3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, January 24, 2021

 

 

"Welcome in, Everybody," sez Our Dearest Tori, official hospitality team leader.

 

 

Welcome: Catholic Mass with coffee & juice, and pastries, some bought, some home-made.  

Time: 9:30; Celebrate with the Community & Stack

Place: Sigler Elementary, 1400 Janwood Drive, Plano, TX 75075

 

 

 

Yes, here we have our official disrupting team planning their activities for this morning.

 

Readings:

Isaiah 63, 16-17, 64, 2-7,    Why do you let us wander, O Lord

Psalm 80,  Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

1 Corinthians 1, 3-9,    I will give thanks to my God always

Mark 13, 31-46,,  Be watchful!  Be alert!  You do not know when the time comes!

 

 

 

Thanks, Zoe, for being Our Official Candle Lighter of The Week.

 

Isaiah observations and reminders–

Who: Guess which of the 3 composers put this section together.  A clue: chapter number.  Like, chapter 63.  A pretty high number, yes, Isaiah number 3. 

Where is he: if the author is number 3, he is back with the people in Jerusalem, a Jerusalem totally destroyed by the Babylonians. 

Today’s message: because he is back in Jerusalem, you would expect happiness.  On the contrary, he is bemoaning the state of affairs and is blaming himself and everybody’s sinfulness for the destruction.  But in the end he reminds Yahweh that they are his special people.  So…?

 

 

 

Georgie reads The Blessing Prayer of the Advent Candle while her sister Zoe does the lighting.

 

Be watchful!  Be alert!  You do not know when the time will come

 

I confess that every time I hear this line or ones like it, I have to speak about it.   I think I have spent the majority of my years as a Jesuit priest & psychotherapist trying to encourage no fear relationships with our God.   There were historical reasons why so much emphasis in the Bible is on fear and punishment.  

 For me it is not a relationship where God is eagerly looking for bad behavior so you can be thrown into the fires of hell, forever.  It is, rather an invitation to all the ways God is bending over backward to delight, to surprise, bring joy to all God's people.  I call them consolations moments.

 

 

 

Rosemary's shirt to me, similar to the shirt she designed and painted for her sister, Clare.

 

Here are 5  examples that happened to me while Rosemary & I spent Thanksgiving with her two sisters, the husbands, and the daughter of Joe & Clare, Beth, and Beth's partner, Sarah.  All in Joe & Clare's house in Hilton Head.  

First, the Thanksgiving meal, always a consolation moment.  A lot of my favorite items.  There were two special moments.  One was that Rosemary gave her sister, Clare a T- shirt with all 7 of her grand kids painted on the front and the word MomMom on the back.  It is similar to the T shirt Rosemary painted for me.

 

 

 

 

Talbird Live Oak tree, Hilton Head Island.  Check Thursday's blog for more pix.

 

Also, towards the end of the meal Joe asked everybody what was their blessing of the year.  Sound familiar.  It was a most touching consolation moment.  Mine?  You know well!  Rosemary.  As usual, I got too choked up to say her name.

Secondly, there is a rustic seafood restaurant on the edge of the marshes that every Thanksgiving Day serves all customers gratis.  A token of thanks.  When the hurricane messed up the restaurant pretty badly, the residents of Hilton Head pitched in and helped to rebuild the restaurant.    A consolation moment.

 

 

 

Want to stop for a little sunbathing?   Plenty of room.   This was my biking friend.    Rosemary even wants to take his picture.  "Smile now."

 

Thirdly, biking the marvelous wooded paths on the island.  The natural beauty is gorgeous.   Again, two consolation moments.  The first is the Talbird Oak.  Every day I rode, I would stop under the enormous drooping branches  of this centuries old Live Oak.  A consolation moment.

 

The other biking event had to do with an alligator.   There are lots of man made ponds on the island in the plantations.  And in those ponds are alligators who like to sun bathe on the shores.   I have a personal relationship with one of those alligators.  I see him or his parents every year.

 

 

 

No fun on this island at all!

