Transfigure Me

Feast of the Transfiguration

Cycle B

It really depends upon your point of view, doesn’t it?

Have you ever had your life changed because you suddenly saw things a bit differently? Many times we get caught up in the ordinary of our everyday lives and miss the truth of what’s going on around us.

Dr. Steven R. Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, tells in his book of an experience he had on a New York subway one Sunday morning. He says that people were sitting quietly. Some were reading newspapers, some were dozing, others were simply sitting with their eyes closed. It was a rather peaceful, calm scene. At one stop a man and his children entered the car. The children were soon yelling back and forth, throwing things, even grabbing people’s newspapers. It was all very disturbing and yet the father just sat there next to him and did nothing. It was not difficult to feel irritated. Steven could not believe the man could be so insensitive as to let his children run wild and do nothing about it. It was easy to see that everyone else in the car was annoyed as well. So finally, with what he thought was admirable restraint and patience, Steven said to the man, “Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn’t control them a little bit more?” The man lifted his gaze as if coming out of a dream and said, “Oh, you’re right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to do and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.”

Dr. Covey said, “Can you imagine what I felt at that moment? Suddenly I saw things differently. Because I saw differently, I felt differently. I behaved differently. My irritation vanished. I didn’t have to worry about controlling my attitude or my behavior. My heart was filled with this man’s pain. Feelings of compassion and sympathy flowed freely. ‘Your wife just died? Oh, I’m so sorry! Can you tell me about it? What can I do to help?’”

That was Steven Covey’s moment of transfiguration, a moment of revelation that sustained him in a difficult situation. Peter, James and John had the vision of Jesus’ transfiguration to sustain them during the difficult times to come. The next time Jesus took the three of them off with him by themselves was in the Garden of Gethsemanie. But what about us? After all, we could put up with an awful lot if we had a remembered moment of glory to sustain us, a clear indication of who Jesus really is, some sign that when it was all over, everything would be all right. What’s our transfiguration moment?

To be transformed is to be changed. To be transfigured is to see things differently, as they really are. Peter couldn’t see clearly up there on the mountain. But over time, with a lot of prayer, pondering, suffering and preaching the good news, he came to see Jesus for who he really is. Jesus didn’t change. Peter’s understanding did. Because he saw differently, he felt differently, and because he felt differently, he behaved differently.

And how Peter had changed from the time of this gospel account until he wrote his letters decades later! In the gospel, he’s really scared. He falls down to the ground in fear, and says some pretty silly things. Like the man on the train, Peter didn’t really know what to say or do; he didn’t understand what was happening before him.

The Peter we hear in his second letter is very different. Gone is the simple fisherman from Capernaum. Gone is the rough man unsure of himself. He is calm, confident, and collected. He is no longer the frightened disciple, he has become the leader. He has been bringing others to knowledge of Jesus, and he is reassuring them that his message is true. Something happened to him, and James and John as well, after they saw Jesus differently, after they saw him in his glory, that changed the very direction of their lives.

And if you thought it scared Peter to see Jesus as he really was, how do you think it made him feel as he himself was transfigured? It can be frightening to learn who you really are, who you are called to be for the world. Peter had come to know what it means to be truly human. To be truly human is to be like God. And Peter saw what that God was doing. He was teaching, preaching, working tirelessly to bring the gospel to the people. Desperate to have his children truly know him for who he was. He was putting his life on the line daily, and he finally lost that life in a horrible way.

Is that what was in store for Peter if he lived out his true humanity? Is that what’s in store for all of us? Peter didn’t know. But he, James and John had a decision to make. They could take their newfound knowledge of Jesus and continue to follow him, or they could go away, back to their livelihoods. Or worse yet, they could drift off to the fringes of his followers, simply tagging along without taking on any of the responsibilities of discipleship.

We all have the same decision to make that the apostles did. Sooner or later we’ll be hit with the realization of who Jesus really is in our lives, and we’ll have to decide what to do next. That realization might be found in a passage of scripture, it may be found here at Mass, or during a serious illness or family crisis. It may be a simple acceptance that grows out of many years of quietly walking with the Lord. But our lives will transfigured. And we can either continue in our old ways of living, we can drift off to the fringes of the community without taking on the added responsibilities that discipleship brings, or we can embrace those responsibilities and reach out to others as the Master did.

Our greatest hope is to someday see Jesus in all his glory. We can catch glimpses of it at times here on earth. Maybe not as dramatically as the apostles did, but perhaps it comes in a flash of inspiration, or the deep affection we have for those we love, or maybe in the glint of hope in a dying person’s eyes. The apostles were overcome with fear, but Jesus allayed their fears. Jesus’ glory can seem terrible to us now, because we live sinful lives in a sinful world. But our hope is that ultimately Jesus’ glory will be our glory. We too will be touched by Him and take our place at his side in heaven, where there is no fear.

