It Is Good that We Are Here

Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent
Sunday, 24 February 2013

        “It is good that we are here.”

       My brothers and sisters, a truer statement has honestly never been made.

       We gather together on this Second Sunday of Lent to – once again – enter into a covenant with the Lord, just as Abraham did in our First Reading from Genesis. We also travel up the mountain with Jesus, like Peter, James and John did . . . and we witness – once again – the transfiguration of our reality from something as finite to that which is infinite.

       “It is good that we are here.”

       And we HAVE to be here; we NEED to be here. It is here that we once again learn, as Saint Paul reminds us, how to be imitators of him who is an imitator of Christ. The Apostle reminds us of the fact that those who worship themselves will always rally AGAINST the Cross, while we, who try day-in and day-out to imitate Christ, rally AROUND the Cross.

       THAT is reality of the Transfiguration of Christ. THAT must also become our reality.

       The glory of the event of the Transfiguration shows not only Peter, James and John a foretaste of the Resurrection, but also shows to us a glimpse of the infinite reality promised to humanity – as long as we imitate Christ and rally around the Cross. This is way it is, for the glory of the Transfiguration only makes sense in glory of the Cross. Jesus knew this. Moses and Elijah knew this. Peter, James and John eventually came to understand it. It is now up to us to live it.

       I was woken up at 1:00 this morning / yesterday morning to go to Passavant Hospital. A man was dying, and needed the “Last Rites”. When I got to the room, the gentleman was someone I came to know during my diaconate assignment. It was hard to see him there, but his daughter and son told me about his health problems over the last month, and that he was ready to pass from this life to the next. This man was a “gentle giant”, so full of faith in God and love for his family, a true witness to Christ. A man who I was happy to see at my ordination to the priesthood, and a man I was honored to pray with and for in these last moments of his life here on Earth.

       Yes, “it is good that we are here.”

       While we would most likely love to stay on top of the mountain with Jesus, He reminds us that we must venture through the valley. The destination is Jerusalem; the destination is Golgotha – the Place of the Skull. The destination is the Cross. Yet, even rallying around the Cross, “it is good that we are here.”

       Jerusalem is the ultimate destiny for the one who follows Jesus Christ. To think otherwise is to rally against the Cross. If we are to become imitators of Christ, if we are to stand firm in the Lord, if we are to inherit the infinite reality of the Transfiguration, then we need to “fix our eyes on [those] hills” and “set our hearts for the way”. The journey to Jerusalem is, indeed, our destiny. Again, the glory of the Transfiguration only makes sense in the light of the glory of the Cross.

       The man that I visited in the hospital this morning / yesterday morning was travelling from Jerusalem to, God willing, I pray, the glory found in the Transfiguration. And it was good for him to be there – in that valley, between the mountains, for it is in the struggle that we come to understand the depths of the love of God for us. We recognize that we do not walk alone, for this journey is not a journey simply for Catholics or simply for Christians: It is the journey of humanity. Our journey to Jerusalem, to the Cross not only helps us understand God’s love for us in our finite world, but the desire He has for us to join Him in the infinite life of eternal transfiguration. It is good for us to be able to see in the here and now the “truth which bids [us] rise” from the confined life of temptation and sin to the ever-expanding freedom that comes from rallying around the Cross.

       My brothers and sisters, it is good for us to be here. Not just in this church; not just in 2013; not just existing on Earth. Rather, it is good for us to be on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration. It is good for us to be in the valley, travelling with Jesus and learning from Him on the way to Jerusalem. It is good for us to be at Golgotha, witnessing those pinnacle acts of our salvation.

       “It is good that we are here.” For it here we witness, once again, Christ’s arms outstretched between heaven and earth as the lasting sign of the covenant with the Father. A covenant which transfigures us along the journey with Christ – and each other – to Jerusalem.

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Enjoy the journey . . .