 

 

There  is a tarmack path that  runs along the south west side of a pond with a fountain in the middle.  The path is not real close,  maybe 40 yards away.  The trouble is, the path winds back & forth along the pond's side.  It is my last day riding before departing.  A warm afternoon ideal for sun bathing.   So I decide I will stay on the road until I pass the popular place for my friend, then take a little spur path back to the main path that will put me about at the head of the pond.  

 

I get to the path and think I'll stop to see if the alligator is sunning in one of his usual spots.   No sign of my friend.   I put my foot on the pedal to begin riding, but take one last look around.  There, even closer, in front me, the alligator lying parallel to the path. 

 

 

 

Talking of food, our Advent Food Drive.

 

A consolation moment?  Absolutely!  For being watchful and alert enough to get moving and get out of there.

 

Finally, consolation moments knock me over here, with help coming from Emma and Leo, Buddy and Georgie, Zoe, Tori and Harper.

 

How are you watchful and alert enough to spot those consolation moments?

 

 

 

The Best Music Team!   A three-some or a four-some?

Readings: 

2 Kings 5, 14-17,  Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times.

Psalm 98,  The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.

2 Timothy 2, 8-13,  The word of God is not chained.

 Luke 17, 11-19  Where are the other 9?

 

 

2 Kings observations:

Time of the events: 900 B.C.

Time when written: 550 B.C., during the Babylonian captivity.

Subject of 1 Kings: This book continues the history of the kings
taking up with the death of King David and continuing through the story of
David & Bathsheba's son Solomon.  He builds the famous Temple of Solomon.  After his death the
nation divides into the northern & southern states, Israel in the north, Judah
in the south (including Jerusalem;
remember by the "J's").

 

Subject of 2 Kings: This book continues the history of the decline
of the two states until Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeats the people. 

Subject of our chapter 5 (read it all, it is delightful): one of
the leaders of the Syrian-Babylonian army goes to visit the prophet of the day,
Elisha.  Naaman, the general, has leprosy.  Note the twist of the
story at the end.  Thanks is a theme of this selection and it sets the
stage for Luke's story about gratitude.  Three characters: Naaman, his little slave girl, and Elisha.

 

Gratitude

 

This morning I would like to talk about the theme coming from Luke’s
story and the neat little story about Naaman, the general with leprosy.  Specifically, gratitude. 

To put together a story, I looked back over the week for special gifts,
events I am grateful for.  I thought of
our ROMEO lunch Friday, of my 2 French sessions, and the fact that my nice skin
doctor, Sara Scott, gave me a pass. 

Despite how grateful I am for these events, two others really stood out.

 

Friday night Rosemary and I were privileged to be part of a special
celebration.  It was the marriage of
Kristin Urbanczyk and her fiance’ Josh 
Eddings.  You all know that I take
delight in celebrating weddings and get to do quite a lot, especially now that
I am not officially Catholic.

As precious as all of them are, it is a unique jewel of an event when I
get to celebrate the wedding of a person whom I have known since
childhood.   Kristin I have known for maybe 18-20
years.  She used to throw water balloons at
me when she was a supposedly nice little girl.

 

Folks, it does not get better than last night for me. 

Thursday morning before this event took place, Rosemary and I went for one
of our early morning bike rides down to and around The Lake, our beloved White
Rock.  At one point we are riding south
on the path at the edge of the lake and along East Lather Drive.  We have just passed in front of the
Arboretum.

 

As we approach the bridge just before Garland Road, the tarmac path curves
left then right and is wet from earlier sprinklers.  I am about 30 years ahead of Rosemary.  I go up on the bridge and for some reason I
look back.

 

What I see scares me to death. 
Rosemary is sitting on the path, her bike down, and people are running
to her side.  I turn around and race  back. 
She has slid out on the wet tarmac. 
She has hit the back of her head on the path but not broken her
helmet.  She says she is okay and will
walk on to the boat house over near the dam. 
I race back to the car, return, and tell her I really would like for her
to call our M.D. right there in the car.

Later he checks her out and says nothing is wrong.  Just bruises and sore ribs. 

Folks, I am so grateful and cannot give thanks enough.

 A few observations.