Then we will be as we were truly created to be.

 

 

15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle A

Farming in Jesus’ time was very difficult. The soil in the middle east can be very hard and required hard work to break up, using rudimentary plows, really just sharp sticks that were dragged across the surface by a team of oxen. Back breaking work. The sower would then simply grab a handful of seed from a sack and throw it out over the field. He didn’t dig a hole, drop in a seed, and then put in some fertilizer. He didn’t tend the field after planting it. He relied upon the rains to water it, and as you know, there wasn’t a lot of rain. He didn’t weed it. He basically left the seed where it landed and hoped for the best. It was up to the field itself to determine if anything grew or not.

The ancient farmers saw everything they received as a gift from God. They trusted that God would provide the rain and snow to water the plants to create seed and wheat for bread. They were totally reliant upon the whims of nature, or, as they saw it, the pleasure of the creator. Whether the farmer’s family ate or starved was at the mercy of God.

So the people listening to Jesus that day could really relate to the story. They understood the seriousness of the situation because they experienced it first hand. They just had a hard time relating themselves to the story. The did not understand how it applied to them. What could they do to affect the harvest when it was really all in God’s hand?

This is not a passive parable. There are two actors working together in this parable: the sower and the field. Each has an active role in whether or not the seed bears fruit.

The sower firstly chooses to sow. The sower prepares the field. It’s the same field, but with different conditions in different areas of the field. It receives the same water and sunlight, and the sower scatters seed to the entire field. He does not discriminate or play favorites.

The field also has a choice in the matter. The conditions of the field can change if the field wants them to. We are the field. If we want we can move to a better part of the field. I think we are always moving around the field. Sometimes we are the rocky soil, sometimes we are among the thorns, other times we are the good soil. Heck, I’ve been in all three areas just in one day!

This parable is all about the choices we make. We can choose to let the seed fall on the hard ground, or we can cultivate the hard ground to receive it. Are our hearts open to the seed? Do we want to truly understand? Have we hardened ourselves to the word of God, to Jesus? We prepare the ground of our own hearts and we accept the cultivation and sustenance we are given.

Some seed fell on the path and the birds ate it before it could take root. There was no understanding, and so the devil came and took it away. To take root and flourish, the word of God must be received with understanding. That requires that we seek to understand. We receive understanding first from the Holy Spirit revealing the word to us in scripture and in the teaching of Jesus that has come down to us from the Apostles. Understanding is how we prepare the soil of our hearts. We break up the hardness to allow the seed to penetrate deeper, where it can take root.

Knowledge leads to understanding, understanding leads to decision, and decision leads to action.

Some seed fell on shallow rocky ground. It sprang up quickly but had no depth so it soon withered in the hot sun. Sometimes people base their faith upon emotion or self-centeredness only, and so once the excitement wears off and trouble comes, the faith dies. They are attracted by the externals of religion, or by a charismatic preacher or teacher or the music they like, or by the feeling they get in a certain community. But they never really go deeper, never seek to truly understand, and so they don’t stay long. They don’t study their faith. They don’t seek God in service to others. They just want to be fed themselves. They hop from congregation to congregation, always looking for that one experience that will make it all click. That is not a faith that survives adversity and suffering.

Some seed fell among the thorns, and when those thorns also grew up alongside them, they overwhelmed the good plants and choked them out. Worldly desires and worries choke them out. We can choose to let the world choke out the word, or we can clear the path of all the things that distract us and cause us to turn away. We are all planted in the same field, however, we are in the world but should not be of the world.

Oftentimes those thorns are on rosebushes; they are really attractive and beautiful. We are drawn to their beauty and don’t see the thorns underneath. Sometimes the thorns seem so tall and so strong that they overwhelm us, and we lose hope. The thorns are all around us. The key is to not let the thorns be the focus, but the word. Letting go of worldly desires and anxieties is a choice we have the power to make, and it can be liberating.  

But Jesus says that the seed that falls on good ground not only grows but yields so abundantly that it makes up for all the seed that did not produce anything. The field will therefore be plentiful, even though only a small part of the seed took root and flourished. Because in God’s plan everything he does bears fruit. His word will not return to him until it produces exactly what he sent it to do.

God has a choice and he chooses to send us his word to give us life. He offers that life to everyone he has ever created and will create, without favor. It is the same life for everyone. He doesn’t plant good seed in one field and poor seed in another. His will is that the seed take root and accomplish what he sent it to do. It will accomplish that because God cannot fail. However, when and where His will is accomplished requires a decision and action on the part of the recipient. We have the ultimate say in the matter.

We are not passive actors in this play. We are not simply receptors of the message, but active searchers and cultivators. We are active participants in the growth of the seed. God will do his part. He will send his word to us like he sends the rain to the earth, and that word will give life to the world, whether we as individuals accept and cultivate it or not.

