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In the Beginning was the WordBackForwardPauseCaption
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Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you have become.
Believe what you read,
teach what you believe,
and practice what you teach.(from the Rite of Diaconate Ordination)
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Feast of the TransfigurationDaniel 7:9-10, 13-14, 2 Peter 1:16-19, Matthew 17:1-9
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080623.cfm
John Paul McMillan,
born May 20, 1952,
1315 E. 14 Mile Road
Royal Oak, MI 48073This is what was written on my fake driver’s license during the two years I worked undercover for the Kalamazoo Police Department. This is who I was or who I pretended to be during my work hours.
When done for the day, I would drive home by some roundabout way to shake anybody who would be following me. I would pull into my driveway and walk through the door of our home. I then again become Pat…
or as the majority in my household knew me, Daddy.
Who was that guy?
Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Gospels proclaim this, mountain top story of how Peter, James and John were brought to see Jesus, literally in a new light, to know him in a different way.And he was transfigured before them;
his face shone like the sun and
his clothes became white as light.
The disciples all had their impressions of who Jesus was. Like most of us, I am sure they colored his persona with how each hoped he would be for each of them.
Don’t we do that to each other, our spouses, children and friends? Instead of taking the time to discover who that other person actually is, we just put on them our own overlays, stereotypes and personal expectations. No wonder we are so routinely disappointed. Do we ever allow ourselves the possibility that the other person could surprise us with their wonderful complexity and quirkiness?
The disciples thought they were following the liberator of their people. They were right, but not in the way they thought. They could not understand how Jesus’ predictions of his suffering and death could possibly play into their version of liberation.
But, with the Transfiguration, they were given a vision of how God the Father sees God the Son. With a foretaste of Jesus’ eternal glory, they were able to follow Jesus back down the mountain into the messiness of life with disease, sin, violence, oppression and pride.
Knowing Jesus more fully, they were able to be disciples more fully.
Pope Benedict wrote:“Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”[i]
Because they had a vision of Jesus’ glorious divinity, they could become more human.
Pope Francis wrote in his recent exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel)“We become fully human when we become more than human, when we let God bring us beyond ourselves in order to attain the fullest truth of our being.”[ii]
Being emboldened, the disciples followed Jesus on his path to Jerusalem towards his date with destiny as foretold.
To know Jesus, we need to behold him with his shining face on that mountain-top. To know Jesus, we need to behold him also as Veronica beheld him on his way to Calvary.
But, if we left our story at this point, we would only be part way there. You see, most everyone here, including me, thinks that we know Jesus. We’ve heard the stories of his life, passion, death and resurrection over and over for years. But to truly know Jesus is to put him on, to live as Jesus.
I can know a lot about baseball, quote names and statistics, but if I’ve never felt the ball coming off my bat swing, if I’ve never felt the thrill of snagging a line drive, how can I say I know baseball?
I’ve been privileged to accompany my wife while she raised our children. I thought I had a big hand in that. But I’m sure I’d understand it differently if she had left for a month to attend to her mother, leaving me to attend to the kids.
As Jesus stands there transfigured, his face shining like the sun and his clothes white as light, we hear the Father’s voice, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
This is our Father, this is our brother. Through Christ, we are the Father’s adopted sons and daughters. Through Communion, we are to share in the Divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity. Through Communion, we make the Body of Christ present to the world. We are called to shine as Jesus shines. Jesus shines upon the world through us.
It is not for our own glory: “Hey, look how I shine.” But, imagine the joy when we can experience Jesus’ warmth and love in our bones as we share it with others.
St. John Mary Vianney, the patron of our House of Discernment here at St. Mary’s, tells us:When the heart is pure and united with God it is consoled and filled with sweetness; it is dazzled by a marvellous light. In this intimate union God and the soul are like two pieces of wax moulded into one; they cannot any more be separated. It is a very wonderful thing, this union of God with his insignificant creature, a happiness passing all understanding.
[Such] is a foretaste of heaven, an overflowing of heaven. It never leaves us without sweetness; it is like honey, it descends into the soul and sweetens everything. In a prayer well made, troubles vanish like snow under the rays of the sun.[iii]
It is good to desire such. It leads us to desire to be such, to be like Jesus’ transfiguration to the world.Dcn. Pat
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John 1: 1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become childen of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.
And the Word became fleshand made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. -
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Today's Readings
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LINKs
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Prayer, Formation & Social Teaching
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reflections by:
- Msgr. William Fitzgerald (R.I.P.)
- Pope Francis - Angelus
- ---- Pope Francis - Twitter
- Bishop P Bradley- Sunday Homily
- ---- Bishop Paul Bradley- Twitter
- Msgr. Charles Pope
- Henri Nouwen- Daily Meditations
- Rev. Ronald Rolheiser OMI
- Dcn. joe schmitt & Dcn. Frank Sila
- Ladybug, a Parish Sage ............ Irene Cain
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organizations of Hope & service
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
- Protection of Children & Young People
- Diocese of Kalamazoo
- St. Mary's of Kalamazoo
- Trauma Recovery Associates
- Congregation of St. Joseph - Spirtuality
- Forty Days for Life
- Peace House
- Kalamazoo Eastside Neighborhood Association
- Kalamazoo Dept. of Public Safety
- ... KDPS C.O.P.S Division
- Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office
- ... KCSO Victim Services Unit
- 211- Community services directory
- Critical Incident Stress Management Response Team
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