Saturday February 19, 2022

Saturday of 6th Week in Ordinary Time

 

On the Mountain of Glory  

Alarmed by the evil done to the Christian community by false teachers, James warns against the dangers of falsehood. This warning is valid today when words are so much manipulated to deceive and disguise.

After he has announced his coming suffering and answered Peter’s protest, Jesus is transfigured before the eyes of his intimate friends among the apostles who will also watch his agony in the garden. This is how he strengthens their faith. Then, he speaks again with them about his approaching passion. Let us ask the Lord in this Eucharist to give us courage in difficult moments.

 

First Reading: Jas 3:1-10

Don’t be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you’d have a perfect person, in perfect control of life. A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

 

Gospel : Mark 9:2-13

Six days later, three of them did see it. Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. His clothes shimmered, glistening white, whiter than any bleach could make them. Elijah, along with Moses, came into view, in deep conversation with Jesus. Peter interrupted, “Rabbi, this is a great moment! Let’s build three memorials—one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.” He blurted this out without thinking, stunned as they all were by what they were seeing. Just then a light-radiant cloud enveloped them, and from deep in the cloud, a voice: “This is my Son, marked by my love. Listen to him.” The next minute the disciples were looking around, rubbing their eyes, seeing nothing but Jesus, only Jesus. Coming down the mountain, Jesus swore them to secrecy. “Don’t tell a soul what you saw. After the Son of Man rises from the dead, you’re free to talk.” They puzzled over that, wondering what on earth “rising from the dead” meant. Meanwhile they were asking, “Why do the religion scholars say that Elijah has to come first?” Jesus replied, “Elijah does come first and get everything ready for the coming of the Son of Man. They treated this Elijah like dirt, much like they will treat the Son of Man, who will, according to Scripture, suffer terribly and be kicked around contemptibly.”

 

Prayer

Lord our God,
when your Son was transfigured
you gave eyes of faith to the apostles
to see beyond appearances
and to recognize Jesus as your beloved Son.
This vision gave them courage for the hour of trial.
When our faith and trust
seem to desert us in dark moments,
let your Son take us up to the mountain
and give us a glimpse of his light,
that with fresh courage and generosity,
we may see where he wants us to go.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

 

This is my Son, the beloved 

Mark narrates the incident of the Transfiguration of Jesus after he makes the first announcement about his death (chapter 8:27-30). This announcement had disturbed and upset the minds of the disciples. Peter tries to dissuade him (Mk 8:31-33). For the disciples, the cross was an obstacle to belief in Jesus. They could not understand why Jesus had to die as a criminal. That is when Jesus reveals his true identity to prepare the apostles to withstand the Passion, the scandal of the Cross. 

The apostles thought that Jesus was a liberator, a king who wins in battles, and is always triumphant. But Jesus’ path is a different one: Jesus’ victory is through humiliation, the humiliation of the Cross. Before it becomes a scandal for his disciples, Jesus reveals to them what happens after the Cross, and what awaits them and, all of us: the glory of Heaven. 

The disciples could not digest the image of a suffering Messiah.  We hear Peter, reacting: ‘This cannot happen’ –  because the Torah says that the person condemned to death is a person cursed by God.’ When Mark writes his gospel, in the years 68 to 70, the great difficulty, the great impediment to adhere to Christ and the gospel on the part of the Jews was precisely the Cross, because Cross was considered a curse. 

Jesus takes with him Peter, James, and John – he takes them apart to a high mountain. This act of going up the mountain with Jesus still needs to happen in our lives too, to understand the real meaning of sufferings of our daily lives. The first step to take is to leave the plain where all the people are, where you think by the standards of this world.  Instead, allow Jesus to be with us, let Jesus take us by the hand and go up onto the mountain.

What kind of mountain is this? It’s not Mount Tabor, of course! Mountains were the

abode of God in Israel – and in all religions as well. Jesus takes his disciples and today he invites us to go up the mountain with him. Hiking is a favourite sport for many youngsters today. Why not go on a hiking with Jesus, of course on the mountain of prayer, the mountain of intimacy with Jesus.  There on the mountain he will help us to understand the mystery of the cross. It’s not a material mountain, it’s the moment when we forget our surroundings to be alone with the Lord in prayer. These moments of intimacy with him are necessary, in silence, in meditation, in prayer, moments in which we let ourselves be enveloped in God’s way of seeing the world, people and life.

 

Video available on Youtube : This is my Son, the beloved