These 3 readings are probably somewhat familiar to many of you, for they are well known stories by themselves, but the Church gives us these 3 readings today, on this 2nd Sunday of Lent, for a reason.  This season of Lent calls us to grow closer to God, to grow in trust and dependence on God, and to grow in love for our neighbor.  And these readings we are given today help us to do just that.  So let us look into and relate our lives with our 1st reading in order to help us understand the reason for our 2nd reading and Gospel.

Our 1st reading is part of the story of God putting Abraham to the test.  God puts Abraham to the test by asking him to sacrifice his son, Isaac.  Imagine, if you can, God calling you to physically sacrifice your only son, whom you love so dearly.  You have helped raise him, you have seen him grow up, you are proud of who he is becoming, and now God is asking you to end it all.  Confused, you wonder if God is really asking you to give up your own son.  Why would God want you to end the life of the one you love so dearly?  … But you know what you heard is correct, you know what God is asking of you.  God is asking you to love and obey Him more than you love your own son.  I know some of you have lost a child, so you can relate, and for that I am deeply sorry.  I also know many of you have sacrificed and are sacrificing your children in other ways.  I think of my parents, in a sense, sacrificing me to God to become one of his priests.  I think of Deacon Kellogg proudly offering his son to God to join religious life.  The question we have to ask ourselves is do we love God above all else?

Like Abraham, all of us are put to the test.  All of us are called to sacrifice something we would want to keep for ourselves.  The test God gives each of us this Lent is: Whom will you love more- God or that thing you are called to offer up?  And we should look at the small scarifies we are making in light of what God asked of Abraham. Wow… that diet coke, or dessert are more in perspective aren’t they.  J  But even more than that, we should learn from Abraham to trust God more than all else.

So how could Abraham do that, how could he offer up his beloved son?  To understand how Abraham would be willing to personally sacrifice his beloved son, we need to remember where Isaac came from.  Growing older, and still childless, with no one to continue his name and legacy, God saw Abram and his wife Sarai’s sad and sorrowful hearts.  God had compassion with Abram and entered into a covenant with him, and then changed their names to Abraham and Sarah.  Even though Abraham and his wife was advanced in years, and had no children, no one to pass on the family name and legacy, God said he would give Abraham countless children, and that he would make of Abraham the father of many nations, if only Abraham would keep the faith, trust and obey Him.  Eventually, Abraham listened and obeyed God, and God gave Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, whom Abraham loved so dearly.  So it is important for us to see that to Abraham, although Isaac was his beloved son, he did not see Isaac as really belonging to him.  Abraham knew that it really was God who gave Isaac to him.  Abraham knew that Isaac was a gift from God, and not a gift that was to be taken and held onto for his own pleasure and purpose.  And although Abraham loved Isaac, he knew that he must keep the Covenant with God; that he must obey God and trust God has a greater plan.

So what about you- what is it you are called to sacrifice?  Can you offer to God everything?  Your time, your service, your family, your finances?  Could you see your finances not as something that you earned on your own, but that they are because you have used the gifts God has given you?  You are only to be a good steward of the money you have.  Do you see your finances as a gift God has given you, and so they are not to be kept or used only according to your own pleasures and purposes, but for his?  Could you better entrust your finances to God- trusting that our God, who knows and loves you, will provide for your every need?  It sounds counter-intuitive, but those who give more are given more. 

Many of you came to the Parish Mission last week given by the Fathers of Mercy.  And I heard many of you said in confession that you did not realize contraception or sterilizing yourself to not have any more children is a mortal sin.  To all married couples, especially those who struggle with these issues, will you and your spouse entrust your fertility to God?  Will you trust that God knows that you feel you can’t handle any more children right now- whether it be for financial, health, or your own emotional reasons?  But that God knows what is best for you, and that God does not give you anything that you cannot not handle, with Him!

Do you ever think about the fact that your very life, every breath you take, is because God loves you and sustains you?  Do you see your life, your time, your talents and abilities as gifts God has given you?  And they aren’t given for your good alone; they are given for God’s purposes?  That God has a role you are to play in this world for the good of others…. Are you fully carrying out His will?  Have you given your entire life to God- given him permission to do with you what He desires?  Will you give of yourself, give of your time and talents, finances, etc, for the good of others?  Everything God has given us, is not to be kept for ourselves, but to be given away. 

And now let us look at our other readings to see how and why God calls us to such self-sacrifice.  First of all, don’t think that God isn’t calling Abraham or isn’t calling any of us to do what He hasn’t done.  Even though God was only testing Abraham, and in the end did not actually want him to sacrifice his beloved son, but wanted to see if Abraham loved God enough to do so.  But God actually did sacrifice his only beloved Son.  God did offer His own beloved Son, Jesus, to take on our human nature, to be handed over to and be sacrificed and die upon the cross.  God actually did sacrifice his only Son because God loves us; because that is what love does- love gives of self for the good of another.

We know that in this season of Lent God is calling us to give of ourselves more.  We are called to more prayer, more almsgiving, more fasting and sacrifice.  And the reason why God calls us to this is so that we can share in God himself and the love God has for us.  We can only receive the fullness God has for us if we give ourselves away.  God calls us to give of ourselves so that we can share in his love.  God is love.  God gives of Himself because God loves us.  God gives of himself for our benefit for our good.  In fact, everything, and I mean everything, God does is for our good. 

Even the transfiguration of Jesus in our Gospel was not for Jesus’ sake, but ours.  God transformed his Son and tells us “This is my beloved Son, Listen to Him”.  God reveals himself to us so that we can know Him.  Jesus called Peter, James, and John, the first disciples who gave up everything to follow Jesus, up with him to the mountain so that they could truly encounter God in such an amazing way, and be encouraged and strengthened in their sacrifice.  God gives of himself to us so that we can truly know and encounter Him and be transfigured ourselves.  But in order for us to truly encounter Him and be transfigured ourselves, we must give of ourselves for love of God and love of others.  So the question is this Lent- will you pass the test?   

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