Transcript
Last year, North America was amazed and overwhelmed by the total eclipse. Even though the eclipse lasted only four minutes, many North Americans remained awed by the sudden and dramatic change in the sky. One Christian pastor in the US said, “An eclipse is an opportunity for us to be reminded that we live in a world made by God and sustained by His grace and love.” This weekend, we are with a few characters who had a similar insight to the US pastor’s. Abraham from the first reading and Peter, James, and John from the gospel reading. All four of them looked up and found something inspirational and phenomenal. The countless stars in the sky and the dazzling white clothes that Jesus was wearing before the three disciples. They were initially overwhelmed, but the Lord was in their feeling of awe not to intimidate them but to show how much He loved to be with them. We are on the journey of Lent, during which we also look up like Abraham and the three disciples. What we look up to is Jesus on the cross, which is similar to an eclipse, having both darkness and light. Yes, we see the dominion of darkness on the cross as it holds the wounds of the body of Jesus, but we also see the layer of light from the body of Jesus. That layer of light will become larger, and it will be revealed as the True Light, which we will encounter and celebrate in four weeks’ time at the Easter Vigil. We too are like an eclipse, with the dark and bright sides of ourselves, but let us be patient in embracing our darkness, as our Lord will cover that darkness with His Light in the end.