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Homilies
In Thy Light, We See Light
(10-11 March 2001 - Lent 2)
A couple of weeks ago, I was at lunch in the school cafeteria and discussing the lyrics of a popular song. Clearly, I must have missed something and a young lady said to me: “Nice try Father, but you have the wrong idea.” She was right. But it is easy to get the wrong idea
Take for instance religion in the movies. You have a choice between two extremes. Idea #1: You have a lot of eerie music, usually chanting, with lots of insence and candles in dimly lit churches. Idea #2: There is a heavenly light with soaring soprano voices of angel choirs. And to quote that Junior High girl: “Nice try, Hollywood, but you have the wrong idea.” I don’t think any of us who are on this Lenten journey can say that when we walk into Church that our experience of God is like the movie version. So where do we get these Hollywood ideas of God? How about the two readings today?
In the first reading we hear of a strange and mystical vision of God in the darkness of night, complete with vultures, flying caldrons of flame and a trance-like state in which an eternal promise of God’s fidelity is ratified by sacrifices. Now fast forward to the top of Mount Tabor. In the clear light of heaven, the body of Jesus is transformed along with bright visions of Moses and Elijah. The scene is completed with a booming voice from Heaven. So while we can’t blame the movies for these images of God, few of us have visions of God like these. But of all of us have the gift of faith which we find in these moments of grace and glory.
When our faith is yong or new, God’s mysteries are obscure and even at time, scary. As we grow both in time and spirit, we begin to look at life and hope for a promise of glory when all will be better. But there is a middle stage and for us in the Lenten time, which brings the shadows into focus and points us to the glory of Mount Tabor.
A week before Jesus went up Tabor with Peter, James and John, He told them something which scared and shook them. He told them that He was both the promised Messiah and promised them that Good Friday and Easter were both a part of it. He told them that there would be no crown without the cross. But as people, we all have a better contact with the cross than with the crown - we understand the agony of defeat more than the thrill of victory. Jesus knew this an wanted to re-assure them of why He, and eventually they, would go through the process of embracing the difficulties of life in order to come to a glory greater their hopes or imaginations.
Jesus offers us the same vision. You and I are people whose faith is sometimes in the dark. The vision of what God wants us to do in this life and how we are to get through it is often not clear. The vultures of doubt and tiredness try to snatch what faith we have and all we see are quick sparks of what we think is God’s grace. We turn instinctively to a vision of Tabor where everything is clear and glorious. But the only way to this hope is through the cross that each one us is called by God’s will to endure. Whatever your cross is, imposed by others or yourself, it remains your path to glory. When we are going through this journey, even with all of its bumps and falls, the vision of the Gospel today is for each of us. “It is good to be here.” Yes Lord, it is good for us in the midst of life and the middle of Lent to be here. Now we return to the valley here below. And all we see is Jesus - and we keep going.
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