Good
evening/morning.
Happy St.
Patrick’s Day, a couple days early.
<put on
hat>
My daughter Erin and I ran the St.
Patrick’s day race downtown this morning, and I ran about half the race wearing
this hat – it was so Erin would see me at the finish, since she was about five
minutes ahead of me.
As I was running this morning, I was
thinking about these readings, and I recalled the marathon I ran this past
fall, out near Chicago. The race course
was what’s called an out-and-back course – in fact it was two out-and-backs –
run one way 9 miles or so then turn around and run back 9 miles to the starting
line, then about 4 miles the other way and 4 miles back to the finish
line. So the way this course was laid
out, at about mile 18 we were running right by the finish line area.
There were quite a few people there,
cheering on the runners, the atmosphere was festive, there was loud music blaring
and balloons fluttering in the breeze, people eating and drinking and having a
great time, a really upbeat mood for the fast people who were finishing
then. I still had eight miles to go, and
at the time thought “well this is cruel – give us a taste of the finish line
when we still have eight miles to run!”
But over the course of the next eight miles, painful, grueling eight
miles, the thought of getting to that finish line and getting to the party
helped me to carry on, inspired me a bit, to keep going, keep running, almost there.
Or for those of you who read books
or enjoy movies – have you ever been in the middle of a suspenseful book or
movie, and you get really worried sometimes about what’s going to happen to the
main character, and if you’re like me, you might be tempted to flip ahead (or
with a movie, fast forward) to the end, just to see how it all ends up.
That’s kind of what today’s Gospel
is like for the three apostles, Peter, James, and John - a preview of how the story is going to end!
Our Lord takes the three up the
mountain and there is transfigured before their eyes. Matthew’s original Greek word which is
translated as “transfigured” is “metemorphote’” which means roughly the same
thing as the English word “metamorphosis” – the change that a caterpillar
undergoes in becoming a butterfly – a significant, complete change. This isn’t only an interior transformation –
what the disciples witnessed on that mountain was a glimpse, a preview, of the beatific
vision – the vision of Christ in all His glory in the fullness of God’s
Kingdom.
It’s a glimpse, a fast forward, if
you will, to the end of the book or movie, or to the party at the finish line of
the race if you’ll excuse my clumsy metaphor.
It’s a glimpse into who this Jesus fellow with whom they’ve been
traipsing around Palestine for three years really is – the Son of God, with whom
the Father is “well pleased!” What Our
Lord is giving the disciples here is a glimpse of Easter morning, a taste of the
Resurrection, a glimpse of heaven!
Now put yourself in this scene – you
or I might say the same thing that Peter does – let’s build some tents and stay
here. This is great. This is heaven – we don’t want to go back
down that mountain to the “real world.”
For what’s down the mountain in the real world? Pain.
Suffering. Grief. Loneliness.
So let’s stay here and hang out in our mountaintop experience –at least that’s
what I’d be wanting to do.
But Jesus knows what lies ahead down
that mountain, and He’s just told His disciples what to expect, just before
this in Matthew’s Gospel. To fully
appreciate this mountaintop experience, we need to undertand that - Jesus has just told the disciple of His impending
passion, how He must suffer much, be put to death, and on the third day be
raised up. Peter has rejected this prediction
and our Lord’s reaction? “Get behind me,
Satan,” Jesus admonishes him. And Jesus
then tells the disciples they, too, must take up their crosses and follow Him.
So it is against this backdrop of
Jesus’ looming passion and death that Jesus gives the three a glimpse of His
glory, a glimpse of who He really is, a glimpse that we can imagine would carry
them through the tough times, the discouragement, the pain that lie ahead for
Our Lord, as well as for them.
My sisters and brothers, this vision
on the mountaintop was not only for Peter, James and John. This vision of Christ glorified, His face
shining like the sun, is meant for you and me, as we go about our lives, not on
the mountaintop but in this valley of tears. In the Salve Regina at the end of
praying the Rosary, we say these words – “to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning
and weeping in this valley of tears.”
When I was a younger man, I thought life isn’t so bad, this isn’t a
valley of tears.
But as I’ve grown older, lost both
my parents and teenage niece to cancer, my brother-in-law suddenly from an
undetected heart condition, watched my own children suffer with serious
ailments, had friends suffer the loss of jobs and financial hardship, and I
could go on, I’ve come to see that this life is not easy, in many ways it is,
indeed, a valley of tears. It is a long and
often grueling journey, and there is often a temptation, in the midst of pain,
suffering, loneliness, and grief, to give up, to lose heart, to lose faith.
At those darkest moments in our
lives, that glimpse, this vision of Our Lord glorified, is a reminder of what
lies ahead for us if we carry on, if we keep the faith, if we do not lose
heart. For what lies ahead is not only
the metemorphothe’ of Our Lord, but our own transformation, our own transfiguration. After our passion of this life, our own
sufferings, our own death, if we are faithful to the end of the race, we have
this same glory to look forward to. A
place of eternal joy, eternal peace, eternal glory!!
As I was driving home this morning
from the race downtown, a song came on the radio, on KLove, a song by Jeremy
Camp, which seemed perfect for this Gospel today, and the refrain goes
something like this -
There
will be a day
with no
more tears,
no more
pain,
and no
more fears
There will be a day
There will be a day
when
the burdens of this place,
will be
no more,
we'll
see Jesus face to face
But until that day, we'll hold on to You always
But until that day, we'll hold on to You always
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