2010

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke: 9:28b-36

When the three disciples, Peter, James and John are taken up the mountain to pray, they experience the Transfiguration of Jesus. They see something they cannot make sense of. Luke says that they kept silence and told no one. They could not understand or even explain what it was they experienced.

Normally, we do not see God’s glory. Even the disciples as they traveled with Jesus throughout Palestine did not see his glory. Sure, they saw his extraordinary goodness and kindness and they were amazed by the insight of Jesus and also were amazed at his miracles.

The disciples had all kinds of ideas about who Jesus might be. They were sure he was the Messiah, but they really did not know what that meant for them and for Jesus.

You might feel that this gospel story brings to mind how many see the Transfiguration as somewhat bewildering and wonder what the gospel is trying to tell us.

This brings to mind what might help us understand, in human terms, what happened at the Transfiguration and what it means for us.

What comes to me is the movie “MASK”, from 1985, starring Cher and Eric Stoltz. Do some of you remember that movie? It is based on a true story of a 16 year old boy. He has a rare disease that disfigures his face and head. The boy feels badly about his appearance but he accepts it as part of life.

One day he goes to an amusement park with some of his friends. They go into a “house of mirrors” and begin to laugh at how distorted they look.

Suddenly, the boy is startled-the mirror shapes his face in such a way that it appears normal, even handsome.

For the first time his friends see him in a whole new way. They see from the outside what he is on the inside, a truly beautiful person.

Something like this happened to Jesus in today’s gospel. During the Transfiguration Jesus’ disciples see him in a whole new way. For the first time, they saw from the outside what Jesus is on the inside, the glorious beautiful Son of God; even though they still had trouble understanding what they had just seen.

I have to ask: why is the Transfiguration of Jesus placed among the Lenten readings, which are usually somber in nature, instead of the Easter readings, which usually deal with the glory of Jesus?

The Transfiguration bears a striking similarity to the Agony in the Garden. Like the Agony in the Garden, which took place on a mountain the Mount of Olives, the Transfiguration also took place on a mountain, Mount Tabor.

And like the Agony in the Garden, the Transfiguration was witnessed by only three disciples, Peter, James and John. And like the Agony in the Garden, which took place at night, the Transfiguration also took place at night. And in both cases the disciples fell asleep while Jesus was praying.

On Mount Tabor, the three disciples saw Jesus when his divinity shone through in a way that it had never done before. There is a practical message that comes from both the mountain experiences. Like Jesus who was human and divine, we too have a twofold dimension about us.

There is in each one of us something human and something divine. Like Jesus on Mount Tabor, we too experience great moments when the spark of God shines through so brightly it almost blinds us. We feel so close to God that we feel we can reach out and touch him.

Do you remember the feeling you had at the birth of your child or children as the case may be? Do you remember how you feel when seeing a beautiful sunrise or sunset? How about that feeling when you gave your life to another standing on an altar and saying “I DO”?

During these moments we are amazed at how beautiful life is. We love everyone. We hug our friends and forgive our enemies. It just seems during moments like this we do the right things, the good things.

Like Jesus on the Mount of Olives, we also experience moments of agony, moments that bring us down to a place not pleasant for us. During these moments life is miserable. We find fault with our friends and curse our enemies.

We might even doubt that God even exists. We need to remember that Jesus also experienced these highs and lows during his life on earth. One important lesson we should remember from all this is that Jesus prayed.

If prayer was the way Jesus responded to these moments then it should be the way we respond to them too. And if we do, like Jesus during his Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, we too will hear the Father say to us; this is my chosen one”.

And like Jesus during the Agony on the Mount of Olives, we too will experience the touch of the Father’s healing hand. Through prayer we will experience our own Transfiguration, bringing us closer to God.

Prayer is our way of connecting to God on a daily basis, on the spur of the moment. Prayer changes us. Prayer transforms us. We unite ourselves with God and commune with him. This has an effect on us-a good effect-it makes us better people. Something of God rubs off on us.

Something of his Glory enters into our lives and makes us more holy, just as receiving Jesus Christ in the Eucharist makes us holy. I ask that each of you take a look at your prayer life. Does it change you? Does your prayer life make you more holy? Or, are you a little confused as to what your prayer life can do for you?

If you are, there are two more dates, the 3rd and 10th of March, after the soup supper, where you can enter into a better understanding of your prayer life by joining Elizabeth Guss as she takes you through the journey of prayer.

My sisters and brothers, as we experience moments in our lives like the one Jesus knew on Mount Tabor, let us do what Jesus did. Let us turn to the Father in prayer and know in our hearts that each of us is his chosen child.

