to me with questions or comments, send me an email at
[email protected]
Thank you for spending this time with me and until next we meet, may God shower his blessings upon you like a soft and gentle rain, and may he hold you safe and secure in the palm of his hand.
From His Word to Our Hearts is produced by SFS Audio Solutions.
The content of the show was assembled by me, Sally Moriarty-Flask.
Our music was composed by Jimmy Flask and is used with the permission of the composer. All rights reserved.
Information regarding references used in preparing the exegesis for this podcast is available upon request.
Thank you for listening; may your Lenten journey lead you into some profitable discomfort, and may the Good Lord bless you richly!
