15 March 2025 – 2nd Sunday of Lent (Year C) (Sunset Mass)

by Fr Fabian Dicom

There is a moment in every spiritual journey when we are asked to see more than we are comfortable seeing. Not with our physical eyes but with something deeper, the eyes of our hearts.

Each of today’s Readings is about vision. Not the vision of ordinary sight but the vision that changes everything. The kind that shifts our understanding of who we are, where we are and what God is doing.

Abraham looks up and sees the stars.
Paul sees people who are living blind to their true calling, to their true identity, to their true citizenship.
And Peter, James and John see Jesus as they have never seen Him before.

But here is one thing. God didn’t change. Reality didn’t change. They changed.

The real spiritual life is not about asking God to do something new. It is about seeing what God has been doing all along.

Abraham is old. His wife is barren. We know that. The promise God made to him seems impossible, that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars and that through him, all nations would be blessed. Now he is staring at his own life and all he sees is lack. He sees nothing. And then God does something strange.

He takes Abraham outside. Now Abraham has seen the night sky before. He has looked at the stars a thousand times but this time, God tells him, “Look again.“

This is not about stars. It is about perspective. Abraham has been looking at his life from his own limited viewpoint. God is asking him to see from God’s viewpoint.

How often do we get stuck in the smallness of our own view? We focus on what we don’t have, what isn’t working, what seems impossible. But what if the only thing missing is our ability to see what God is already doing?

Paul in the Second Reading warns that many people are living as enemies of the Cross of Christ. That is a strong phrase. But he is not talking about people who hate God. He is not talking about atheists or agnostics. He is talking about people who live as if this world is all there is. We hear him saying, “The things they think important are earthly things.“

So the real question is not, “Do you believe in God?”
The real question is, “What reality do we live in?” Where do we place our security? Really. Honestly.

Where do we place our security?

What really drives our decision?

Are we awake to the deeper reality of God’s presence or are we just surviving?

Paul reminds us we belong to something bigger than this world. We are citizens of heaven. But that reality is only real to those who can see it.

And then we come to the Gospel.

The disciples go up to the mountain with Jesus. And suddenly everything changes. His face shines. His clothes become dazzling white. He sees Moses and Elijah.

But here is the key. Jesus did not change. He was always like this. The glory was not added. It was only revealed.

The disciples are not witnessing a transformation in Jesus. They are experiencing a transformation in their own ability to see Jesus as He truly is.

And what is their first reaction? FEAR. Because ‘real seeing‘ is always unsettling. It shakes us. It disrupts our comfortable little world. It demands a response.

Peter immediately tries to contain it. “Let’s build three tents.” He wants to freeze the moment, to make it manageable. But faith is not about managing God. It is about allowing ourselves to be undone by God. You have heard me using that phrase. It is one of my favourite phases now – to be undone by God.

We too do this. We build our own tents, structures of comfort, structures of routine and certainty. Hoping to hold on to a spiritual high and keep faith within the boundaries we can control.

Perhaps our tent is here.
Perhaps our tent is our daily Mass.
Perhaps our tent is our prayer group or meditation group.
Perhaps our tent is praise and worship.
Perhaps my tent is here, the cultic priesthood, focusing on rituals and rites.

And then the voice comes from the cloud. The voice comes to us this evening as we prepare and think of our tent:

This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to Him.

 

If we forget everything today, we cannot forget this:

Listen to Him.

 

Not analyse Him, not control this experience and bottle it. Just listen.

And the context of my homily today: Just see.

My dear brothers and sisters, these Readings are not about Abraham, Paul or the disciples. They are about you and me. They are about the moments when we are invited to see differently.

We might wonder what does this mean for our daily lives. Think of the struggles you face right now. Maybe it is a personal disappointment, a fractured relationship or uncertainty about the future. And often we pray for God to change our situation.

But what if God is asking us to change our way of seeing? Of perceiving?

A mother struggling with a rebellious child may only see defiance until she realises that the child is hurting and needs reassurance more than punishment.

A person burdened by financial insecurity may only see shortage, may only see lack until he recognises the blessings of his family, of the community, of support and daily sustenance.

Someone battling illness may only see weakness until she experiences the unexpected strength that comes from surrendering to God’s grace.

And what about the social realities around us?
Do we see poverty, injustice and suffering only as problems to be solved?
Or do we see Christ present in the marginalised?
Do we see the transfigured Christ in them? Can we see that?

He is the transfigured Christ but we need to see just like the apostles.

And every encounter like that is a mountaintop encounter. Believe me. We only have to open our eyes here (heart) and see.

When we hear about refugees, the homeless or the exploited, do we see statistics or news? Or do we recognise them as our brothers and sisters calling us to action?

And you will testify to this because this is true in all our lives. Because when we truly see, and I believe at certain times in our lives we have truly seen. When we truly see, it transforms us.

The disciples saw Jesus differently and they were never the same.

Paul saw what we truly belong and he shaped his entire life. Abraham saw the stars and it changed his trust in God’s promise.

What if the answers we seek are already in front of us but we are not recognising them?

What if the problem is not that God is absent but that we are not perceiving His presence?

What if faith is not just about believing but about seeing with new eyes?

The spiritual life is not about making things happen. It is about allowing ourselves to be shown what is already happening.

So here is the real question:
What might God be trying to show you right now?
What in your life and in the world needs to be seen differently?

Because once you truly see, you can never be the same.

Amen.

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