Lent is a time of preparation for the celebration of the Christian Passover. We celebrate our redemption; and our celebration of Lent cannot be separated from the concrete situations in which people and Christians celebrate such a significant season, namely, it is the time of our redemption. Redemption is the same as liberation and salvation. And all people are in need of liberation and salvation. In the celebration of the Easter Passover, our Holy Week, the mystery of human redemption is so profoundly incarnated in the history of our people that we can now say that Lent and Holy Week have been made especially for us. This is the celebration of our redemption. Today’s gospel presents us with the figure of the transfigured Jesus in whom is personified the redemption of humankind and the hope of all peoples. Saint Luke uses the scene of the transfiguration as a preamble to Jesus’ going up to Jerusalem. The gospel tells us that Jesus spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. This is a warning for all of us: the path of redemption will lead to the cross and the path of the resurrection must first be the path of Calvary. All the blood of our people ought to be united to the blood of Jesus that was shed on the sorrowful journey to Calvary.

This Lent, which we observe amid blood and sorrow, ought to foreshadow a transformation of our people, a resurrection of our nation. The Church invites us to modern forms of penance — fasting and prayer — which are traditional Christian practices that can be adapted to the circumstances of every people. Lenten fasting is not the same thing in those lands where people eat well as it is among third-world peoples, who are always undernourished and always fasting, living in a perpetual Lent. For those who eat well, Lent is a call to austerity, a call to give away in order to share with those in need. But in poor lands, in homes where there is so much hunger, Lent should be observed in order to give meaning to the cross that is the sacrifice of everyday life. But this should not be done with a mistaken sense of surrender. God does not want that. Rather, feeling in our own flesh the consequences of sin and injustice, we are encouraged to work for social justice and a genuine love for the poor.

Our Lent should awaken a sense of social justice. Let us observe our Lent in this way: giving our suffering, our bloodshed, and our sorrow the same value that Christ gave to his condition of poverty, oppression, abandonment, and injustice. Let us change it all into the cross of salvation that redeems the world. With hatred for none, let us be converted and share from our poverty both our joy and charity with those who are more needy…My brothers and sisters, let us pray for the difficult situation that our country confronts and realize that the person of the transfigured Christ, presented to us during Lent, is not far from us but points out the path that we ought to follow. The path for the transformation of our people is not some far off distant path, but a path that the Word of God points out now: the path of the cross; the path of blood, sacrifice, and sorrow. As we walk this path, may our sight be focused on the glory of Christ, who is the chosen Son of the Father, the One chosen to save the world. Let us listen to him!

PASTOR’S NOTE