Lord it is good that we are HERE!

Mk 9:2-10 Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them. As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.
Reflecting on the Gospel this week I thought, “I wish this was the gospel for next sunday.” Next Sunday we will begin to celebrate some of the masses in Church and I was imaging the homily I could preach. “How wonderful it is to be here, in the Church.” I would have talked about the blessing to be able to worship together in our Church building. The sacrifices that had been made over the past year, the people who had died who won’t be able to join us, those who have gotten sick. Yes, I was thinking about the great homily I could preach next Sunday. But you know what, this isn’t next sunday, this is this Sunday. We are not in the Church we are here outside. In the Gospel Peter says, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here!” He doesn’t say it is good that we are there! He doesn’t talk about how wonderful it would be if he arrived later or got there earlier, If he was in this place and not that place. No! Peter says, quite clearly, It is good that we are here!” Too many times in our lives we miss the blessing of the present moment because we wish we were somewhere else, with someone else, at another time and I think that this misses the power of Peter’s words. Peter wasn’t wishing for something else, he was just glad that he was there with James and John and he was able to experience the transfiguration. So rather than wishing that this weekend was next weekend, and I was there rather than here I invite us to be glad here in the present moment. Peter experienced the transfigured glory of Jesus. He experienced this wonderul moment, a true epiphany when Jesus was revealed to him in all of his glory. I believe that if we are aware, if we are conscious, if we open our eyes we too can be aware of the presence of Jesus in our midst. That Jesus will reveal himself to us. As you know we have just begun this 40 journey of lent. A time of going out to the desert. We are invited to go into the desert as well. I’m not talking about going to Death Valley or the Mojave desert. No, to go the desert means first and foremost just stopping. To be quiet, to unplug. To unplug our phones, turn off our TV’s shut down the radio, to just be in the silence for a moment. To take a deep breath, and to become aware. To be come aware of who we are, where we are. To just be in the silence. As we enter into that desert of our lives we will be more aware of the presence of God, Jesus will be transfigured once again. As Catholic Christians we know that God is always present we just need to be quiet so we don’t miss those moments, those times when we can say, “Lord, it is good to be here!” Even though Peter was aware of the great blessing of the moment he didn’t get it, he didn’t understand or fully appreciate what was happening. The disciples didn’t understand what Jesus meant when he referred to the Resurrection, you can only understand who Jesus is in light of the cross and resurrection. Like Mark’s disciples we want to see Jesus in his glory but this is something that we can only begin to see slowly. Jesus is not merely the epiphany of God, but the suffering Son of Man, who attains glory only through his passion and death upon the cross. So we need to be aware of Jesus’ revelation of himself to us in small pieces but we know that the full disclosure of Jesus will only come when we know the resurrection in our own bodies. Mark’s message is clear. No cross, no crown. But when we accept the cross, what a crown we will see.

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