In the same way, when moments of agony come to us, as they did to Jesus on the Mount of Olives, let us do what Jesus did. Let us turn to the Father in prayer and let us feel the touch of the Father’s healing hand.

Let prayer become a part of your every day life. Let prayer give you a glimpse of the eternal life to come.

There is an old Jewish tale about how two men dealt with the reality of temptation in their lives. Moshe, the drunk, and Fishel, the guzzler, were in a repentant mood when they swore never again to touch a drop so long as they lived. They shook hands on this oath and started home. Soon, they came upon the village tavern. Things were obviously merry in there. Bits of songs floated through the open windows.

“Sounds like a good time,” sighed Moshe, “My old weakness is drawing me.” “I thought we agreed never to set foot in there again,” Fishel replied. Moshe nodded, then suggested that they should close their eyes and run like crazy past the tavern. After awhile they stopped running and opened their eyes. They were past the tavern.

“Nobody is going to say that we are weaklings,” declared Fishel, the guzzler. “With our strong wills, we can overcome every temptation!” Then Moshe responded, “How about going back to the tavern and offering a thanksgiving over a glass of beer?”

On the first Sunday of Lent, we always hear about the three temptations of Jesus. Temptations are very much a part of being human. As this gospel relates, even Jesus was tempted. At times, they can be so seductive, luring even the most saintly among us into sin. When they surface, do we allow them to control us or do we control them, as Jesus did?

In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask our Father to “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” I cannot imagine that God would ever lead us into temptation. What we are really asking for, according to the Catechism, is “Do not let us yield to temptation but save us from the evil one!”

We think of temptation as that slippery slope into sin, but in biblical times, temptation was seen as a time of testing, a time to choose between being faithful to God or not. In the gospel, we find Jesus passing the test with flying colors.

Because of our freedom to make choices throughout the day, each one of us is put to the test daily. Perhaps they are not as dramatic as the three we find in the gospel, but then our resistance to Satan is not as strong either.

Jesus’ experience in the desert hits home with every one of us. His temptations correspond to three basic needs we each have: the need for pleasure, the need for power, and the need for security. Sometimes, we go about trying to meet these needs in the wrong way or in the wrong place, which can get us into trouble and result in much suffering.

For example, in our quest for pleasure, some of us neglect our inner life. We are busy people, too busy as the saying goes, to slow down and smell the roses. Working overtime to earn the money, we spend too little time nurturing our relationships with God and those close to us. Look back on the past week. Did you spend any quality time with those whom you love?

Another temptation comes to mind that may strike you as odd, and that is the temptation to hold on to emotional baggage, viewing this as a form of power and control over others. We cling to memories that color the way we relate to others which in turn can lead to broken relationships. We ask God to forgive us, yet we are reluctant to forgive others and let go of the hurt, the guilt, the damage that arises from moments of conflict. What do we gain when we are tempted to hold on to our grudges?

A woman hired a professional mover to pack her things. When he asked what she wanted packed, she waved her arms and said, “Everything!” Imagine her surprise when she unpacked the boxes in her new home and discovered that he had followed her directions literally. Along with her furniture and other worldly goods, he had packed her trash bins. “There I was in my beautiful new place with all my garbage, including old newspapers, tin cans,  and banana peels!”

What emotional and spiritual garbage are you carrying around as we venture into Lent? Lent is an ideal time to hand our hurts, betrayals, sins and guilt over to God through the sacrament of reconciliation and allow ourselves to experience affection and esteem again along with God’s divine mercy.

How often are we tempted to think that we are different from others? “I am not like those people,” we claim, acting like the alcoholic who judges others in attendance an AA meeting. Let’s not kid ourselves. We can easily dupe ourselves into believing that we are not sinners, but sin is part of our human nature.  We have our desert full of trials, packaged just for us by the devil who knows our weaknesses and which temptations we have the hardest time resisting.  He tempts us to serve our own needs at the expense of others. Like Moshe and Fishel, we sometimes close our eyes to how sinful some of our choices really are.

Temptation can be compared to the permanent but unwanted guest at our dinner table. When we find ourselves being tempted, remember that Jesus is also a guest at that same table, so we need never face our temptations alone. Paul assures us, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Jesus reminded the devil that the heart of righteousness is commitment to God, not the performance of marvelous deeds. Like Jesus, we must make the ultimate decision to serve God and others as readily as we would serve ourselves. When we resist the temptations to do otherwise, then we know that we are passing the test with flying colors!

