HIGHS  AND  LOWS -  

BOTH  ARE  PART  OF  THE  DEAL

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is “Highs and Lows - Both Are Part of the Deal.”

Today - August 6^th is the feast of the Transfiguration - and since August 6^th  happens this year on a Sunday -  we’re celebrating this feast of Jesus - on this Sunday.  It knocks out the 18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

THE SCENE - THE STORY

You know the scene, you know the story. Jesus takes the big three - up the mountain - Peter, James and his brother John. I would have liked it, if Jesus took Andrew along for the trip - but no.

People have favorites - and sometimes we’re not in on the deal.  Better get used to it. It’s called “Life”.

And Jesus changes. He is seen in a new light.  Jesus is transfigured. As Mathew describes Jesus, “His face shone like the sun and his clothes become white as light.”

A bright cloud cast a shadow on the 3 disciples and they hear a voice come out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

And it’s such a powerful experience that Peter says, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

All three fall down in awe. They hit bottom. They are back to their beginnings - hopeless and helpless - down to earth from which we came. They are Adam and Eve - and God needs to rebreathe new life into them.

And Jesus says, “Rise, and do not be afraid.”

That’s the Transfiguration story. How do you take it?

LIFE LESSONS

There are many life lessons in this Transfiguration Story and this Transfiguration scene.

As you know Pope John Paul II gave us 5 more mysteries to reflect upon when we say the Rosary. The 4^th mystery for the Light Bearing Mysteries of the rosary is the Transfiguration.

What do you reflect upon if you say the rosary and reflect upon this mystery.

Let me give two short reflections.  There are many more.

FIRST  REFLECTION: LIFE HAS ITS UPS AND DOWNS

We have all seen a heart monitor or an electrocardiogram.

Our pulse gives off an up and a down motion.

If we flat line we’re dead.

Life has its mountains and its valleys. Life has its ups and downs.

Life has its bumps and potholes. Life has its hills and it’s dips.

If you go up Bestgate Road - past the Mall and you go over General’s Highway  - and if you don’t take a right or a left - but you go straight ahead - onto Housley Road  - a continuation of Bestgate which ends there - say you’re heading for Best Buy, you have to slow down right  there - there’s a dip - you can’t take it too fast  - then you can speed up and slip up the hill - going by the Department of Motor Vehicles on your left.

The road of life has its ups and downs - ins and outs - rights and lefts - slow downs and speed it up.

The surface of this planet earth has its mountains and valleys, its caves and caverns, its rights and lefts and reversals. We can see all this anytime we look around and see where we are - where we’ve been and what we’re headed for.

So too our lives.

I do a lot of weddings and a lot of funerals and a lot of baptisms - besides plain old plain old every day.

The young bride’s smile - her skin is perfect - and we look out and see her great-great grandmother sitting there in church - and then we see her as well as on Table # 2 - with the wrinkles and the retreads of age. But she also has the stuff of lived life in her - and if we listen to her - and hear her stories - her face lights up. She becomes transfigured.

And sometimes when we listen to old folks - when they tell us about their life - especially their transfiguration moments - we hear the sentence in today’s gospel, “This is my beloved daughter!” or “This is my beloved Son. Listen to them.”

So that’s my first reflection: life has its ups and downs, its highs and lows, the title of my homily.

SECOND REFLECTION: CHRIST THE SON OF MAN WENT THROUGH EVERYTHING WE GO THROUGH  AS WELL

In today’s first reading we have a section of the Book of Daniel which has mysterious images and messages.

Today’s reading is obviously picked because it has the phrase, “The Son of Man”.  We hear this phrase more in the Gospels - and the scholars simply say it’s a term, a phrase, that has many meanings.

In the Book of Daniel it might mean that the author of that document saw a hope that a new king, a new Messiah, would come - who would make all things right. One of us - a human - a king - a savior  - a son of man and woman - would come and save us.

Think about life. In every human being there are times when we want a savior:  the right doctor, the right therapist, the right leader, the right human, who will step up and save us

.

In the gospels,  that idea - that image - of the Son of Man who will come and save us - is used and attached to Jesus - who is our savior and redeemer. And he is human - besides being God. 

So we hear Jesus entitled both Son of God and Son of Man - one of us who made it.

Paul will develop the most about Jesus when it comes to Christology - which means - Words about Christ.

Jesus, the Son of Man was the same as us - except for sin.

Jesus, the Son of Man, suffered and sweated, was listened to and was rejected.

