Following is the prepared text from Bishop Olmsted’s homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent.

Love surpasses Understanding

February 28, 2021

“God did not spare His own Son but handed Him over for us all.” – Rom 8:31

With these words, St. Paul teaches us a primary truth about God and a primary truth about love. God did not spare His own Son, but He did spare the only son of Abraham.

Abraham had only one son, Isaac. It was the son of his old age. For years, Abraham and Sarah had waited and prayed and longed for a son. Only when Sarah was so old that it seemed impossible for her to bear a child did God bless them with Isaac.

The love of Abraham and Sarah for Isaac knew no bounds. It was more than words could express.

Abraham, by God’s Providence, had accomplished great things in his life: traveling to a new land, beginning a new nation, earning the respect and honor of many. But all that seemed like nothing compared to the joy of having a son.

Then, one day God tested Abraham’s faith. He asked him to sacrifice his son: “Take your son, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust (Genesis 22:2).” What a strange request! What a cruel request! What kind of God is this – who destined events to unfold in such a way that Abraham would have the most profound love a father could have for his son – and then ask him to sacrifice that beloved son?! Abraham could not understand. Nevertheless, he obeyed. He trusted God so much that he obeyed even when he did not understand, when it made no sense to him. Out of faith, Abraham set out for the land of Moriah, the place of sacrifice. But then, God intervened and spared Abraham’s son. God rewarded his faith.

But “God did not spare His own son.”

We proclaim that mystery of love, literally from our rooftops, when we erect a Cross at the pinnacle of our churches. And we sing this mystery at the heart of the Eucharist: “We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.”  This is the mystery of faith. “God did not spare his own Son.” It is the heart of the “Good News.” But why? What is good about the Father not sparing His own Son? Would it not be good, even better, to spare the Son? Does this sound like love?  How can this be Good News? Because of the Blessed Trinity.  Because of the great mystery of one God and three divine persons, which is at the same time, the mystery of love.

The Trinity 

When God did not spare His own Son, He did not spare Himself. In the Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Spirit are one, eternally one. Whatever the Father does, the Son does; whatever the Son does, the Father does. As Jesus says: “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” So, when God did not spare His Son, He did not spare Himself. God gave the gift of Himself to us in sacrifice. That is how God saved us; and that is why the Cross is the heart of our faith.

God, then, was not playing a cruel trick on Abraham. He was inviting Abraham to glimpse Divine love; and in a mystical yet concrete way to experience the love that created the human race and redeemed it through the Cross and Resurrection. As Jesus told Nicodemus (Jn 3:16), “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus giving Peter, James and John a vision of the love between Him and His Father. Jesus leads these three Apostles up a mountain and before their eyes He displays in a partial way the splendor of the love of the Trinity.

Jesus, in His human nature, is transfigured by the Father’s love: His clothes become dazzlingly white; Moses and Elijah appear with Him in conversation; and the voice of the Father is heard, saying: “This is my Beloved Son, listen to Him.”

The splendor of the Father’s love for Jesus is made visible for Peter, James and John to see and made audible for them to hear. But why? So that they would not be scandalized by Jesus’s death on the Cross – the greatest act of love. Prior to Jesus’ Resurrection, the Apostles could not begin to understand the Cross. But the Transfiguration was preparing them to trust even when scandalized by such great suffering.

The Trinity is the most profound of mysteries, the most amazing reality, indeed the foundation of all reality. It is a mystery so deep that there is no limit to the Love: “God did not spare His own Son.” It is a love so strong that death cannot defeat it. Death did not separate Jesus from His Father. It never could; for Jesus and the Father are one from all eternity and forever. However, the Cross did conquer sin and redeem the human family. What wondrous love is this!

Obedience 

At the time of the Transfiguration God the Father not only says, “This is my beloved Son” he also says: “Listen to Him.” In other words, be like Abraham. Abraham listened and obeyed even though he did not understand. But, in and through obedience, Abraham began to understand God in a far deeper way. Obedience precedes understanding. We do not obey because we understand. We obey because we believe, because we trust God. And only after we obey do we begin to understand why God asked us to do something. When we live by faith, repeatedly in life we will see this come true.

For example, when Dr. John Haas became a Catholic, he did not understand why contraception was wrong. Prior to entering the Church, he and his wife had even come to think that practicing contraception was what they should do to keep the world from getting over-populated. But he continued to study the Church’s teachings and to pray for the gift of faith; and one day he came to this insight of faith. He said to his wife: “We have come to believe everything that the Church teaches except this. It all makes sense to us except this. But if all the rest is true, then this must be true as well, even though we do not understand. So, let us put our trust in God.”

And so, they did; they came into full communion with the Church. And as they obeyed the Church’s teaching on marriage, remaining open to the gift of children, it came to make sense. Many other aspects of life also took on new meaning, far beyond what they could have imagined. Obedience precedes understanding. They had to obey before they could begin to understand. They followed the example of Sarah and Abraham.  Obedience, like the Blessed Trinity, is an experience of the mystery of sacrificial love. You and I are made in the image of God. And we have been given the theological virtues of faith and hope and love. At times, we will be asked by God to do things we do not understand, to bear sorrows that break our heart, to trust God when others think we are foolish. At those times, let us pray for the grace to be like Abraham, our Father in faith. And let us always remember St. Paul’s words, “Brothers and sisters, if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but handed Him over for us all, how will He not also give us everything else along with Him.” With St. Faustina, we say, “Jesus, we trust in you.”