Newsletter – 2nd Sunday of Lent. Year C.

REFLECTION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE – by Lisa-Marie Calderone-Stewart

Abraham and Sarah were old and childless, and they longed for children. Descendants, like stars, meant to them a permanent place in history, because their names would be carried on. Today, a ‘star’ is a celebrity, someone with a name that is well known. In fact, people often confuse ‘stars’ with ‘heroes’. Just because a person is famous and well known does not mean that person is a good role model for people.

Who are your heroes? Are they ‘stars’? What makes them heroic in your opinion?

When you stare up at the stars at night, what do you think of? life on other planets? alien creatures and UFOs? TV shows and movies based on space travel? astronomy? astrology? How do the stars affect your imagination?

© St Mary’s Press
Lisa-Marie Calderone-Stewart (1958-2011) gained her doctorate in education from Cardinal Stritch University and was associate director of early adolescent ministry in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Previously she served for six years as the director of youth ministry for the Diocese of Grand Island, Nebraska. She also established “Tomorrow’s Present”, a youth leadership ministry. She was a highly regarded speak and wrote many books on spirituality and youth ministry.

REFLECTION by Fr Michael Tate

Transfigured Bodysouls

One often hears the conventional wisdom: ‘All religions are the same, with somewhat different packaging.’ But, do they believe the same thing about the human person?

What if one believed that the most vital part of a person was ‘the soul’ which alone was destined for Heaven? This is not the Christian belief.

Today’s Gospel recounts that Jesus’ body was transfigured. This was no out-of-the-body experience of religious ecstasy. Jesus’ body was totally translucent, totally radiant with Divine Light. Every molecule of his materiality was reverberating in the halo of divine glory.

That is the destiny which God desires for us also. When we are really in harmony with God, when we really participate in the life of God, then that Divine Life envelops and permeates our whole person, bodysoul. That is our ultimate destiny, but can it be anticipated in the lives of those close to God?

You might care to read the story of St Seraphim of Sarov from the Russian Orthodox tradition. A follower recounts the dazzling bodily transformation of the saint with the blaze of light spilling over onto the snow-covered meadow.

We might pause for a moment to affirm our Christian hope that, with God’s grace, we will be radiant with Divine Light, our bodies immersed in translucent glory, filled with infinite joy in our hearts.

© Fr Michael Tate; mt***@bi*****.com

Rev Prof Michael Tate graduated in Law from the University of Tasmania in 1968, and in Theology from Oxford University in 1971. He lectured at the University of Tasmania from 1972-78, being Dean of the Faculty of Law in 1977-78. He was a Senator for Tasmania from 1978-93, being Federal Minister for Justice from 1987-93. He served as Ambassador to The Hague and the Holy See from 1993-96. He then returned to Australia and was ordained in May 2000 and has been a parish priest in the Archdiocese of Hobart since then. He is an Honorary Professor of Law at the University of Tasmania where he lectures in International Humanitarian Law.