March 1, 2026 ~ 2nd Sunday of Lent ~ Year A

Spiritual Reflection

 March 1, 2026  ~  2nd Sunday of Lent  ~  Year A (PDF)

"Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."   Mt 17:9 

The ladder of holiness is reverse, turned toward the bottom, and descends always deeper into the abyss of smallness and nothingness. We have perhaps imagined perfection in the form of progression or ascent, which is the fruit of self-will. This is precisely the contrary of Christian holiness, because, in a subtle way, it could become our ascent. We could falsely believe that our generosity and goodwill would render us capable of becoming saints and could forget the “without me, you can do nothing” of Jesus. 

We tend to ignore the extent of our self-sufficiency and how, in a subtle way, spiritual pride brings us to desire the building of our own holiness. 

We must descend into the night of our nothingness, empty and impoverished, in order to begin crying out like the poor one. We must take the way of descent. On our spiritual path, it is a blessed hour when our human reliances crumble one after the other. 

“We are never deep enough,” as Father Molinié has said. “Our prayer must surge from the depth of our distress.” 

What is the way taken by Jesus? Is it not the way of descent? He always descends. He descends from heaven into the cave of Bethlehem. The Gospel says that, after being found in the Temple of Jerusalem Jesus descended with Mary and Joseph into silence and obscurity. Speaking of the descent of Jesus, Charles de Foucauld cries out: 

All His life, He only descended: descending in His incarnation, descending in becoming a small child, descending in obedience, descending in becoming poor, abandoned, persecuted, tortured, descending in reaching the last place. 

Saint Augustine comments that, in desiring to obtain the first place in the Kingdom, the apostles wanted to participate in the exaltation of Christ without participating in his abasement through humility. The trap of the Evil One, according to Saint John of the Cross, is the desire to climb and exalt oneself instead of taking the path of humility… 

The real spiritual masters speak to us of humility and abasement. The true path of holiness resides in humility and poverty in climbing down the ladder and not climbing up. 

Jesus has said, “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down” (Jn 3:13).  To enter the Kingdom one must therefore descend more and more… 

The Ascent of Mount Carmel of John of the Cross is a descent into the night before the climb back to the light. In the depths of the long dark tunnel of descent, there remains only the cry of those shipwrecked at the bottom of the abyss… 

In putting himself beside the criminals, in dying outside the walls as one excluded, in making himself the slave of slaves and hanging on the Cross, Jesus joins the lowest, the poorest, the most excluded, the weakest, and the most abandoned of his brothers and sisters… 

After this, how can we look for admiration in desiring to be elevated in others’ esteem? “Do you want to be like me?" Jesus asks.  

André Daigneault, The Way of Imperfection, pp.26-29

 References from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 

636   By the expression "He descended into hell", the Apostles' Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil "who has the power of death" (Heb 2:14). 

675   Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.574 The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth575 will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.576 

Questions for Reflection 

1.          Christ’s crucifixion was a descent into hell itself. How far am I ready to descend to be like Jesus?
 2.          "It is a blessed hour when our human reliances crumble one after the other." How is this saying reassuring for me?
3.          Reflecting on the life of Mary, what can help me understand in particular the meaning of doing everything in terms of heaven, including following Christ by descending? 

Prayer after Sharing 

Thank you, God, for allowing me to see the truth about my weaknesses and how it calls upon the abyss of your merciful Love.