 

First.  The temptation is to think I am one of the
nine who did not return to thank Jesus. Yes probably & No, also.   I would suggest
again: we are both.  Lots of times we forget to thank.  Lots of times
we thank. 

Second.  There could be symbolism in the nine and
one.  Perhaps I am nine tenths ungrateful and one tenth grateful.  Is this a pretty normal proportion? A lot of times, however, I am not so much ungrateful
as just insensitive, totally unaware.  Perhaps the lepers who did not
return just figured they were lucky and went on their way.  The other guy
realized he had been given a gift by that stranger and wanted to respond.

Jesus tells him his faith has saved him.  I would
suggest that his gratitude transformed him.

Third.  How is it possible to rearrange the
percentages?  Practice.  Practice make perfect. Rosemary & I have a favorite little practice that we do
every night.  I've mentioned it before. We ask each other what were the blessings
of the day.  I recommend this. I even recommend it for sitting alone,
while savoring the first coffee in the morning, driving or riding the DART to
work & back, getting ready to go to school.  Simple question: what
were my blessings today, yesterday, or this week?

 

You may start now: what were your three biggest blessings
this week?

 

Readings:  Isaiah 55, 6-9; Psalm 145; Philippians 1, 20-27; Matthew 20, 1-16

Isaiah:

• Time: Isaiah himself may have lived ca. 750 B.C.  The book was written and put together from what seems to be 3 sources (chapters 1-39; 40-56; 57-66) after the Babylonian Exile ca. 550 B.C.

• Message: Isaiah criticizes strongly the corruption of the ruling class & wealthy and condemns them for their lack of concern for the poor.

• Today's reading: a somewhat mild criticism of the scoundrel & the wicked.

 

Celebrating the Gift of the Moment

Two stories exemplify the meaning of today's gospel. 

Just a while back I was on the DART train again, headed downtown in the middle of the day.  As usual, I was in car #1 because I love to watch where we are going.  I was on the right side about row 4, on the aisle.

Across from me in the first seat on the aisle was a mother with two little kids, one in a stroller, the other by the window.  Behind her was another mother on the aisle likewise with a little kid sitting next to the window.  Both mothers were young, both kids next to the windows were girls about 5.  The mother & kids in the first seat were white, the mother & daughter in the second seat were black.

As I watched, the girl in the first seat, who was blue eyed, blond pony tailed, and blessed with a terrific little smile, she looked around the left edge of her seat, saw the little black girl, and turned around so she could kneel on her seat and look over the seat top. 

The little girls started talking a little bit at a time.  They continued to talk, the white girl leaning over the back of her seat, the black girl with little pig tails sitting.  The black girl seemed to be doing the majority of the chatting while the white girl would ask a question and smile.

This continued all the way from Forest Lane to the Thanksgiving Square stop where I got off.  As I left, they were still into their conversation. 

I was so touched.  The kids are color blind, I thought.  They just enjoyed talking with each other and their mothers let them go at it.  For me it was a special gift of the moment.

The second story.  Yesterday morning, Saturday, I was walking back home from the Tom Thumb store at Royal & Preston.  I crossed Preston and was passing in front of the corner Starbucks.  It was early, about 6:30, and hardly anybody was moving around, not even at Starbucks. 

In front of Starbucks, however, was one guy in his late fifties or middle sixties, perhaps a little younger than I.  He had a baseball hat on & shorts.  He was facing me as I approached and I caught his eye for a second.  I said, "Morning!"

……  Nothing.  When I spoke he looked away with a face of no affect. 

Well, this type of thing can get me going.  I wanted to go back and turn his table over.  At least, say, "Hey, man, I said 'Morning.'"  Get in the guy's face type of response. 

What I did actually was nothing.  Nothing but think about the event and my response.  Who am I to judge?  Maybe he was just laid off this week, or last year, and last night could not sleep for worrying?  Maybe his wife & he had a falling out?   Whatever the case, this may be as big a gift of the moment as  the two little girls on the DART were.  I could easily see how the girls were a gift.  Maybe the guy gave me a challenge gift of the moment. 

Matthew tells us that all the laborers who worked in the vineyard got paid the same wage by the landowner, whether they had worked 8 hours or 1.  I read that I want to say "injustice!"  How can this parable make any sense.  Three comments.

