2nd Sunday of Lent 2021

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels 
February 28, 2021

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

It is a joy for me to be with you to celebrate this second Sunday of Lent! 

As you know, last Sunday we began our Lenten journey with the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. 

Today we continue that journey in our Gospel as we climb the mountain with Peter, James and John. 

And at the top of a high mountain — something amazing happens. 

The Gospel tells us that Jesus was “transfigured before them.” His clothes turned “dazzling white.” So bright, so white — that nothing on earth could have caused that. 

So, we have to ask ourselves — what is going on here? What is the meaning of the Transfiguration?

Jesus is showing us who he really is. 

Up until this moment in the Gospel, people saw Jesus only as a human being, he seemed like just another person. 

He was a special person. There is no doubt about that. He could do miracles, he could heal people who were sick. But even so, he seemed like he was another prophet. 

And that is why on the mountain, we meet Moses and Elijah and they are talking to Jesus. As we know, Moses is the one who gave us the Ten Commandments and Elijah was a great prophet and miracle-worker. 

Jesus wants to show his disciples he is a “new Moses” and a “new Elijah.” But Jesus wants them to see that he is even greater than that. 

That is why we have that amazing scene — God the Father comes down in a cloud and it casts a big shadow over all of them. And then we hear his voice: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”

This beautiful scene today is meant to reveal to us that Jesus is not only a true and perfect human being. He is true and perfect God, the beloved Son of God. 

So today we see who Jesus really is. But in revealing his true identity, he also reveals ours, who we really are. 

He shows us that we are God’s beloved sons and daughters — every one of us. This is the gift that is given to us when we are baptized. 

My brothers and sisters, this is the amazing reality of our lives. We are children of God! God made you — he made me, too — for beautiful things, for great things. He made us to be like him, to be holy. To become saints. 

God wants us to be holy, to be saints. This is God’s will for you and for me; this is his plan for every person. And he orders his creation according to his purposes, which is our sanctification and salvation in Christ.

This is the journey we are on, every one of us. God is calling us to travel with him, to follow his plan for our life. 

That is the point of the first reading that we heard today. The point is that God calls every one of us, just like he called Abram. And just like Abram, God wants us to accept his invitation and follow him. 

And I have been talking about this a lot this Lent. We need to grow in our trust in the Lord. We need to entrust ourselves more and more to his tender care and seek more and more to do his will in everything.  

Our challenge is to trust in Jesus, to believe in his love for us, to believe that he has a plan for our lives, and to entrust ourselves totally to him, seeking his will in all things.

Brothers and sisters, this Lent we need to recover this beautiful truth. That we are made children of the living God and he creates us to be holy as he is holy and to love as he loves. We are made to be saints. 

Being born is just the beginning. Baptism gives our lives a new “trajectory,” a new purpose. We are meant to grow and to be perfected. We are meant to become a new creation. 

Do you want to find happiness and joy? Do you want to be “all that you can be” — to become the person that God made you to be? 

If you do, then follow Jesus. He will show you the way to live, the way to find true love and lasting joy.  

That is why God tells us today in the Gospel: “This my beloved Son. Listen to him.”

Jesus is the way. “Listen to him” means talking to him in prayer. It means reading about his life in the Gospels. The most important thing in life — is your relationship with Jesus. 

I know what you are thinking. You are thinking this is impossible, right? Nobody can ever be like Jesus. But with God’s grace we can do it! God wants us to do it! 

St. Paul tells us today in that second reading: “If God is for us, who can be against us!” 

Jesus is alive! He is always with us! And if you keep Jesus in your life, you can do anything! 

God gives us life so we can give life to others. He puts us here on earth to make a difference. He wants us to share his love and mercy and work for justice and peace — and to make this world his Kingdom. 

This is how you grow in holiness. If we stay close to Jesus, if we keep trying to do what he says, we will keep getting stronger in our love. We will find that we are being “transfigured” — that we are becoming, more and more every day, the people that God made us to be. 

And that is a beautiful feeling, my brothers and sisters. And that is what God wants for your life and for mine. 

So, let us make this our prayer today as we continue on our Lenten journey. 

Through these disciplines of Lent — through our fasting and prayer and works of charity — let us be  transformed and transfigured. To become more like Jesus every day of our lives, until one day we are raised up in the Resurrection, when he will change our earthly body to be like his own glorious body. ²

My brothers and sisters, please pray for me and I am praying for you. 

And may our Blessed Mother Mary help all of us to allow Jesus to “transfigure” our lives and to make us more like him.

1. Readings: Gen. 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Ps. 116:10, 15-19; Rom. 8:31b-34; Mark 9:2-10.

2. Phil. 3:21.