Buried in the fourth Eucharistic prayer is a line, “To the poor, he proclaimed the good news of salvation.” Years ago, a pastor for whom I worked received a letter from someone protesting, “Are you saying that those of us who are not poor aren’t saved?” Had the anonymous author given me a chance to respond, I would have replied, “That’s right!” I would have then cited today’s gospel in which we heard Jesus say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.”  To reinforce his point, Jesus then adds, “But woe to you, who are rich, for you have received your consolation!”

Does this mean that we have to be dirt poor to get into heaven? I doubt God is rejecting those who are financially secure so what gives? In our culture, we think of the poor as having very little. What they have is often in shoddy condition, well used, worn out, ragged, rusty, and ready for the land fill. Jesus doesn’t want his followers literally live in poverty, so what is he getting at with this beatitude and those that follow?

A good starting point would be to understand that to Jesus and the people who first listened to him, being poor meant more than the lack of money. Anyone who was poor also lacked influence and power. Being poor meant being helpless, consequently, many who were poor put their trust in God. The poor know that they cannot depend on the things of this world for lasting happiness. Jesus calls them blessed for they are open to hearing the good news of salvation.

A better way to understand what Jesus is getting across would be, “Blessed are they who realize that they cannot depend on the things of this world for lasting happiness, thus they put their trust in God.” Their dependence on God drives them to say, “Nothing will ever take precedence over Christ in my life.” Can you say that?

For some people that statement does not ring true. They see little need to be dependent on God. Instead, they seek to be in control of what is going on in their lives. When we are taking care of our own needs, we may not realize our dependence on God. I’ll never forget a story that illustrates this point.

A group of eminent scientists got together and decided that man no longer needed God, so they picked a scientist to tell God that they were done with him. The scientist walked up to God and said, “God, we’ve decided that we no longer need you. We’re to the point now that we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don’t you just retire?”

God listened patiently to the scientist and then said, “Very well, but before I do, let’s have a man-making contest.” The scientist agreed. Then God added, “Now, we’re going to do this just like I did back in the beginning with Adam.”  The scientist said, “Sure, no problem,” as he bent down to grab a handful of dirt. God looked down at him and said, “Excuse me, get your own dirt!”

When we are in need, our attitude is gratitude. We are not in need, we risk forgetting what it is like to be dependent. The bottom line is this: we are all dependent on God. Without God, we wouldn’t even be alive. All that we have comes from God. We may think that we can earn our happiness with our own sweat, blood and tears or that we can create whatever we need to be content but without God, there is nothing in the world that can give us lasting joy, much less life.

Mother Theresa of Calcutta often said that Christians in the west suffered from a much deeper and pathetic poverty than those whom she and her sisters served in the slums of Calcutta. “The spiritual poverty of the West is much greater than the economic poverty of the East. In the West, there are millions of people who suffer loneliness and emptiness, who feel unloved and unwanted. They are not hungry in the physical sense; what is missing is a relationship with God and with each other.”

I just read a line from another anonymous author, “What makes us discontented with our condition is the absurdly exaggerated idea we have of the happiness of others.” How often do you find yourself comparing your situation to that of others, striving to keep up with the Jones and not feeling satisfied until you surpass them only to discover that no matter how much you have, you still feel that something is missing?

To sum up the readings, what makes one blessed isn’t abject poverty or hunger or sadness but commitment to the Son of Man. Jesus cautions us that either we live for the kingdom and die to our superficial wants or we live for ourselves and lose the kingdom of God. The choice is ours.

Lent begins soon; many of us will endeavor to spend more time with God as we prepare for Easter. Lent is an ideal time for us to step back from the hustle and bustle of our daily routines and evaluate our values from Jesus’ point of view.

His wisdom has withstood the test of time yet there are many in our community who hesitate to really follow his advice.  You likely know some of them: they are preoccupied with worldly pursuits instead of spiritual pursuits. Should they mention to you that something is missing from their lives, that they aren’t truly satisfied or happy, encourage them reconsider making time for God as we journey toward Easter. Invite them to reflect on one of my favorite lines from Robert Frost’s poetry.  “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”  Come Easter, may we all see that making time for God in our lives makes all the difference.

Pink slips and “Dear John” letters have one thing in common: they send a message of rejection. Countless authors have received pink slips for their manuscripts. So have many young men and women from the flames of their hearts. Perhaps I would not be standing here if I hadn’t received such a letter 42 years ago from a young woman named Luz Maria. In the gospel scene, Jesus is the one who is being rejected, just as he expected to be. No prophet, he observes, is accepted in his native place. So long as Jesus announced glad tidings, he was welcomed but the moment his tune shifted, his listeners were filled with fury.