1. First, we may be comparing the dynamic of the kingdom with that of contemporary labor relations.  In the kingdom we meet a landowner, God, who is universally generous and treasures each of us with magnanimous acceptance.  He does not portion out wages.  Justice is not his criterion.  He invites everyone into the banquet

2. Secondly, we are all the workers of the last hour.  In fact, we are really the non-workers.  We say to ourselves today, well what about that person who was good all his life, that priest who gave it all up, that nun who spent her whole life working with the destitute in Calcutta?  Don't they deserve more?   Question: is virtue its own reward?

3. Thirdly, we are invited into this banquet today, not just at the end of it all.  The Challenge: to accept the the gift of the moment.  The gifts are abundant and the feast is daily. 

I look at the two encounters I had as gifts of the moment.  Granted, the second gift I call a challenge gift, but still special. 

What was your gift of the moment this week, yesterday?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-09-21.mp3

 

Readings:

Isaiah 43 1-5,  Do not be afraid for I am with you.  I have called you by your name, you are mine.  When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you.  Your troubles will not overwhelm you.  When you pass through fire, you will not be burned.  The hard trials that come will not hurt you.  For I am the lord your God, the holy God of Israel, who saves you. 

 Psalm 145,  Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

 1 John 3, 1-3,  See what love the father has bestowed on us.

 John 14, 27, 15, 9 & 11,  (27)Peace is what I leave you; it is my own peace that I give you.   (9)I love you just as the father loves me, remain in my love.  (11)I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

Special readings in honor of All Saints.

 

Welcome to our celebration of our dear ones.  Happy All Saints & All Souls.

 

Isaiah observations:

Who.  This is second Isaiah, the best.  Handel's Messiah uses a number of lines from Isaiah 2.

Subject.  It is a time when many of the people of Judah are in exile in Babylon, crushed and without hope.  The prophet is proclaiming that God would eventually set his people free and take them home to Jerusalem.  (Note the Exodus theme, escape from bondage to find a new life, thus giving hope to those in Babylon.)

Our Subject.  Do not be afraid.  You will not be hurt.

 

 

Welcome in Everybody, say Georgie and Buddy.

 

All Souls Day observations–

Let me give you a bit of history and the thinking behind this All Souls' Day.  Five observations: the theology, purgatory-limbo, a legend, pre-Christian practices, and today.

1. The Theology.  All Souls' Day is part of a package with All Saints.  The idea is: on All Saints' Day we honor all those who are enjoying the beatific vision, that is, heaven, the saints.  On All Souls' Day we honor those who have died but have not reached heaven because they had penance to do. 

We are talking mortal & venial sin here.  If the person died with mortal sin, they are you know where. Those with venial sins have to go through purification and purging, which brings us to All Souls' Day and purgatory.

 

 

Wake up Buddy, you are missing all the good stuff.
 

 

2. Purgatory & limbo.  People ended up in purgatory to purify themselves with suffering, before being allowed into heaven.  Limbo was for whom?  It was for people, especially children who died without being baptized.  They remained there how long?  Forever.  Can you imagine a baby there or even in the old purgatory?

At least the Catholic Church recently acknowledged that the limbo idea was bogus.  The pope said it does not exist and never did.  Though many consider purgatory to be in the same class, it still exists.  Want to know how we know?  A previous pope was offering indulgences.  The indulgence is for the soul in purgatory.  It speeds up the process.  There are partial & total indulgences.  We can win them for these souls and get them out or we can win them for ourselves. 

For instance, on the last feast of Peter & Paul Rome offered an indulgence if you visited a church named after one or both of these two, and you recited a prescribed menu of prayers. 

 

 

Offertory with Mike & Judy & Mary.

 

3. The legend.   It happened around 1000 A.D. that a monk, St. Idolo, from the French monastery of Cluny was shipwrecked on a desolate island as he returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, i.e., Israel.  On the island he met a poor hermit.  The hermit told him that among the rocks was a crevice from which came the anguished voices of the many suffering in purgatory.  Likewise, listening carefully you could hear the devils cursing that living people were speeding up the sufferings of these souls by praying and doing penance for them. 

