Mortified. Fortified. Transfiguration (Lent, 2nd Sunday, 2024-02-25)

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Homily, 2^nd Sunday Lent (year B)  ●●  2024 February 25  ●● Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 ● ● Psalm 116 ● ● Romans 8:31b-34 ● ●  Mark 9:2-10 ● ●

 [__01__]  Many years ago, I found myself in a rush, in a hurry, driving to meet a friend at the train station, a friend travelling from New York City.

Trying to make up for lost time, I made the mistake of driving 40 miles an hour in a 25 mile per hour zone. I was pulled over by a police officer and immediately given a speeding ticket. It was the first ticket I'd ever received. Not the last. I was upset.

My friend was amused and tried to lighten the mood at my perception of “disaster”. I was neither laughing nor smiling.

Soon after, our journey continued with 2 more friends on our way to New England and Maine.

During the 6-hour drive, the 4 of us talked about many things. We probably spent about 30 seconds of a 6-hour drive on my speeding ticket experience. We were in a different car on a different in a different direction. On a longer journey, there was a new destination, a new big picture and vision to consider.

Was I open to this new vision?

Not initially I wasn’t !

[__02__]   I lost an opportunity, at the time, to rise above a minor setback.  The was neither my last speeding ticket or the last time I got distressed over something truly minor.

Reflecting on these 40 days of Lent and my experience, I realize my understanding of “mortification” was incomplete.

In the dictionary, looking up the word “mortification,” we read 2 definitions:

1^st. Mortification is “embarrassment or shame”. That where I was at, what I was feeling.

2^nd. Mortification  is also the “subduing of one’s own desires” That what I was not doing!

 [__03__] I wasn't genuinely remorseful for speeding; I was simply regretful for getting caught and facing the consequences. Moreover, instead of subduing my desire for pity, I craved validation from others, which remained elusive. 

The opportunity in any one of many everyday difficulties or faults or failures is to see “mortification” as an opportunity for a new vision, a new big picture.

[__04__]    The Gospel is about the the Transfiguration, an event where Jesus revealed his divine glory to Peter, James, and John, the unveiling in High-Definition HD of Jesus' eternal splendor.

This profound revelation was intended to make them FORTIFIED (strong) for the impending trial of his arrest and passion …. So they would be FORTIFIED – strengthened – rather than only MORTIFIED (weakened)

After this Transfiguration is is meant to be “cause” of faith,  did the Transfiguration have this “effect”?

Not right away!

How did the disciples behave when Jesus was arrested?  They faltered. Judas betrayed, Peter denied 3x, and 9 others ran in the the opposite direction.

Yet, later, combined with the appearance of Jesus, risen from the dead, they are able to talk with him again and be restored after they take it all in.

[__05__]    Do big picture images and selfies of glory save us from distress and doubt?

          If a diploma and “graduation day” is, for example, a symbol of glory and achievement and learning, does the photos of that day alone make us humble enough to continue learning…and searching when we are a bit lost?

Each of us is called to trust in the grace of the Holy Spirit in different ways. I am called to this, as a priest, but not because I have photos of me, my classmates and the archbishop on Ordination Day.

Some of us certainly have photos of our weddings and family events. But, these images and memories alone do not FORTIFY us or explain the vows of marriage.

I suggest that even if the disciples had taken out their phones with fancy cameras and video recorded the Transfiguration, and taken selfies, they would have still run away at Jesus’ arrest!

 Faith is not derived simply from visual representations, but from hearing and trusting in God's word, and hearing and trusting in God's word spoken to us through others.

What is key word in the Gospel today? “LISTEN.” God doesn't say, Look at Jesus. God says listen to Jesus, LISTEN to Him.

The season of Lent serves as a reminder that about LISTENING nad LOVE. Prayer and fasting can help us to LISTEN and LOVE.

In this regard, mortification is not means of punishment but of motivation.

[__06__]    Often, the greatest charity we can perform is not based on what others can see or perceive or measure. Sometimes others do not see, cannot see and perhaps are not meant to see our self-denial. This is charity.

I read this an article by Dominican Father (Father Martin Harrison, O.P.)  (Source: https://onepeterfive.com/mortification-is-the-path-to-salvation/#:~:text=To%20give%20up%20our%20comforts,to%20God%20as%20a%20mortification)

  “Alms-giving does not necessarily mean giving money away. The best alms is to give happiness to others – any kind of action done for the love of God and our neighbor, any small service especially if it means self-denial, is acceptable to God as a mortification … We … find doing good to others to be too much trouble and to cause too much inconvenience to ourselves. We could make a point of doing at least one kind act a day to help another, as a mortification.”

If doing good is rebuffed or rejected, that doesn't make the good into the bad but only the good invisible. Doing good this way is a simple penance we can make as a way of reparation for sins, and a way of respect for the poor and the vulnerable.

Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, lived a penitential life. Yet she did not sin. She didn't do penances for her sins, but gives us a model to follow, to ponder the good news, and receive our Lord in our bodies by pondering his word and presence as well. And recognizing that Jesus gave up his life so that we might live not just in this life, but in the next.

We have these 40 days of Lent to make penances even small ones to remind us of Jesus's love and ultimate sacrifice. He is the big picture.  [__END__]