Well I had to make a
decision earlier in the week as to what exactly to preach upon tonight because
we could take a long time to go into the book of Genesis and try to figure out
what that passage is all about, or jump into the gospel with the
transfiguration. And so I had to make a
decision and in a moment a flash of light came and it said, “Preach on the
gospel” so that’s what we are going to do.
Actually I don’t know of any
of you ever had the opportunity say to be out west, in
Is that what the gospel is
about? Skiing down a mountain? Jesus took Peter, James and John to the top
of a high mountain. And as the scriptures
there say, He was transfigured. We don’t
know exactly what that means but all the gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, all
three of them talk about this experience in their gospel accounts. So evidently this is something very, very
important. That Peter, James and John
could have a glimpse of Jesus in His glory.
Moses and Elijah there, Moses representing the law of the Old Testament,
Elijah the prophets. Jesus is the
fulfillment of the Old Testament. And
Jesus somehow, the voice comes from the sky, “This is My Son, My Beloved Son,
listen to Him.”
Now in the scriptures any
time you have a cloud or smoke that’s symbolic of God’s presence surrounding us
because you can’t control it. When you
fly in an airplane. The first time I
ever flew I said, “Oh, whoa, what’s going to happen? Are we going to hit?” No you just get enveloped by the cloud and
you fly right through it and you come out on the other side. And God’s presence is always surrounding
us. That permeating presence of
God. The shakena in Hebrew. That presence of God. That had enveloped them. So they were in for an experience of their
life literally. No wonder Peter says,
“Lord it’s good to be here. Let’s stay here.
Why go back down the mountain?”
Jesus says, “Peter we gotta go back down into the valley. You are getting a glimpse of My glory, the
fullness and the presence of My Father within Me. But then don’t tell anybody about this except
after I’ve risen from the dead.”
They didn’t have a clue what
he was talking about. Scripture even
says they kind of scratched their heads and said, “What’s rising from the dead
mean?”
I’m willing to bet that most
of us here sometime or another in your life have had the experience of someone
who has died and you have felt or you have sensed their presence. If you haven’t I hope you get it. I still remember very clearly the night that
my mother died back in 1991, July 21st. I was in Grand Rapids at that time as my
assignment. Earlier that Saturday night
my brothers and sister and one of my uncles had visited my mom in the nursing
home. We knew that her time was
short. Could be that night. Might be 24 hours who knows. But after we left and we all went back to our
different places. I was staying in the
rectory. My brother and sister went back
out to their homes. My brother Harry was
staying with my dad at the time to keep him company that night. And about 2:30 in the morning I woke up and I
said, “You’ve died. I know it mom, you
just died.” Ten minutes later the phone
rang from the nursing home saying, "Father Pat, your mother died a few
moments ago.”
After mom’s death many times
over the last several years I have sensed and felt her presence with me. Praying for me, kind of giving me a kick in
the rear end at times, but I know that this woman is living with the Lord in
the presence of God in heaven. And there
are times that I say very honestly, very simply, that I sense and feel her
presence.
Everyone of us here has the
power and the presence of God within us.
That’s what Jesus was realizing.
He had this mission, that the Father had entrusted to Him and this
mission would take Him to His death. But
He was willing to embrace that death because He knew that this is what the
Lord, His Father had asked of Him. And
He would get through it. He was given a
vision of His own glory. Peter, James
and John were able to be a part of that, not knowing the fullness of it.
So what does all this have
to do with you and me here tonight? I
think wherever your journeys are going to take you, whenever people come into
your lives, there are those moments and times you say, “Aha, that’s what it’s
all about. Wow. How did I miss it?”
Before our Mass began the
choir sang, “Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord, open the eyes of our heart.” Open our eyes that we could see Your
presence, not only see it, feel it, experience it, and all those around
us. In your spouse, in your children, in
your brothers and sisters, in your fellow parishioners, in the stranger, in the
most weird places, that you might be able to open your eyes and know that God
is present there. Then you and I can
transform, transfigure those moments, perhaps of sadness into joy, of hurt into
comfort, of pain into strength, of sadness into glory, of sin into
forgiveness. That’s what you and I can
do because the same Lord Jesus 2000 years ago is present here tonight in His risen
glory and He is present in all of us.
You do not travel alone. You
cannot not ever be in the presence of God.
And hopefully, maybe at one moment in time you will sense that and feel
that in such a way that you will never, ever forget it. Maybe it will come in the quiet of the
night. It might come at a moment of
anguish. It might come in the evening,
noon, by yourself, with a whole crowd of people. You can be in the midst of a whole crowd of
people and somehow, something will break through.
I was going to tell a couple
other stories but I’ll keep moving. You
get the idea don’t you?
The second reading said God
did not spare His own Son but handed Him over for us all. The Lord Jesus is present with you and
me. So go forth from this Eucharist and
maybe take with you the little mantra from the gospel of Peter, “Lord it’s good
to be here.” Wherever your journey takes
you, wherever you’re going to go tonight, tomorrow. Whether you’re with a thousand people or just
yourself or your immediate family, but wherever you go know that it’s good for
you to be there at that moment, and that is where you will find the glory of
God.