Their reaction seems so outrageous. Why did they shift from a warm welcome to the “urge to kill” so quickly? To understand their reaction, consider this ancient Greek tale about the farmer who had a “perfect” wheat field. Everyone admired it because every stalk was exactly the same height. When asked how he achieved it, he explained, “If a grain sticks its head above the others, I cut it off!”

The folks in Nazareth acted much the same way. For thirty years they had known Jesus as the “son of Joseph.” All that time, he had blended in with the neighborhood. Now as a wandering preacher, he stood out like that overgrown shaft of wheat. What he had to say wasn’t what they expected or wanted to hear.

Identifying himself as the anointed one of God didn’t ruffle their feathers. What irked them was learning that God’s mercy and concern would now be extended to all peoples, not just the Israelites. By mentioning the widow in the land of Sidon and Naaman the Syrian, Jesus in effect was pointing out that all peoples are dear to God and are to benefit from his ministry.

Before we pass judgment on the people in the synagogue for overreacting, consider your reaction to God’s truth. Are we just as blind and narrow-minded to what God has to say at times? Jesus speaks hard sayings. There’s no denying that. Like the people in Nazareth, not all of us always want to hear, much less accept what Jesus has to say through the teachings of our Catholic faith. We act like the patient whose doctor felt he had to be told the truth about his condition. “You are a very sick man. You probably won’t live more than a couple of weeks at most. You should settle your affairs. Is there anyone you want me to call?” “Yes,” replied the patient, “another doctor!”

When we don’t like what we’re told, we are quick to get another opinion. As Paul notes, “When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, think as a child, reason as a child.” How often did we ask one parent for what we wanted if the other parent didn’t give us the answer we wanted to hear?

When given a truth they don’t like, some people will look for another “prophet” who will tell them what they want to hear. Many leave the church to find another one that tells them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.

Three traits in our culture impede people from accepting the divine truth. The most apparent is secularism, which doesn’t actually deny the existence of God. It conveys the message that God is irrelevant. Think of those you know who no longer practice their faith. How important is God to them?

Then there is relativism, the flawed notion that you have your truth and I have mine. This amounts to saying one opinion is just as good as another. In the name of tolerance, absolute truth is ignored or overlooked. Many opinions, especially judicial opinions, are regarded as being morally right when in fact they are not. The latest trend has been judgments rendered by some courts defining same sex unions as marriages.

Some argue that our society is mired in confusion because many choose to listen to politicians instead of prophets. A politician’s success often depends, not on what he or she truly believes but on saying what they perceive people want to hear. A prophet’s success, on the other hand, is measured by saying what people need to hear. Consequently, prophets often rub people the wrong way, just as Jesus did in his first homily.

As Catholics, we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, but are we willing to listen to and accept the truth that he offers us? That means realizing that truth isn’t to be found in opinion polls but in the teachings of our faith which are rooted in the word of God. That could also means experiencing the discomfort that comes from literally standing alone at times on a certain principle. How often, for example, have you found yourself in the midst of a conversation that has become coarse or uncharitable? Did you have the courage to walk away or confront the speaker?

We are not all expected to professionally evangelize the good news, standing on street corners thumping on the Bible, but we ought to be committed to living our Catholic faith and that could make us prophets. Clearly, Jesus did not flow with the current of his times nor does he today. He spoke the divine truth, knowing that he would rarely be politically correct. He had no choice for promoting the truth is the prophet’s mission in this world. By virtue of our baptism, that is our mission as well.

This Lent, there will be ads on TV inviting anyone who has left the faith to come home. Perhaps, they may ask you questions.  If so, simply answer their questions as best you can and if you don’t know the answer, invite them to see me or a member of our evangelization team listed on the flyer in last week’s bulletin. What you say and do could be what it takes to bring someone home to the Church, allowing Jesus to cheer as he tears up one of the many rejection letters in his collection.  

It is hard to realize that we are already in the 3RD week of Ordinary Time. Christmas has come and gone . The Christmas season has fleeted away like the snow that falls and melts away in a day when it does fall here on the Island.

However, have we realized and been moved by what we have heard? Have we taken to heart the beautiful scripture passages that have been proclaimed here on this altar?

Have we taken to heart the words that came from the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, one if not the most recognized prophet of the Old Testament, to the beautiful words from the New Testament to include the Book Of Acts, the letters of a convert St. Paul, to the people whom he converted to Christianity, and to the rich and nourished filled words of the Gospels, to name just a few?

