Homily for March 8, 2009

Father Tom’s Homily
2nd Sunday of Lent
March 8, 2009

Today’s gospel story about an experience at the mountaintop is not a faraway tale about Jesus, Moses, Elias and the three apostles.
It is meant to be our tale as well. We are invited to follow Jesus up that mountain path to share the vision at the top.

What do we see. Like the three apostles, we see Jesus in another light. He is transfigured. We find out something about him we had never fully appreciated before. Yes, Jesus is truly the glorious Son of God.
Not only is Jesus transfigured, but our vision is also transfigured.

Life is full of mysteries. There are some things we cannot see clearly, as if a veil is hiding their full meaning.
Lifting the veil to reveal a fuller meaning is called an epiphany. Such an epiphany was experienced by the three apostles on the mountaintop where Jesus was revealed in glory.
Transfigured vision enables us to see what others do not notice.

The 12th chapter of Mark’s gospel relates a small incident that illustrates transfigured vision. In the temple area there were several courts. Leading into the Court of the Women was the Beautiful Gate.
At that point there were a number of ornate collection boxes for people to make contributions for the expenses of the Temple. The receiving end of the collection boxes were flared open like the end of a trumpet. The collection boxes were referred to as “The Trumpets.”
Those who made grand donations could have their donations trumpeted with the clang of many heavy coins against that metal opening.

No one noticed a poor widow who quietly slipped in two mites. This smallest of all coins was worth one fortieth of one penny.
How many of us don’t even bother to pick up a lost penny on the ground. Her donation was unnoticed because it was of little value.
Yet Jesus noticed and praised the woman’s generosity, because she gave “all that she had to live on.”

Jesus could see what most people didn’t notice. He valued people of little account.
This story is a small example of transfigured vision. He was lifting the veil to see and marvel at the poor woman’s generous heart.

Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk at Gethsemani in Kentucky, one day went into Louisville for a doctor’s appointment.
While standing at a crowded downtown street corner waiting with many others for the traffic light to change, his vision was transfigured. He reported that he saw what God sees.
The people on that street corner were not anonymous no bodies that we so often pass by without a second glance. Merton realized that he was surrounded by people of great dignity and worth because there were loved by God. It was as if their faces were shining like the sun.

For Merton it was a great awakening. When we are awakened to see as God sees, the veil is lifted and we have a transfiguration experience.
Faith that blossoms into love gives us these epiphanies. When we are gifted with love we are awakened in wonderful ways.

When I told Mother Teresa that I was distressed by the sights and smells of extreme poverty in the streets of Calcutta, she responded, “I love Calcutta. I love the people.”
She had transfigured vision. She caught a glimpse of shining faces in the poor because she saw them as God sees them. They are the beloved of God.

We are meant to share in the vision at the mountaintop. We see Jesus in a glorious light. Jesus also sees us in a blessed light.
If we were to see ourselves as God sees us, we would be astonished at our loveliness and worth. For God sees us as his beloved. He is very fond of us.