Dear brothers and sisters,
Today, above the mountain whose name means “the coming light,” the voice of the Father commanded the trio of Apostles Peter, James, and John to listen to the Son of God (cf. Matthew 17:5).[1]
Listening, then, is the proper attitude of the disciple, but not only that: in chapter 8, Matthew shows us Jesus speaking to the sea in a threatening way, and the sea calms down; immediately afterwards he intimates to the demon to leave the two possessed and move into the swine, and they obey. Nothing resists the Word but man's freedom: later (Matthew 12:41-42), Jesus rebukes scribes and Pharisees who ask for a sign, reminding them that the inhabitants of Nineveh were converted not because they saw signs but because they heard the word of Jonah; and so the Queen of the South, with the word of Solomon.[2]
Listening is the proper attitude of the disciple of Jesus because he first listens to the Father. He intentionally goes away from the crowd, from the distractions of daily living, to pray, to listen to the Father.
Because Jesus listens to his Father, his physical, earthly appearance changes before the Apostles to reveal his “majesty”: “his face shone like the sun and his clothes because white as light” (II Peter1:16; Matthew 17:2). He was revealed to them as the one who “received dominion, glory, and kingship,” the one whom “all peoples, nations, and languages serve” (Daniel 7:14).
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| Detail, The Transfiguration, The Voyages of Jean de Mandeville, MS NAF 4515, f. 34r |
Jesus took those three chosen Apostles with him to teach them the importance of listening to God and to show them its profound and sublime importance by his own example.
Then we could say that transfiguration is nothing other than what happens to the one who listens: the encounter with the Father, the filial relationship with Him, cannot fail to transform life and make it become, slowly, what everyone's life is called to be: a place of God's presence, a temple of His Spirit and His Glory.[3]
But what is it that the Lord says to us? What is it that leads to our transformation in glory?
Let us think again about Peter, James, and John. They were the three prominent Apostles, as we see in the times Jesus takes them with him away from the rest of the Twelve. Those three were present to see the Lord Jesus transfigured in majesty, yes, but they were also present to see the Lord in his agony at Gethsemane, when he asked that the cup of his suffering might pass him by.
Therefore, it is a question of two very different situations: In the one case, James, with the other two disciples, experiences the Lord’s glory, sees him speaking with Moses and Elijah, sees the divine splendor revealed in Jesus; in the other, he finds himself before suffering and humiliation; he sees with his own eyes how the Son of God humbles himself, becoming obedient unto death… [They] had to discern how the Messiah, awaited by the Jewish people as a victor, was in reality not only surrounded by honor and glory, but also by sufferings and weakness. The glory of Christ was realized precisely on the cross, in taking part in our sufferings.[4]
In this we see that Jesus does not call us to live our best life, to live lives of comfort and ease; no, he calls us to follow after him, to take up our crosses and unite our sufferings to his own (cf. Luke 9:23).
Too many people today think this acceptance of suffering seems rather absurd, foolish and maybe even stupid. But as Saint Peter tells us today, “We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty” (II Peter 1:16). The glory of the Cross comes not from man but from God; it is a glory that the wisdom of this world cannot understand.
Before I attempted to go away on vacation and retreat, to listen to the Father myself, I pleaded with you not to go elsewhere for the fulfillment of Holy Mass. I stressed with you the importance of worshiping the Lord together, in one community. I reminded you that this parish does not and cannot revolve around me, that I will not be among you forever, that the parish existed before me and will exist long after me. Eighty-nine of you were present that day to hear my plea, yet my words seem to have fallen on many deaf ears. That next Sunday sixty-seven of you gathered here and sixty-three the following Sunday. When I returned last Sunday – after many stressful difficulties – only forty-six of you were here. It was – if I may be honest with – disappointing, disheartening, and frustrating.
Because it looked like I might not actually have been able to get back to Ashland in time for Mass last weekend, I arranged for another priest to be on stand-by, if will. I finally arrived at the Quincy airport at 10:00 p.m. last Saturday night. After a twenty-minute drive to the parish where I stay in the Gem City, I finally fell asleep some time at 11:00 p.m. Then I rose very early Sunday morning to drive back to Ashland through a dense fog to prepare for Mass with you. I could have taken the easy way out and said to the other priest, “I’m exhausted and just want to sleep in; please cover that Mass for me.” But I didn’t; I embraced the cross as it came to me because the Christian life is not about comfort; it is about union with Christ Jesus who suffered willingly for us.
It is noticeable when one of us is not present at Sunday Mass and the presence of each other helps us to grow in holiness by reminding us we are not alone in the desire to draw closer to God. This does not mean we cannot take a vacation or honor family commitments elsewhere; rather, it means we should – whenever possible and whatever the difficulty – strive to join the parish each Sunday and holyday.
May we never be afraid or hesitant to accept the cross as it comes to us. Let us instead accept it and embrace it together as one family until we are all transformed fully into the likeness of the Son of God. Amen.
[1] Saint Anthony of Padua, Sermon for the Second Sunday of Lent, 3. In Sermons for Sundays and Festivals, Volume I: General Prologue, Sundays from Septuagesima to Pentecost. Paul Spilsbury, trans. (Padua: Edizioni Messagero Padova, 2007), 102.
[2] Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Homily, 6 August 2023.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Pope Benedict XVI, General Wednesday Audience, 21 June 2006.
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