Some time after this, i.e., 1000 A.D., the Cluny Monastery established an All Souls' Day.  Ca. 1300 Rome followed suit.  

 

Pretty good, Hugh and Sydney; Rosemary does to me the same thing.

 

4. Pre-Christian times.  There is evidence that at least in Mexico numerous tribes had a day or period when the departed ancestors were honored.  The purpose was to honor them, remember their example, and to communicate with them.  Today in Mexico & in Hispanic families the Day of the Dead is still celebrated.  This custom has been celebrated for 3,000 years.

 

 

Guess who wears boots now.

 

       5.  Today.  Limbo has been discarded by Rome and many scholars consider purgatory a dinosaur idea from antiquity.  Consequently, All Souls' Day celebrates Samantha, my mom & dad, Rosemary's mom & dad, and all our loved ones pictured on the stage.  All Saints' Day handles the canonized.   Hell is also considered today a mental concept, not real.

So we say, What special blessing did you receive from one of these people pictured or whom you remember in your heart?

 

Do we have little mice crawling around around the floor of our community?  Little mice with boots?

 

Do not be Afraid

In honor of All Saints and All Souls I chose two of my favorite scripture passages.  Let me explain why.  

I will always remember the summer of 1970.  This was the summer just before I was ordained in 1971.  I came down from Toronto to work as an apprentice chaplain at Boston City Hospital.  

One afternoon I walked into the room of a guy who was dying.  He was elderly and a typical Boston Irish Catholic.  I asked him about his life, the positives and the negatives.  I asked him how he felt about dying. 

He said he was resigned to it even though he knew he was going to hell. 

 

Cole, our semi-pro candle lighter, at his craft.

 

I was stunned.  It seems he had married young and gotten divorced.  Then he married again and lived happily with his second wife for decades before the lady died.  He had never gotten an annulment. 

What was the Catholic teaching of these days, even though Vatican II had already taken place?  Yes, this was mortal sin and it would take him straight to hell forever.  He was stoic about paying the price.

Well, you can guess what I did.  I got another Jesuit, a priest, to visit him and send him home in peace. 

 

Recognize anybody in this picture?

 

This, folks, exemplifies the spirituality of fear that many of us Catholics lived with all our lives.  My dad had it.  Not so much my mom.  I had it, for sure.  Like I’ve mentioned here frequently, it was fear that I was going to hell with my buddies that convinced me to join the Jesuits. 

It was in Tanzania where I slowly and unconsciously learned the spirituality of unconditional acceptance and love.  It was definitely reinforced in my work with psychology.  

I would propose again that we have a God of unconditional love, not a God of punishment, especially eternal punishment.

 

 

Recognize anybody in this picture?  

 

We used to have limbo for babies who die without being baptized.  Even the Catholic Church admitted that this idea was made up by people.  Purgatory?  Protestants say this does not exist and is not in the Bible.  Made up by our ancestors.   So, what about hell?   Could it, likewise, be an idea and not a reality?  I, at least, think so.  

The readings I’ve chosen for this celebration of All Saints and All Souls focus on Do not be afraid.  They are some of my most favorite Bible verses.  Maybe the people who wrote in the gospels about eternal fire were simply trying to get people to obey. 

Lots of people have their favorite Bible verses.  Some verses focus on eternal fire.  Others talk of living without fear, certainly without fear of eternal punishment. 

 

 

What a team!

 

What is your belief?  A God of unconditional love or a God of eternal punishment? 

 Readings:

Genesis 11, 1-9,  The whole world spoke the same language.

Psalm 104,  Lord, send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth.

 Romans  8, 22-27,  The spirit comes to the aid of our weakness.

Note: the Genesis and Romans readings are from the vigil Mass readings.

 John 14, 15-16, 23-26  If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

 

 Genesis observations

What: First book of the Bible.  It presents Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Noah and the flood, and the Tower of Babel, our subject today in Chapter 11. 

