When we hear today’s Gospel, we might wonder what actually happened on that mountain? The scene we are presented with is quite dramatic: Jesus is transfigured with an “other worldly” brilliance that glowed like the sun. And two prophets, long dead, appear and converse with Jesus and then suddenly there comes the voice of God…speaking the same words that were heard at Jesus’ baptism… “this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased”….but this time, God adds, “listen to him.”
This is clearly an essential moment in the lives of the three disciples who witness this proclamation of Jesus’ true identity as the Son of God. And yet Jesus tells them to “tell no one the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Can you imagine how they must have been just “bursting at the seams” with desire to tell the other disciples?…To share this amazing experience where they had seen long dead prophets and saw Jesus transfigured before their very eyes and then, on top of that, they heard the “voice of God speak, to them”!
Remember it was not just a proclamation of Jesus’ divine identity but also instruction from God directly to them to “listen to him!”
I think that Lent can be a time of honing our listening skills, of taking time to slow down in the midst of our chaotic lives and to listen… just listen for God speaking to us.
In our busyness and preoccupation, we can often miss the word spoken “to us” and spoken “for us” by God. In today’s Gospel Jesus took the three disciples apart up a mountain…a retreat of sorts…and there apart from the others they had an encounter with The Divine.
Taking time apart is certainly not easy in the world in which we live, especially in the midst of this chaos we are currently living in, but in order to remain centered and maintain our sense of being disciples of Jesus we all need to take time apart to sit with Jesus…and listen, listen to where he is calling us in our life.
Long before science told us that almost all forms of meditation are beneficial to the whole person -- body, mind and spirit -- Jesus made it clear that whether retreating to a deserted place or just going into our rooms, being apart for quiet prayer is essential. Scripture tells that Jesus took time apart to pray. So too, we are called to take time apart to meditate…not to fill the silence with words but to just sit and listen and to rest in God. And then from that place of silence we can move to a place of informed action, Gospel action!
So let us hone our listening skills this Lent and commit to take time apart to sit with God and allow God to “transfigure us” so that we might go out and transfigure the world! To transfigure the world by standing up with and for the poor and the marginalized, demanding racial justice, and working for fair and just immigration change, and lasting change in the way immigrants and refugees are treated in this country, and standing with all of those who are suffering…wherever we encounter them.
If I am not already meditating, can I add three, five-minute periods of meditation to my day? How can I make time to hear God...and what God might be calling me to? In my prayer life, how is God calling me to respond to the current political chaos, and/or, to whom is God calling me to reach out to?
May the peace and light of the Risen Christ be upon you all!
Fr. Tim
This is clearly an essential moment in the lives of the three disciples who witness this proclamation of Jesus’ true identity as the Son of God. And yet Jesus tells them to “tell no one the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Can you imagine how they must have been just “bursting at the seams” with desire to tell the other disciples?…To share this amazing experience where they had seen long dead prophets and saw Jesus transfigured before their very eyes and then, on top of that, they heard the “voice of God speak, to them”!
Remember it was not just a proclamation of Jesus’ divine identity but also instruction from God directly to them to “listen to him!”
I think that Lent can be a time of honing our listening skills, of taking time to slow down in the midst of our chaotic lives and to listen… just listen for God speaking to us.
In our busyness and preoccupation, we can often miss the word spoken “to us” and spoken “for us” by God. In today’s Gospel Jesus took the three disciples apart up a mountain…a retreat of sorts…and there apart from the others they had an encounter with The Divine.
Taking time apart is certainly not easy in the world in which we live, especially in the midst of this chaos we are currently living in, but in order to remain centered and maintain our sense of being disciples of Jesus we all need to take time apart to sit with Jesus…and listen, listen to where he is calling us in our life.
Long before science told us that almost all forms of meditation are beneficial to the whole person -- body, mind and spirit -- Jesus made it clear that whether retreating to a deserted place or just going into our rooms, being apart for quiet prayer is essential. Scripture tells that Jesus took time apart to pray. So too, we are called to take time apart to meditate…not to fill the silence with words but to just sit and listen and to rest in God. And then from that place of silence we can move to a place of informed action, Gospel action!
So let us hone our listening skills this Lent and commit to take time apart to sit with God and allow God to “transfigure us” so that we might go out and transfigure the world! To transfigure the world by standing up with and for the poor and the marginalized, demanding racial justice, and working for fair and just immigration change, and lasting change in the way immigrants and refugees are treated in this country, and standing with all of those who are suffering…wherever we encounter them.
If I am not already meditating, can I add three, five-minute periods of meditation to my day? How can I make time to hear God...and what God might be calling me to? In my prayer life, how is God calling me to respond to the current political chaos, and/or, to whom is God calling me to reach out to?
May the peace and light of the Risen Christ be upon you all!
Fr. Tim
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