Are you tired of Lent already? The liturgy of today looks to the end of Lent, the glorification of Christ, the glorification of these who suffer as Abraham and Isaac did, the glorification of us, the people of God.
The natural world also celebrates the glorification of God today: there is a full moon this weekend. Every year around the second Sunday of Lent we have a full moon. The next full moon, a month later, will be the full moon of Easter.
St Paul encourages us. He wrote, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” God is for us? Why is God for us?
It is not because we are the most powerful of peoples; nor because we are better than the rest; nor because we are the most worthy; nor because we are Catholics; nor because we do better works of penance during Lent; nor because we are Democrats or Republicans; nor because of the schools we attend or attended. It is only because we are the weakest, the neediest and the tiniest of them all.
God is always in favor of the needy, the weak, the hungry, the sick, those most in need of God’s mercy, refugees, people on the move, people looked down upon, and discouraged people. Indeed, in our condition of need, of weakness, of powerlessness, of tiredness, and whatever other similar conditions, God is for us.
Today the liturgy shows us light in our darkness, the light at the end of the tunnel, the glory of Easter. Abraham and his son Isaac, in their hardship and sadness, saw the glory of God. The apostles in their anxiety saw the glory of Christ together with Elijah and Moses.
Today nature strengthens us with the Lenten full moon, the last full moon before the Easter full moon when we will celebrate the resurrection of Christ and our life with Christ through baptism.
Christ does not accuse us, nor condemn us, but he is always at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us in our weaknesses and anxieties. Perk up! God is for us!