The book also presents the Great Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (also called Israel, because he is seen as the father of the tribe) , and Jacob’s 12 sons (12 tribes of Israel), including Joseph, the beloved, youngest son, who is sold to the camel driving caravan, which takes him to Egypt.  Which leads us to the book Exodus, and you know what that is
about. 

Good reading.  Not history.  Myth. 

Subject:  The word Genesis means origins, and that is what it is about.

When:  compiled around the end of you know what, the Babylonian Captivity,  say, 555 years before Christ. 

Our subject:  The Tower of Babel.  The story is an example of great spin.   There were the languages of many tribes in those days.   Someone attributes this to the sinfulness of the people.  This is like the preacher who said the New Orleans hurricane was sent by God to punish the people.

A Pentecost Story 

I have a Pentecost story for you this morning.  I am considering Pentecost to be a time when we get hit by a new or special spirit. 

This is what happened.

Last Saturday we started building the 73^rd Habitat house, many of which are in the Douglas subdivision of East Plano. 

 We all gathered about 7:30, probably 30 or more people.  It was fun to see our community team and to see other people from previous  builds. 

After a while I begin to know some of these people.

At one point I see an elderly lady I had known from our last build, the next door house.  I remember this lady quite well.  She had really bummed me off one Saturday at the last house.

I had arrived a bit late this Saturday.  Most everyone was putting up and sealing siding. I had done this the Saturday before, so I was comfortable pitching in again.  It was muddy because it had rained.  I had on my Keene sandals.   I noticed this year in the preliminary Habitat notice that they prefer strong shoes with heels and toes.  My mistake.

So I see this group of about 3 working on the west side of the house.  I go up and ask if they need help.  This lady, who is one of the supervisors I
discovered, looks at me and kind of snorts. 

My memory tells me that she proceeds to tell me that they don’t need any help, that I am late, and that I don’t even have on correct shoes.

Can you imagine that I was really steamed?  So I went around to the east side of the house and worked there for the rest of the morning, avoiding that woman.

Last Saturday morning I see her.  I say to myself, “Stay away from her.”

I start helping to build the exterior walls, situating studs, and hammering.  Since there are an abundance of people on the exterior walls, I decide to go work on the interior walls where fewer people were working. 

You guessed it.  The woman is one of the mid-level supervisors of the interior wall project.  Pretty soon I am aware of her standing near me watching my hammering.  And she says, “Good job.”  Then she asks me to help her on some special corner.  When I get it just perfect, she
again compliments me and thanks me for coming out. 

For the rest of the morning, I work with her, like her assistant, even redoing some of the hammering work the younger people did a little less than exactly.  All the time she is most gracious and I find her spirit charming to work with. 

I had one of those experiences, folks.  Because of one negative experience with this lady, I wrote her out of my will.  Last Saturday I had a complete new look.  A Pentecost event. 

I propose that these Pentecost events can happen with people, with a sunrise or sunset, a piece of music, a meal, a birthday or anniversary, a graduation, a wedding, a birth,  or even a death.

What is your last Pentecost event?

 

 

 

Genesis 22, 1-2, 9-13, 15-18, Take your son Isaac.  You shall offer him up as a holocaust; Psalm 116, I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living; Romans 8, 31-34; Mark 9, 2-10, He was transfigured before them.

Introduction to Genesis 22

 The concept of a covenant between God and His people is one of the central themes of the Bible. The First Reading last week was the covenant God made with Noah. This week it is the covenant God made with Abraham, and next week it is the covenant God made with Moses.  Of course, as Christians, our belief is that we have a covenant with God through Jesus Christ. 

God, with infinite love for us brings salvation to the Table in the covenant won for us by Christ.  What are we to bring?  We are to live the spoken Word in our lives with gratitude!

