Rise up! Do not be afraid!

2nd Sunday of Lent already! Our rigorous Lenten calendar is well underway - in the Holy Sepulchre every Saturday at 2.30pm begins the Solemn Entry of our Franciscan Custos. That means lots of franciscans accompanying our Holyland "boss" in procession into the Holy Sepulchre basilica led by the kawas (forgot who they are? Check out the past blogs!). Once inside the Basilica they start singing solemn Vespers in front of the Tomb of Christ. Then everyone goes home and the doors of the basilica are closed. At 11.30pm another solemn entry and the vigil begins with the solemn singing of the Office of Readings. That takes over an hour till about 1am when we all go back home to sleep. Then early in the morning on Sunday it's solemn Mass at various altars in the Basilica - this morning it was at the altar of St Mary Magdalene (commemorating Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene when she mistakes him for a gardener). This goes on throughout Lent till Holy Week when it gets even more rigorous. But all this tradition of prayer is very meaningful when you realise it was here that all the Gospel events took place - actually on site. Nothing could be holier than that!

My turn as hebdomedarios (check it out in the past blogs!!!) falls on Holy Week but since I have to guide a group - I asked the superior to change my turn to this week. So I presided at the 6.30am Mass at the Flagellation Chapel. Fr Massimo Pazzini helped me preach the homily.

Today's Gospel was on the Transfiguration. The connection of this event with the Theophany (God's manifestation) on Mt. Sinai is very obvious - the mountain, the cloud, the Divine voice, Moses, Elijah (he went up to Mt Sinai/Horeb to search for God) and of course God's presence (in the person of Jesus). But what is interesting is in Matthew's version that we read this morning, Matthew adds the words of Jesus to the disciples "Rise up! Do not be afraid!" The first part "rise up" is a repetition of the miracles when Jesus raised up the dead daughter of Jairus and the widow of Naim's son - it points to his own resurrection. The second part "Do not be afraid" is repeated by the angel to the women when they go to the Tomb on the first day of the week. So the Transfiguration according to Matthew is closely linked to the Resurrection event of Jesus. Maybe that's a message jesus is telling us today - "rise up, do not be afraid" - when we crumble in the face of live's battles.