God will not be denied, but we can deny God. It is our choice. We choose what to do with the word and with the life it can give us. The seed has been planted in you. What will you choose to do with it?

 

 

 

To Serve and To Give

5^th Sunday of Easter

Cycle A

Acts 6:1-7
Psalms 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19
1 Peter 2:4-9
John 14:1-12

 

Ever since Easter Sunday we have been reading from the Acts of the Apostles, hearing about how the early Church sought to live out the mission that Jesus had given them. We have no record of Jesus giving the disciples instructions on how to organize themselves into Church. It is interesting how they chose to do so. From the very beginning we see them putting into place an attitude and a structure of service. First and foremost service to one another, and then expanding to service of the entire community.

We will be listening the next few weeks to verses from the Gospel of John from what is called, “The Last Discourse”. This passage today comes immediately following the story of the washing of the feet we heard on Holy Thursday, where Jesus told his disciples, “If I washed your feet – I who am teacher and Lord – then you must wash each other’s feet. What I just did was to give you an example: as I have done, so you must do.”

This is where the Church received its marching orders from Jesus, and we are beginning to see how they chose to live out those orders. This took on a very practical orientation. From the very beginning the Church ordered itself in practical ways to carry out its mission of service. This attitude of loving service, of subordination to each other, was what attracted so many people to Christianity.

The Church addressed both the spiritual and physical needs of its members. The role of the apostles was to preach and teach the gospel. They also governed the community. When they found themselves being bogged down with the temporal needs of the people, they set aside certain people to take on that role.

We hear today the story of the ordination of the first deacons; the very name means servant in Greek. Their job was to take care of the poor and the sick and the needy, just like today. They were the servants at table, both the dinner table and the altar of the Eucharist. It may seem that the Apostles were delegating the dirty work to lesser men, but in fact service at table is what Eucharist is all about, isn’t it?

Archbishop Niederauer, whose motto was “To Serve and To Give”, liked to say that Eucharist happens under the table as well as on top of it. We gather around the table to share in the banquet on the top, but we serve down below. Because foot washing happens under the table. If we are to be people of Eucharist, we must be foot washers for one another.

“Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,” Jesus said, “and will do greater ones than these.” Jesus in his earthly ministry fed the hungry, healed the sick, raised the dead, taught his disciples, gave himself in Eucharist to us, gave his very life for us. As his disciples we are called to do the same. Jesus did all these things himself, because he was giving us example. However, we aren’t called to serve God’s people all by ourselves; we are called to do our part as members of the larger Body of Christ. Some of us feed the hungry, some of us heal the sick, some lead us in Eucharist, still others teach, but all of us are called to give our lives for others, not necessarily literally, but we are called to live our entire lives in service.

Service is not an option; it is what we are compelled to do through the Holy Spirit. If you have the spirit of God within you you will do great works. That is how you know you have the Spirit. When the Spirit came down upon Jesus at his baptism, he didn’t just go off somewhere to study or to keep this power within him. He didn’t keep it just between God and himself. He immediately went throughout the entire countryside spreading the gospel he had found. He was driven into the desert by the spirit and then from there spent the rest of his life in service to God’s people. He didn’t work a year or two and then say, “Well, I’ve done my part, now it’s time for someone else to take over.” He was serving unto his death. He was obedient to the will of his Father unto his death. Only when he went back to the Father did he hand over his ministry to his disciples. To us.

It really is all about stewardship. We have all been given great gifts from God. Everything we have – our health, our relationships, our children, our jobs, our material possessions – ultimately come from God. We have been given so much, and we have an awesome responsibility to take care of those gifts.

As stewards we understand that while we have so much, we do not really own anything and nothing really owns us. We are here to nurture and grow the gifts we have been given, to increase their worth and give them back to the creator who gives them to us in the first place. The greatest gift we are called to take stewardship of is one another. By serving one another we help each other to grow and become the people God intends us to be.

It’s fitting that we celebrate Mother’s day this weekend. A mother is a natural steward. Motherhood is a vocation of service, of nurturing, of giving tirelessly of self for the benefit of others. There is something about having a child that brings out this selflessness. We fathers also feel this need, but a mother’s love begins in the womb, with a baby’s total reliance on her for sustenance. The connection between mother and child is both physical and spiritual. And once born, a mother’s selfless service to her family only grows deeper and stronger.

The Church is a lot like the womb in that regard. One of the strongest images we have of the church is as mother. Mother Church we call it. As Church we look out for one another. We take care of the spiritual and physical needs of others, whether they belong to our community or not. We see each other as special gifts from God, and we offer up our own unique talents for the benefit of all.

Because that’s what love is and that’s what love does. Jesus gave us our mission. “Love one another as I have loved you.” And then he gave us his example of humble service to show us how to live that love.

A good friend of mine posted today on Facebook,

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I have nothing left, I used everything you gave me."

To me, that says it all.