Welcoming God

I need to welcome God:
to do what he wants to do in my life;
to speak what he wants to speak in my heart;

to change what he wants to change within me;
to help me understand what he wants me to know;
to heal and shape me to be the person he made me to be;
and to forgive me so that I might be more free in his presence.

The more I invite Jesus to show himself to me
the more I’m transfigured, the more I’m changed,
the I become the person I was created to be.

Thinking Again

Peter is one of the most important saints of the Christian tradition. He is the first of the apostles, the rock on which Jesus builds the church. The New Testament tells us many things about Peter. In fact in the gospels no other character is mentioned more than Peter with the exception of only Jesus himself. So what do the scriptures tell us about Peter? They tell us that he often speaks up with confidence, and that he is just as often wrong. Peter is the one who tries to convince Jesus to avoid the cross. Peter refuses to have his feet washed at the Last Supper. Peter thinks he can walk on water and sinks. Peter denies Jesus three times during Jesus’ trial. And in today’s gospel, Peter is the one who comes up with this bizarre idea of setting up tents on the Mount of Transfiguration. When you examine the incidents that refer to Peter, they are one blunder after another. Generally whenever Peter opens his mouth, he discovers that his foot is in it.

Our Part in the Plan

Fantasy can easily replace reality. The Lord is real. He is right before us. The Hebrew Scriptures, the Law and the Prophets, predicted his coming. The disciples witnessed his coming. What Peter wrote, simply enough, is that it is time for us to stop looking. Jesus is the One.

We are called to have faith that the Jesus the apostles saw is the Son of the God that we cannot see. The One we learn about in Scripture is the Eternal Word. Our faith is based not on intellectual curiosities but on the testim ony of Sacred Scripture and the witness of the apostles.

We focus on the Lord. We experience His Presence within us. And we proclaim to the world: God is real. Jesus Christ is real. All that matters is that which flows from the Lord and returns to Him.

Let’s take a look at this Gospel, which sets forth in four fundamental movements:

1. The Climb 
2. The Clarification
3. The Contemplation
4. The Command

Feast of the Transfiguration

Today we celebrate one of those rare occasions when the regular Sunday Mass is replaced by a different feast. Even though the Transfiguration is, liturgically speaking, a Feast rather than a Solemnity, the fact that it is celebrated even on Sunday tells us just how important the Church sees this event to be. In this way, one can understand how important the profession of faith in the resurrection by St. Thomas has been for so many people throughout history, so too, the Transfiguration has been instrumental in helping people to believe in our Lord’s divinity.

Living in today’s world, it’s hard to find beauty in anything, especially in yourself. It is no wonder, that the classic fairy tale story of the ugly duckling resonates with so many of us. In the story of the ugly duckling, the true beauty of the swan is only revealed in the end. Until the beautiful swan is recognised for whom he truly is,  he is mocked and ridiculed by the ducks. The ugly duckling is considered unattractive and out of place. When you find a cocoon, you do not see the beauty of the butterfly. Until it emerges, its beauty and majesty are hidden within the cocoon. Unfortunately, for so many of us, in our own eyes, we remain tarnished ugly ducklings as we remain sealed in our dull coloured cocoons. We can only see the ugliness of our pain and tormented souls.

Clergy E-Notes

The Transfiguration of Jesus was a glimmer of the glory as yet to be revealed to the apostles following the Passion of the Lord. It was also an affirmation of the profound love the Father had for his beloved Son.

Let us always remember with gratitude that through our baptism we enter the mystery of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. We also become beloved sons and daughters of the Father.

We must bring the message of hope, forgiveness, and compassion to those who are hurting from abortion and to those who are contemplating euthanasia.

As we labour within the pro-life movement in Canada, let us remember that we are called to imitate Jesus’ surrender to the Father’s will, which is the path to true meaning, profound love, and abiding peace. Although Canada finds itself immersed in a culture of death, with ever increasing access to abortion and euthanasia, sin and death do not have the final word.

Transfiguration

St. Matthew ́s Gospel presents the singular event of the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus ́ external appearance, the momentary presence of Moses and Elijah, and the hearing of God ́s voice. Only three of the Apostles witness this revelation, and they are warned to speak of it only after Jesus ́ resurrection from the dead.

A Father Who Keeps His Promise

Dr. Scott Hahn illustrates the Father’s fidelity with a story from the 1998 Armenian earthquake. With a 6.9 magnitude the quake flattened buildings and killed some 25,000 people. In the chaos a man ran looking for his son. He couldn’t stop thinking about the promise he had given so many times: “No matter what happens, Armand, I’ll always be there.”

He reached the site of his son’s school only to find a hill of rubble. At first he just stood fighting back tears, then took off stumbling over debris running toward the east corner where his son’s classroom had been. With bare hands he started digging, pulling bricks and pieces of wall plaster. One of the bystanders said, “Forget it, mister, they’re all dead.”

The Transfiguration of Our Lord

What a grace for Peter, James, and John to see Jesus transfigured. They got a preview of the glory of Jesus risen from the dead and his glory in heaven. It was also a preview of the glory we all hope to share in heaven. This was a very special grace for Peter, James, and John.

It was not the only special grace Jesus shared with Peter, James, and John. Earlier in the Gospel (Mark and Luke) we read that Jesus allowed Peter, James, and John with him into the house of the synagogue official whose daughter he raised up again (Mark 5:37; Luke 8:51). Later, when Jesus was teaching in the temple, Peter, James, and John asked Jesus a question privately and he gave them more teaching (Mark 13:3). In Gethsemane, Jesus took Peter, James, and John aside from the others to be near him during his agony (Mark 14:33). So Peter, James, and John received many special graces from Jesus.

Transfiguration

Our deepest longing is to be in love, giving and receiving love. We can love only to the extent that we are open to God who is love, and sin weakens and can even destroy this openness. Today we look at this basic desire and longing which is in every human heart. We speak of it as a longing to ‘see God’ or to ‘behold the face of God’. It is a longing for a profound love-communion with God and so with all whom God loves and with the world made in love by God.

Jesus calls us to transformation

In the Gospel reading, Jesus leads his disciples up a high mountain to witness his transfiguration. Elijah and Moses appear and this demonstrates that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophets and the law. God speaks from heaven and this gives the disciples clarity in their vocations. Peter wants to stay in the moment. Peter wants to build monuments and to stay put, and don’t we all. Soon after the events at Mount Tabor, however, Jesus begins to lead his disciples to Jerusalem and to the cross. You see, Jesus is leading his disciples to another mountain, Golgotha, where all of humanity is transfigured through the passion, death and resurrection of the Son of God. For the disciples of Jesus, the transfiguration they are hungering for will be the promise of salvation, resurrection and everlasting life.

WWJP

In our first reading (1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12) Solomon was also faced with a choice.  God says to the young king, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.”  Solomon could have asked for anything and God knows this.  Solomon, aware of his role as a young king, asks, “Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and distinguish right from wrong.”  Solomon is blessed in his choice because he made a choice for the Kingdom of God.  He did not choose for himself – to build up his ego, his wealth or his power – rather, he made a choice for others – he asked for wisdom that he might serve and govern God’s people well and justly.  In so doing, Solomon mirrored the reality of God who is love who pours himself out for all of his creation and Solomon was blessed.  Life grew within him.