Jesus, the Son of Man, was exalted and defaulted.

Jesus, the Son of Man, had his Palm Sunday moment - when all sang his praise -  but the following Friday - labeled Good Friday - he felt life when everything bad happens.  It takes a lot of prayer and growth when we can label a bad day - a bad time in our life - a good day - a Good Friday experience.  It takes the cross, the crucifixion, the being cursed and spat at - and Easter - Resurrection - before we can make a horrible life experience a good experience - especially when we come out of the other side of a horror story with growth and new life and new learnings.

I’m not an alcoholic - I never drank in my life - but I’ve been to many AA retreats and meetings - and I’ve heard many a speaker tell how the horror years have given them an education - in the so called “School of Hard Knocks”.

We’ve all heard about street smarts.

We’ve all heard people say, “Experience is the best teacher.” Wise people say, “Mistakes can be the best teachers.” That is, if we learn from our mistakes.

So Jesus had this enormous mountain moment in today’s gospel  - when he has a great shining moment - and Jesus says, “Don’t talk about what you just saw till after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.

I like the theology of the Son of Man to mean that Jesus represents all of us - when he walked amongst us - and experienced everything we experience  - except iPhones and Siri.

So Jesus, the Son of Man, had his holocaust, his rape, his abuse, his being bullied, his being murdered, crucified,  during his life - but especially on that Friday  called Good Friday in Holy Week. On that bad Friday he learned and taught us a lot.

But like everything we learn, it’s from looking back that we learn. Those are what we call transfiguration- resurrection moments.

Christ went before us and modeled for us - what it’s like to be human - what it’s like to be what God the Father  wants us to be - and it’s then we please God - well please God - as his beloved Son or Daughter.

One of us made it - so all of us can make it.

One of us was described by God, “This is my beloved Son, with whom  I am well pleased.”

CONCLUSION

My homily is about life.

Life is about ups and downs, highs and lows, and when we learn about all this - we can have transfiguration moments.

So when we live enough life, when we reflect and pray and bring God into our life - we can have transfiguration moments.

If you have hit 50 I would hope you have had at least 3 Transfiguration moments. It could be at Mass. It could be while taking a shower. It could be while sitting in the airport waiting for our plane. It could be at the Ocean City - on the beach - when we got up early to walk the beach - and we experience the sun rise - and we know - we just know, God is with us.  It could be in the middle of a nasty break up, a Cavalry Moment, and we are able to see and say, “Father forgive him or her because she doesn’t know what he or she is doing.”

It could be in the hospital - and we’re in for a major operation. Or we’re with a family member going through hell - and we yearn for heaven.

One key is when we say in the middle of pain and hurt, “Lord, it’s good that I am here.”

When we are able to say that, we’re getting it.

The big one will be when we wake up in eternity - in the embrace of our God - and we say, “Lord, it’s good that we are here.”

August 6, 2017

TRANSFIGURATION

by Peter Howson

August 5, 2017

LIKE AN IRON

Like an iron - that looks like

an old phone - one piece -

solid iron - from the 1800’s -

in a small town museum -

or a barbell - 100 pounds -

on my basement floor.

Well, sometimes I feel

that solid and that secure.

Then there are days when

all plans go south or sour.

The unexpected happens.

I feel like a dropped - half eaten -

ice cream pop - on the sidewalk -

covered with 1,000 crawling ants.

Relax! Today is not that kind of

a day, so please give me a call.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

ST. JOHN VIANNEY,

THE CURE OF ARS

SOME CONVERSATION POINTS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my thoughts is, “St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars, Some Conversation Points.”

Today, August 4 is the feast of St. John Vianney. By now I hope you have heard of this saint - and know a few things about him - so as to think about him and talk a few conversations about him.

Okay, so that’s the goal of my words right now. To provide some conversational topics.

SAINTLY PRIESTS

The first topic would be saintly priests.

St. John Vianney’s dates are 1786 to 1859.

He died this day at the age of 73.

He was a parish priest in a little town names Ars for some 40 years.

In his day, someone said, “There is a holy man in Ars. Go and see him.”

More than one person must have said that, because at some point 300 people would come to Ars per day. The town was small - 40 homes, 4 taverns, and about 1000 people at the most.

My first conversation question would be: “Do you know any holy priests? Have you ever met one? When? Where? Tell me about him.”

