LITURGICAL PLANNING

Second Sunday of Lent

Year B / Sunday, February 28, 2021

This Sunday’s Readings:

Genesis 22:1–2, 9a, 10–13, 15–18

Psalm 116:10, 15, 16–17, 18–19

Romans 8:31b–34

Mark 9:2–10

THE TRANSFIGURATION SCENE MIDWAY THROUGH MARK’S GOSPEL is the climactic crossroads where we must choose between staying in Galilee or going with Jesus to death in Jerusalem. In the previous chapter, Peter recognized Jesus’s true mission as Messiah and was quickly reprimanded for thinking that being the Messiah or his disciple saved a person from suffering. Jesus makes it clear. The only way to follow him is through the cross. The only way to save your life is to lose it.

The Transfiguration gives us a glimpse of that eternal life to come. So wouldn’t it be nice to just put up a few tents and stay a while to enjoy the view on God’s holy mountain? We know the answer. “There is no salvation for the soul nor hope for eternal life except in the cross,” wrote spiritual writer Thomas à Kempis in the 15th century. There is no Transfiguration without the cross; no conversion of heart until you have given up the very thing you cling to—privilege, status, belief in your own rightness. For the cross is that to which you say, I will give you anything but that, Lord. Anything.

Let us come down the mountain and do the hard work of taking up our cross. Transfiguration awaits those who let go of the very thing they cannot lose.

—Diana Macalintal

Suggested Music

Expanded listings for Sundays and Solemnities can be found at issuu.com/giamusic.

“You my soul’s glory, joy, and crown.”

What faith in God Abraham had. What trust to give God his only son. What courage. Do we have that same level of faith and trust in God? We face many choices in our lives. Some are small and some are big. Many of us give something up for this Lenten season, but do we give up something that is easy for us, or do we choose something that really makes us struggle? Can we give God all that we are, all that we have, and all that we do?

– Victoria Zibell

‘Tis Good Lord, to Be Here

arr. Paul J. Monachino

G-9052 · SAB, organ, opt. assembly

Perhaps the best-known hymn text for the Transfiguration set to the tune SWABIA, this setting allows you to introduce the tune to your assembly, or have them sing along with the choir.

Gone Forth from Home

Arr. Jennifer Kerr Budziak, Text by J. Michael Thompson

G-9141 · SAB, keyboard

While certainly pertinent for Year B in the lectionary cycle, J. Michael Thompson’s text also references the readings for years A and C. The Neumark tune WER NUN DEN LIEBEN GOTT receives a tranquil and effective treatment by Jennifer Kerr Budziak.