Transfiguration, Blessed Fra Angelico [Web Gallery of Art]
Readings
(New American Bible:
Philippines, USA)
Readings
(Jerusalem Bible: Australia,
England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Scotland, South Africa)
Gospel Mark 9:2-10 (New Revised Standard
Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition)
Six days later, Jesus
took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart,
by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth
could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were
talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be
here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for
Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud
overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the
Beloved; listen to him!’ Suddenly when they
looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
As they were coming
down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen,
until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what
this rising from the dead could mean.
Assumpsit Iesus Petrum
Sebastián de Vivanco (Ávila, 1551 - Salamanca, 1622)
Música Reservata de Barcelona directed by Bruno Turner
Assumpsit Iesus Petrum, et Iacobum et Ioannem fratrem eius, et duxit eos in montem excelsum seorsum, et transfiguratus est ante eos.
Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves.
Et ecce vox de nube dicens: His est Filius meus dilectus, in quo mihi bene complauci, ipsum audite.
And from the cloud there came a voice, ‘Thisis my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ (Mark 10: 2,7).
Clement
Shahbaz Bhatti [Wikipedia]
(9
September 1968 - 2 March 2011)
In today's first reading God asks
Abraham to sacrifice his only son 'on a height that I will point out to you'.
We can only imagine the heartbreak of Abraham being asked by God to give offer
his only son by Sarah his wife, born when both of them were very old. But God
wasn't looking for the life of Isaac but for Abraham to submit himself to God's
will, no matter the consequences. Abraham's sacrifice of his own will made him
'our Father in faith', as the Roman Canon says, the Father of countless Jews
and Christians.
From the time of St Stephen, the first
Christian martyr, down to our own day, God has been calling certain individuals
to give up everything that is precious to them, including life itself, for the
sake of others.
The struggle of Abraham is a sign of
the struggle that Jesus would have to go through. Last Sunday we got a glimpse
of his struggle in the desert where he was tempted by Satan, basically to
abandon the mission the Father had given him. During Holy Week we will see his
awful struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane and his cry from the Cross, My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Each of us in some way has to share in
that struggle, to let go of our own will in something big or small for the sake
of others and to do what God want us to do.
Shahbaz Bhatti was living in a
situation where he knew that God might ask him to give up his own life. Less
than two months before his own death, Governor Salmaan Taseer of Punjab, a
Muslim, was murdered by one of his own security guards because of his
opposition to Pakistan's Blasphemy Law.
Mr Bhatti was deeply committed to
working for groups discriminated against, including the Christian minority in
Pakistan. He gave as the reason for his commitment, I just want a place
at the feet of Jesus. I want my life, my character, my actions to speak for me
and say that I am following Jesus Christ. He was gunned down on 2 March 2011.
About a month before his death he gave
an interview on TV, the concluding part of which is in this video. Below the
video is a transcript of what Mr Bhatti said.
Minister Bhatti, you forgot one question in the interview. Your life is threatened by whom and what sort of threats are you receiving?
The forces of violence, militant banned organizations, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda, they want to impose their radical philosophy on Pakistan. And whoever stands against their radical philosophy that threatens them, when I’m leading this campaign against the Sharia Law, for the abolishment [abolition] of [the] Blasphemy Law, and speaking for the oppressed, marginalized and persecuted Christian and other minorities, these Taliban threaten me.
But I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ who has given his own life for us. I know what is the meaning of [the] Cross and I am following of the Cross and I am ready to die for a cause. I’m living for my community and suffering people and will die to defend their rights. So these threats and these warnings cannot change my opinion and principles. I will prefer to die for my principle and for the justice of my community rather to compromise on these threats.
May each of us pray for the grace to make these words of Shahbaz Bhatti our own: I just want a place at the feet of Jesus. I want my life, my character, my actions to speak for me and say that I am following Jesus Christ.
Christ in the House of Mary and Martha (detail)
Velásquez [Web Gallery of Art]
‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part which will not be taken away from her.' (Luke 10: 41-42).
I just want a place at the feet of Jesus. (Shahbaz Bhatti).
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