I think of Father George Wichland - a saint who died in 1992 - who made sure lots and lots and lots of people in Baltimore got food.  I think of a classmate - who is definitely a saint. I think of Brother Raymond O’Brien - another saint, a Redemptorist - who died in 1988 - who had a sense of whenever a Mass was being said, he would just know it. His message to me was his sense of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist in whatever house he was in.

Question: Who have been the priests you have met that were definitely holy people?

Who have been people you know who were holy?  Why? Tell me what they did that led you to that conclusion?

So that’s my first conversation piece: who have been saints that you have met - someone whom others would have said what was said of St. John Vianney, “There is a Holy Man in Ars; go and see him.”

CONFESSIONS

St. John Vianney is known as the Patron Saint of Confession.

After getting this reputation, he ended up hearing confessions 12 hours a day during the winter - and 17 hours a day during the warmer weather.

For the sake of conversation, think and talk about that.

How long were the lines? Did people talk to each other on line? Did people try to sneak ahead? Did people allow people to sneak off the line to go to the bathroom?  How about eating?  How about hotels or sleeping places? Where would I get answers to these questions?

I remember reading Francis Trochu’s book on St. John Vianney, but I don’t remember any of his answers to those questions.

What about John Vianney getting out of the confessional? When did he eat, say Mass, go to the bathroom, sleep?

Could he read hearts as some said he could?

I remember hearing that the Redemptorist Saint, St. Clement Hofbauer heard confessions  for long, long hours and got hemorrhoid problems.

St. John Vianney lived till 73 - got 2 hours sleep per night - ate mostly potatoes and was quite thin. How about his health?

I did read that 4 times he wanted to run away from Ars to be a contemplative.

What’s your take on him as a confessor?  Did you ever go to a priest who was a great confessor?

I know that St. John Vianney’s role as a big time confession listener - is sitting there - every time after Mass - but at “the wrong time” - when someone says, “Father could you give me 5 minutes? I want to go to confession.” I don’t know about other priests, but I’ll hear that person’s confession.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR A PRIEST

A third and final conversational topic would be qualifications for a priest

.

We’re always heard that John Vianney didn’t have enough education. He had to work - farming - so the family could survive.

When someone asked a bishop can we ordain him, the bishop didn’t ask if he had high marks, but he asked if he was holy.

So he was allowed to be ordained a priest, but he had to walk to Austria to get a bishop to ordain him.

There was a shortage of priests at the time, because 300 priests were killed during the French Revolution - religion was banned - and times were changing.
They were going to put John Vianney in a situation where he didn’t have to hear confessions, because he didn’t have enough education in this area.

They put him in Ars - which was considered “A punishment parish”.  It was a tiny place - and didn’t have much going for it.

In time he turned the place around.

CONCLUSION

So I hope those 3 points are food for thought - enough to start a conversation: what is planted in our garden.

August 4, 2017

HOLY COMMUNION

You have to take bread,

you have to get bread,

before you get Holy Communion.

You have to break bread,

you have to share bread,

before you get Holy Communion.

You have to eat with each other,

you have to digest each other,

before you get Holy Communion.

You have to be grateful,
really mean your "Thank you's",
before you get Holy Communion.

You have to experience a Mass of
words and everyday sacrifices,
before you experience Holy Communion.

You have to marry one another,

you have to become one with each other,

before you get Holy Communion.

You have to break up with another,

you have to excommunicate another,

before you understand Holy Communion.

You have to leave your gift at the altar,

go and forgive each other,

before you get Holy Communion.

You have to give yourself to each other,
in Holy Communion with each other,
before you become the Body of Christ,

Amen.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

MOUNTAIN

Sometimes mountains,

sometimes deserts,

sometimes oceans,

sometimes walls,

sometimes swamps,

sometimes others,

sometimes ourselves.

What are we to face today?  

August 3, 2017

AUGUST

August doesn’t carry much glitter

or glamour. It’s a so, so month.

For kids there’s the suspicion - the

sense - that it’s back to school soon -

with moms buying school supplies

and clothes for the upcoming school year.

It’s hot and humid. Lawns are dry - hard -

and dust flies when they are mowed.

Latino laborers are in the fields -

digging and picking up potatoes.

Then there’s the evenings - beer

and wine - and voices can be heard

from invisible people on porches

or lawns or stoops or steps.

They don’t have enough of

those cool breezes that could

make moments on dark porches

or comfortable coves or inlets,

much more memorable. April and

October, November and December,

now they have the possibility of a

lot more pizzazz and a lot more push.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017