2nd Reading for Sunday, 2nd Week of Lent

From: 2 Timothy 1:8b-10

St. Paul, Herald of the Gospel

[8b] But take your share of suffering for the Gospel in the power of God, [9] who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of His own purpose and the grace which He gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago, [10] and now has manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.
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Commentary:

9-10. There is a theological basis for courageously confronting the
difficulties the Gospel brings with it--the fact that we have been
called by God, who has revealed Himself as our Savior. As elsewhere in
these letters (cf. 1 Timothy 3:15ff; Titus 3:5-7), St. Paul here speaks
a succinct hymn in praise of salvation, probably using expressions based
on some liturgical hymn or confession of faith.

The salvation which God brings about is viewed in this passage as it
applies to Christians (verse 9) and is manifested in the Incarnation of
Christ (verse 10). Four essential aspects of salvation are identified:
1) God has already accomplished salvation for everyone; 2) it is God,
too, who calls all men to avail of it; 3) it is entirely a gift: man
cannot merit it (cf. Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:8-9); and 4) God's plan is
an eternal one (cf. Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 1:11).

"The appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ" (verse 10) refers in the
first place to His Incarnation (cf. Titus 2:11; 3:4) but it includes
His entire work of redemption, which culminates in His appearing in
glory and majesty (cf. 1 Timothy 6:14; 2 Timothy 4:1, 8). The
Redemption has two wonderful effects--victory over death (physical and
spiritual) and the abundant and luminous gift of everlasting life. "He
is the true Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. By dying He
destroyed our death; by rising He restored our life" ("Preface of
Easter", I).

"Ages ago": literally, "from the times of the ages", a primitive
expression meaning the same thing as "eternity".
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.