TAKE HEART

What did God have in mind in creating me? Why am I here?

I hear these questions often as I visit the elderly and infirm; those in pain and suffering. Why is there pain and suffering?

I won’t pretend to have the answer. Perhaps, we are faced with difficult challenges to discover inner strength, gifts we had no clue we had, empathy for others who have their own challenges. 

I see this every time I minister at Gabriel House where patients await organ transplants and find love and support from others undergoing similar situations. And in the sharing, each is made stronger and life is not only bearable but profoundly more fulfilling.

Perhaps because in our torment, it is we who minister to others and bring out the best in them through their concern and prayers for us.

Perhaps, it's to find strength of conviction and hope in a God who reveals self in silence...in the wonder of creation all around us. And to discern what part we play in God's magnificent plan for our universe.

What is God's plan for us and our universe?

We hear it in the first reading. It's a short one. Let's listen to it again. (Notice, by the way, that the word bless is used five times in this short passage.)

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.  All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.

That's what God has in mind in creating us.  God's plan is to bless us.

Like Abraham, we are called to have a part in God's great plan. Perhaps it may seem to us that we have a small part...but we've been called to have a part in something that is magnificent...something that affects the whole human race, the whole universe.

God has called us to be partners in the great work of making the universe a heaven on earth!  How?

Simple, by being aware of our blessings (even as we bear our crosses...there are always blessings, if we look). And by being a blessing to others...sowing seeds of compassion and good deeds.

Last Sunday we had our family catechesis, which began with the children's choir singing This little light of mine.

             This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine...

            Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine…

            Jesus gave it to me, I’m gonna let it shine…

                        let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

When we let our light shine, we transform the world! That’s what the transfiguration is all about.

Not just to affirm the radiance of God in Jesus, but for us to be radiant as well with the light of Christ.

We first received this light at our baptism, and we’re going to have one today. Right after this homily, Bree Anna will become our newest member of the Church. She’ll receive a candle…the Light of Christ given to us to burn brightly in this darkened world of sin and temptation, suffering and hopelessness.

Each Easter Vigil we renew our commitment to do so. We begin Mass by blessing the fire outside, and then enter our unlit church (symbolic of our darkened world) with the Paschal Candle – The Light of Christ – from which we light our individual tapers, which spreads across the church like a wildfire, so that it is transformed, luminous, even without overhead lights.

We were created to be light bearers, messengers of hope, catalysts of goodness, lighting a fire in one another to make the radiance of God present in our world.

The Letter to Timothy, our second reading, speaks of God’s design which was formulated before time began. We’re made to realize that this has always been God’s plan.

And in the gospel’s transfiguration, with a bright cloud overshadowing the mountain, Jesus gives us a glimpse of God’s plan for us and our universe.

The whole human race will be transfigured. All creation will be transformed, luminous with the presence of God.

After I proclaimed this gospel to the children, I asked them what they heard. They said they heard the voice of God speaking to Peter, James and John…just as the voice of God has spoken to us today.

It was the presence of God that made that mountain holy. And it is the presence of God that makes this space sacred.

I asked the children and their parents to stand because we were going to sing a song. I’m going to ask you to stand to sign that song with me. I’ll sing each verse first and you follow:

    This is holy ground. We’re standing on holy ground.

    For God is here and where God is, is holy.

I said to the children that wherever we are is holy ground because God is with us wherever we are.

At times what blinds us from seeing God and our own transfiguring light is the struggles in our life.

Do you find yourself sometimes getting down on the human race – all the problems in our world, and the things that some people do? Do you find yourself sometimes getting down on yourself? Have these first 10 days of Lent been, perhaps, more or less a failure? Take heart!

God’s grace is at work in our world. God’s grace is at work in us. We have God’s own life within us. If it were visible to the naked eye, we’d see a lustrous cloud enveloping us – God’s presence.

That’s not mere imagery. We really are, right now, surrounded by God’s love. And we have God’s life within us. If it could be seen, our face would shine. Our whole self would shine. So take heart. 

The transfiguration is a sign of the stuff we’re made of…God’s very self.

How great is that?! What we can do to remember this ?

The sign of the cross we received on Ash Wednesday says it all. It's not only a sign of our faith, but that we are blessed with God, who is with us and loves us. Each time you see a cross let it be a reminder, and remind your loved ones. Say to your children, You are such a blessing to me! Imagine if they said that to you...imagine saying it to your spouse, and hearing it from them. You are such a blessing to me! 

You are...because God is with you and loves you. So take heart.