Homily for 2d Sunday of Lent

Homily for the
2d Sunday of Lent

March 16, 2025
Phil 3: 17—4: 1
The Fountains, Tuckahoe, N.Y.
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“Our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil 3: 20).

Since Jan. 20, we’ve heard a lot about birthright citizenship, the constitutional principle that anyone born in the U.S. and subject to its jurisdiction is a U.S. citizen by that simple fact.  The children of diplomats would be one exception, as they’re not under U.S. jurisdiction.  At the time of the 14th Amendment’s adoption, American Indians were also excepted because native tribes were regarded as sovereign nations.  Their status was altered in 1924 by an act of Congress.

That’s not how it works in most countries and wasn’t always the case here.  The precious right of citizenship for almost everyone was an outcome of the Civil War and had in mind, at that time, the men and women recently freed from slavery and other blacks, who’d been denied citizenship by the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision before the war.  Their freedom and their citizenship had been won in the blood of war.

All men and women have been enslaved to sin (except Jesus and his mother).  From the moment of conception, we’ve had no claim to citizenship in the kingdom of God.  The blood of Christ won our freedom; he fought Satan and defeated him.  We’ve been granted citizenship in the kingdom of God by virtue of a new birth, a birth from Christ in the water of Baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

As citizens of heaven, then, our loyalty and our behavior must be different from what belongs to the Evil One.  Paul refers to the enemies of the cross, those who belong to the powers of darkness, those who give themselves over to sensual pleasures and materialism—“their God is their stomach; their glory is in their ‘shame,’” he writes, and “their end is destruction” (Phil 3:19).  We can add, they give themselves over to lust for power and earthly glory.  “Their minds are occupied with earthly things,” in Paul’s words (3:19).

As citizens of heaven, we have other concerns:  God’s glory and not our own; serving and helping our brothers and sisters, and not lording it over them; restraining our selfish impulses in the manner of our Lord Jesus—recall the 3 temptations he rejected in last Sunday’s gospel (Luke 4:1-13).

The Transfiguration by Perugino

In today’s gospel (Luke 9:28-36), we get a glimpse of Christ’s heavenly glory in the company of God’s holy ones—the glory that will be granted to all the loyal citizens of God’s kingdom.  “He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body,” Paul assures us (Phil 3:21).  During Lent we’re preparing for Easter by trying to reform our lives, to reject Satan and all his enticements, and to reaffirm that we belong to Christ.  We’re preparing for our own Easter, our resurrection and sharing in Christ’s eternal life as full citizens of heaven.