The scripture passages show the journey to salvation through the prophecy of a savior who would reconcile with and protect the nation of Israel, the chosen people of the Old Testament, and then leading through to Jesus’ birth and later his ministry and ultimately Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection that brought salvation to the world.

We then see the birth of the Church and the teachings that would enlighten our understanding of “the One Body in Christ”; All this for the Kingdom of God!!!

In today’s gospel, Jesus begins his public ministry. Jesus was bringing forth the center of his teaching, the vision of God’s Kingdom. This was the dream of the prophets of the Old Testament, the promise of God’s reign of truth and justice, and love, the biblical image of salvation.

Jesus says: “The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to

bring good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, recovery of site to the blind, let the oppressed go free”. Taken from a worldly approach, we would think that Jesus is implying that he came to bring abundance to those who were poor, to free the slaves and the prisoners, to heal the blind, and to stop all worldly oppression.

Embracing a spiritual approach meant that Jesus was announcing the arrival of the “Kingdom of God” on earth. The Kingdom of God was the good news that Jesus was proclaiming. For the arrival of the Kingdom of God to be fulfilled, it meant the arrival of the promised Messiah, Jesus.

It meant that those who were spiritually blind would be enlightened, now being able to see the way, the truth, and the life. Those who were captives of sin, slaves to Satan, would be free, first through Baptism and then through the sacrament of Reconciliation so that they (WE) could enjoy eternal life after physical death. And Jesus brought hope for those who were oppressed through the vision of the eternal life to come, the fullness of God’s Kingdom.

The authors of the books of the bible, the prophets in particular, were only too aware of the injustice, the wrong from lies, the blindness to see the truth, the numerous forms of exploitation  that arise from this fallen human nature. Those are the features of the kingdom of this world, so to speak, and they enter into our world, as we see in our society, even today.

God’s kingdom, on the other hand, is the symbol for the kind of relationships that take shape under the influence of God’s nature. It is a pattern of peace, justice, truth, holiness, love. To move from one to the other is to express salvation, from this world’s kingdom to the realization of God’s kingdom, to live in the love of Christ.

According to the prophets and Jesus, salvation will only be completely realized at the end of time, at the final judgment of humanity. In that sense, God’s Kingdom is always something that lies ahead of us, beyond our present vision, beyond any effort or action we do.

Is this what we think of when we here the phrase “The Kingdom of God”? Jesus proclaimed that the availability of the Kingdom was already here.

Christ presented himself as the Messiah, the person anointed by God to usher in his reign. And he presented his ministry as the fulfillment of what the prophets had looked forward too: God’s decisive intervention in history. He taught his followers to see that his time on earth was the start, or the dawn, of God’s Kingdom.

The Kingdom in its essence, is something we receive, a reality of God’s grace, not something we create or build by our own efforts as I stated before. It is something we are invited to cooperate with. The way to belong to God’s Kingdom is to put it into practice each day of our lives, until it becomes a part of us. Jesus showed us how and he used his life on earth as an example for us, living a life of truth, trust, happiness, joy, forgiveness, love.

The Kingdom takes shape in history, partly in the Christian Community, in the Church, in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist where Jesus brings himself to us, and in our hearing the word of God through the scripture passages we attest to every Sunday and at every celebration of the Eucharist we attend.

The Kingdom of God also takes shape in the efforts of Christians to live out what Jesus taught us. But the Kingdom also takes shape in everything that co-operates with truth, justice, and love. At its best, in spite of the human flaws, the Church has always and will always be the vehicle for God’s Kingdom.

That’s what it is suppose to be. And down through the ages, despite being in very different circumstances and periods of history, Christians who were open to the Holy Spirit have always been shown how to remain faithful to the vision and the values of the Kingdom of God, and how to keep God’s love and truth and Justice alive in the world.

Believe it or not, at the end of the day, that is still part of our journey to the fullness of God’s Kingdom. It is still the Church’s mission, every individual believers mission, not just to cultivate a private relationship with God but to make the Kingdom present in the world around us. It is the mission of every parish community to be the light of the gospel, attracting others to it.

My Sisters and Brothers, in keeping what Jesus has taught us in our

hearts, we will find God’s Kingdom now. In keeping our hearts open to the Holy Spirit, we find the guidance that will take us through our life

journey’s and to the end of our human existence where we will then experience the fullness of God’s kingdom in heaven, forever. We are now able to keep the scriptures alive, today, at this moment in time, and we are able to say with a loud voice, “today your words, Father, are fulfilled in my hearing”, as we now begin living in the Kingdom of God.