40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Second Sunday in Lent, Cycle C, 16 March 2025
Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18 + Philippians 3:17-4:1 + Luke 9:28-36

Both our first reading and gospel this Second Sunday in Lent are set in the darkness of the night. Despite being the favorite setting to portray evil and horror not only in movies but even in the Bible, the darkness of the night has a unique charm of its own.

It is in this darkness of the night when the moon and the stars shine brightest. It is in this darkness of the night when we are delighted with the most wonderful ensemble of sights and sound no stage could duplicate when a sparkle of fireflies outline a treetop while crickets and geckos – tuko – with all the other insects and animals sound like a live symphony orchestra.

So many things in this world and in this life are best seen and experienced in the darkness of the night to be truly appreciated. And that is the call to us this second Sunday in Lent – that we enter the darkness in our hearts with the light of Jesus Christ for us to be transformed and transfigured in his image as his disciples.

Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem (Luke 9:28-31).

We have been saying since Ash Wednesday that life is a daily Lent, a daily exodus from darkness into light, from sin into forgiveness, from slavery into freedom.

Every day we “pass over” to many darkness in life like sickness, loss of a loved one, failures and other trials and sufferings that come our way. Sometimes so dark, sometimes not so dark. But most dark of all darkness we go through are those darkness of sin and evil along with its many scars left right in our hearts following the constant temptations by the devil for us to turn away from God, for us to refuse to love others and even our very selves.

Our readings this Sunday assure us that in that it is in those darkness we find God who had come nearest to us in Jesus Christ. It is during those darkness like an exodus that we pass from passion and death to resurrection where Christ is calling us; hence, the need for us to listen to him and follow him. It is from this passing over the darkness of sins and trials when we are purified and transformed, transfigured into better persons and disciples of Jesus because that is where his light is most visible too.

To enter into these dark places in our hearts is the beginning of our conversion, of our daily Lent when we return to God, to his covenant we keep on breaking in sin.

Lent as a preparation to Easter is also a renewal this covenant we have in our baptism which we renew every year at the Masses of Easter. That is why we have the story of the covenant of God with Abraham in the first reading that was set at night with the darkness signifying the trials we go through in life.

As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him. When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. It was on that occasion that the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates” (Genesis 15:17-18).

Feel the terrifying character of the event as narrated by the author of Genesis; but, remember also how God remained with Abraham that night. It was after this episode that God first promised Abraham to become the father of all nations with children as many as the stars above.

But it was not all light with Abraham after this episode as he went through a lot of darkness in life like when he wondered when God would finally give him his own son as he grew older. When Isaac was finally born and had grown, God tested Abraham, asking him to sacrifice to him Isaac. Abraham willingly obeyed God that as he was about to kill Isaac, an angel stopped him and told him how God was so pleased with him that he was doubly blessed anew! Abraham passed over that very dark night in his life by completely trusting God who never abandoned him in life! Most of all, because Abraham never backed out from darkness.

That is the charm of darkness: it can bring us fears and anxieties but as one poet said, only the brave who dare to walk the darkness of the night shall see the beauty of the moon and stars above. In a little while after all the uncertainties and difficulties of the night, we arrive at a new day. Darkness is the prelude to light and day.

Entering into those dark places in our hearts can be terrifying but it is the only path towards true freedom with Jesus as our companion in our exodus. Refusal to go into those dark places in our hearts will keep us only deeper in darkness – anxious and afraid, always wondering when we shall see light which will never come unless we come out and pass over the night.

Recent turn of events in our country are so Lenten in nature, our own passover and exodus – hopefully – from darkness into light.

After those long six years of darkness in the deadly war on drugs of the past administration, we finally saw the light of God’s mercy and justice coming with the arrest of the former president.

It must have been so tortuously painful to the families left behind by the thousands of victims of tokhang.

Though I feel so glad with the turn of events, I still refuse to celebrate nor even join the heated discussions. I feel more the need for us to pray and reflect, to find God and where he is leading us — maybe into those dark places in our hearts to see how we too have contributed to that dark period in our history.

A reporter-friend who volunteered in the care for orphans of the tokhang victims recently shared her reflections in these turn of events where she claimed “we are Duterte”.

Huh? It is chockful. And shocking.

As I prayed and reflected on it, I agreed with her. Prior to Duterte’s coming to power, we as a nation have allowed the forces of darkness to come upon us with the RH bill later followed by bills and proposals for divorce, same sex marriage, and return of capital punishment. There was already this great darkness hovering above us even before Duterte came to power.

Sad to say, that darkness started in our hearts which St. John Paul II referred in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae as “culture of death”.

Let us heed the calls by St. Paul in today’s second reading to “stand firm” in Jesus (Phil. 4:1) because to conduct ourselves as “enemies of the cross” of Christ will surely lead only to “destruction” (Phil. 3:18-19). Let us avert our total destruction as a nation by finally confronting the many darkness within us in Jesus Christ. Amen. Have a blessed week ahead.

*Photos in the collage are not mine but from various sources like TIME magazine and Mr. Howie Severino of GMA7 News.