Lesson For the Second Sunday of Lent (B)

The Cross Is Always Linked to the Resurrection

We are still at the beginning of Lent, this season of repentance and penitence, but today the Church is already talking to us about the Resurrection. In the transfiguration of Jesus in today's Gospel, Peter, James, and John get a glimpse of Christ's eternal glory, the glory he claimed fully after the resurrection.

St Paul, in today's Second Reading, writes passionately about God's power and faithfulness as revealed in Christ. And he changes his emphasis mid-sentence to take the spotlight off Christ's death on the cross and let it shine on his glorious resurrection. And in the passage about Abraham and Isaac, which narrates events that took place almost 2000 years before Christ, the release of Isaac from his bonds gives him new life - this too is a symbol of Christ's resurrection.

Even today's Psalm, when it speaks about walking with the Lord in the Land of the living and God "loosening the bonds" of his servant, is pointing our attention towards Christ's glorious resurrection. And yet, Easter is still more than a month away! What's going on here? It's very simple, really.

Lent is indeed meant to be a time of repentance and penitence, a time of sacrifice and reflection in which we acknowledge the weight of suffering in the world and in our lives, suffering that always has its roots in sin. This suffering is always part of the story of every human life, with or without Christ; but with Christ, it is not the end of the story. Crosses purify us of selfishness, if we allow them to, teaching us to lean more on Christ and to have a greater experience of his wisdom and joy - his resurrection.

In our Catholic faith, the cross and resurrection are two sides of the same coin; we must never allow ourselves to think of one without thinking of the others.

Running Marathons with Christ

Ryan Hall, the professional marathon runner who competed for the United States in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, understands this concept well. Ryan is a Christian, and his running career has always been linked to his faith. While in eighth grade and doing a 15-mile run in his hometown of Big Bear Lake, California, he suddenly felt a calling to compete in running at the highest levels: "I felt God had blessed me with this talent," he said in an interview years later. Since then, Ryan has been trying to glorify God by developing his running talent and bearing witness to his faith. His wild success in high school and college enabled him to launch a professional career.

While training for the Olympics, his daily schedule was like this: rise at 7am, eat breakfast, run 10 to 12 miles; eat lunch, have a massage or an ice bath to ease the muscles; take an afternoon nap to recover from the morning workout; run another five to six miles, go to the gym for strength and flexibility exercises; eat dinner, go to bed. That schedule is like most professional marathon runners. But on the night before a big race, Ryan's schedule breaks the mold. Instead of relaxing or listening to music, he watches Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, to get mentally prepared.

The example of Christ's suffering and resurrection helps him manage his pain during the race. He recalled being in agony in the final two miles of the London Marathon in April 2007, where his top performance shocked his competitors. His body was being stifled by a combination of 70-degree heat and a suffocating pace he had set earlier in the race. How was able to keep up his pace? Here's how he explained it: "I actually saw visions of the scarred body of Jesus, and it made me able to go on."

If we bear our crosses with Christ, we will also experience the power of Christ's resurrection - the two always go together.

Keeping the Balance of Christian Wisdom

A healthy, balanced Christian has to always keep these two things in view. By thinking of the resurrection, we find strength to carry our crosses. By not running away from our crosses, we make sure we're on the path to the resurrection. This is the Christian wisdom that keeps us joyful amid suffering, and reasonable amid success.

Two things can help us cultivate this wisdom during Lent. First, we should use the crucifix. It used to be common practice for Catholic families to have crucifixes on the walls of their houses, especially in their bedrooms and wherever the family would pray together. This practice has fallen off recently, but there's no reason we can't start it up again. We can also wear a crucifix necklace or pin or carry a holy card with an image of the crucifixion or put a picture of the suffering Christ on our cell phone screen. This helps us keep in mind what Christ suffered for our salvation. If we do that, the crosses that come our way will never surprise or derail us. We will learn to recognize more quickly God's hand in them.

And second, we should pray the Rosary. The Rosary is a simple prayer that gives us a tour of all the events of Christ's life, including his passion and resurrection. Even if we only pray one decade a day, which takes a few minutes, this tried-and-true prayer will help us avoid tunnel vision in our spiritual lives. In a few moments we will receive Jesus in the Eucharist, the marvellous fruit of his passion and resurrection. When we do, let's talk to him about our crosses and those of our loved ones, asking him to teach us to find hope in his resurrection even when we share in the pain of his passion.