 Before Bill Poncik gives the first reading, I want to share a story he emailed me a couple of weeks ago.  The mother of a young boy knowing that he had a terminal disease and only a few weeks to live asked him what he wanted to do that day. He replied that he would like to go to the Fire station for maybe he would have been a fireman.  She called the neighborhood fire station in Phoenix where they lived, told the chief there the situation and asked if her son could come for a visit. The chief asked for his height and weight and told her to bring him at 9:00 AM and plan to stay awhile. They were greeted by the morning shift of 16 men who made him a fellow fireman for a day, gave him a fitting safety helmet, yellow protective coat and boots. He and his mother began a wonderful tour; but he was told that if he heard the bell ringing that one of the 16 firemen would escort him to one of the trucks. Three times that day the young boy lived his dream.  A few weeks later his mother called the station once again to tell them that the angels would be coming for her son, that he was still awake but not for long. She was told to open the window of his bedroom when she heard the siren. That day 16 firemen climbed the ladder and entered his window fully dressed in their yellow and red. They were there, when the boy left them, dressed like the angels who had come to carry him to paradise.  16 men were living Christ’s words with gratitude in answer to God’s gift of salvation.

 

Homily from Mark 9:2-10

 

 Again, to better understand a reading, one must consider the context in which it has been placed.  So, in the teaching that precedes this transfiguration event, a man is seeking to be in a covenant relationship with God through Christ.  In this process of coming to faith he observes those around Jesus to be ‘like trees that are walking.’ 

What does this mean?  Christ’s disciples have to commit themselves to Christ’s words. The seed has been planted; but they have no roots, no foundation. They have failed to understand that he is the Messiah. That teaching does end with Peter coming to the realization that the Messiah has come to them; however, he misunderstands Christ’s mission and the disciples’ responsibility in response to God’s plan of salvation.

 

 Secondly, let’s look at the purpose of Christ’s mission in the very first verses of this Mark gospel realizing that since they are in the summary of the gospel we will find them somewhere in the later text of the Mark gospel.  When the Mark gospel begins we find that when Jesus comes forth from the waters where John was baptizing, the Holy Spirit comes upon him with the voice from heaven saying, ‘This is my son the beloved.’  These words are present twice in the Mark gospel. Here in the beginning of the summary of the Mark gospel—the second time, of course, is in today’s gospel. 

 Thirdly, we need to look at the very beginning of the Bible in the covenant God made with Abraham in the Book of the Law.  When Moses came up from the waters of the Red Sea leading the Israelites to freedom the Spirit came upon him.  Later, when Moses went up the mountain, by himself, the second time to receive the 10 commandments, Moses face continued to give off some light for he had been close to the radiance of God when the covenant had been made with him.

 

  In today’s reading, Jesus takes his inner circle of Peter, James and John up the mountain where Christ’s divinity is revealed to them. Streams of light come forth Him, for he was dazzling bright. When Moses and Elijah appear Peter is still in the dark, for he wants Jesus to abide in the presence of Moses and Elijah.  It is then we hear, with Peter, the voice from heaven, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, Listen to Him!’ (Exclamation point) No one is there but Jesus. The words of Moses and Elijah are to be understood as an expectation of the Law and the Prophets for the coming of the Messiah. When one listens to, and puts into practice, the words of Christ with all their mind and heart and soul, they enter into the new covenant with God through Christ through grace.  The words of Christ fulfill the covenants that required circumcision and obedience to the Mosaic Law.

 

 Some might be saying, ‘Well, yes, I understand; but be more specific about that to which we are to listen.”  Well, now we know why the inspired writers of the Matthew Gospel have a Sermon on the Mount! That sermon is to enlighten us. Not only is it a summary of how we are to live our lives; but it informs us that it is how we are to illuminate others to come to glorify God. During Lent I would recommend that we all reread it. It begins at Matthew’s Chapter 5.  How are you going to remember where it is in the Matthew gospel? Just look at one of your hands—five fingers—Chapter five.

 If you read the Letter of James written to the Jewish Christians its inspired writers tell us that in the New Covenant there is one perfect law.  Since in that letter there are many references to the John gospel, it’s not hard to realize what those inspired writers meant.  In the John gospel Jesus presents his disciples with one commandment.   We are to love one another as Christ loves us!  When we do that we are truly living the entirety of Christ’s words—the perfect response to the covenant God has made with us in Christ Jesus.

 

 Reflect for a moment on something you plan to do this coming week. How will you illuminate those moments to those who around you by your words and actions?  Remember, we show our gratitude to God only to the degree we show our love toward others!