Today's Thoughts...

Today’s Thoughts: In our Gospel Peter, James and John are given the opportunity to see and hear Jesus differently, not just through the eyes and ears of the world but also through the eyes and ears of faith. What they see and hear is terrifying, awesome and wonderful.
 
Abraham gets put to the ultimate test. He is asked to sacrifice his son. In many ways, this story in Genesis is a powerful one. One that probably makes every parent cringe. I cannot imagine any parent agreeing to sacrifice any of their children. They would first offer their own life. Now it is true that parents would like to kill their children at certain times but no sacrifice them! Yet, Abraham stakes his life as a parent and his son’s life on the promises of God and that makes all the difference. Abraham is not transfigured he is transformed.
 
Like Abraham, Peter, James and John, are gifted with God's presence. It is a presence that is also overwhelming and terrifying. They encounter the breath of God's covenant and the essence of Jesus divine nature. They want to hang on to both but quickly learn that they cannot. It is an encounter to be remembered, an encounter that they can take with them as they return to the life they live. It becomes for them an encounter of hope. Even though they must return to their everyday life, to the struggles, difficulties, the challenges, even though they must go back down the mountain and continue their journey to the next mountain, Calvary, they have this memory that will keep alive the hope they need no matter what they encounter. Peter, James and John are not transfigured they are transformed.
 
And so, it is for us as we continue this journey of Lent, this journey of life. We too have an encounter with the presence of God. It perhaps doesn't seem as terrifying or as awesome as Abraham’s or Peter, James and John's. It sometimes is quickly forgotten but if we have faith it is the very hope that will help us continue this journey with all its struggles, with all it difficulties, with all its challenges. Our encounter with God is the Eucharist. It is not a transfiguration but a transubstantiation. The substance changed but not the appearance. It is our mountain top, it is our moment to see and hear God not through the eyes and ears of the world, but through the eyes and ears of faith! It is our moment to be transformed.
 
Have a blessed Sunday everyone!