Today we are celebrating the second Sunday of Lent. It might come as a bit of
a shock to some people here today. Maybe you missed Mass on Ash
Wednesday because of work and then were unwell last week, and so, when you
were last at Mass, it was still Ordinary Time. For others, Lent might not be a
shock, but maybe today’s Gospel reading is a bit of a surprise. Maybe you
have been away from your faith for a while, or you might be someone
exploring becoming a Catholic. If so, you can probably understand where
Peter is coming from. Peter, James and John have gone up the mountain with
Christ, but at some point during the Transfiguration they have been so tired
they have fallen asleep. Now they have woken up and suddenly wondered
what is going on, and probably in a bit of a panic. It’s a bit like, in class, when
you’ve been daydreaming during the lesson, and then suddenly the teacher asks
you to explain to the class what we’ve just been talking about. Peter wakes up,
realises he’s missed something rather important, and now quickly tries to
rescue the situation and say something intelligent. He sees that Moses and
Elijah are leaving, and says, “Let us make three tents, one for you and one for
Moses and one for Elijah” – as if Moses and Elijah in their glorified state
would need protection from the cold and the rain.
But then things go deeper and Peter, James and John no doubt get more
worried. As they enter the cloud, it was more than just a passing feature of the
weather. In the Old Testament, clouds and smoke often represented the very
presence of God. As they entered the cloud, and a voice said, “This is my Son,
my Chosen One; listen to him!”, they might even have thought they were about
to die. And then it all ends, and they are found alone with Jesus.
You might have thought that this would have been something so amazing that
they probably couldn’t wait to tell everyone what had happened, at least the
other apostles. Wow! You’ll never guess what we saw! Jesus was completely
transfigured in front of us, and we actually saw Moses and Elijah, and then we
entered the very presence of God! No. They kept it all to themselves. Why?
One reason we can think of might be because, when the others heard the full
story, they might have said: what? All that was going on, and you fell asleep?
Just think of everything you must have missed! So embarrassment could have
kept them quiet. But there are probably better reasons.
When I was training for the priesthood, we had a monk from Belmont Abbey
with us who was also preparing to be ordained a priest. As part of becoming a
monk, you go though a series of stages, where you take temporary vows, as you
discern if this is the life God is calling you to, and then at the end of the
process, if it is the right thing for you to do, you take your final and permanent
vows, where you commit yourself for life. At the end of the Mass, after he had
taken his final vows, and before the final blessing, if I remember correctly his
monastic hood was partially closed, so more of his neck and face was covered
(but he could still see) and then he went out of the church, presumably back to
his monastic cell. So after the Mass was over, we had the buffet, but he wasn’t
there. Someone said it was a bit like a funeral, not having him around –
wouldn’t he have enjoyed this food? It feels strange that he’s not here with us.
But I think the idea is that, after a profound spiritual experience, you need time
to process it. We find a similar thing in the Gospels. After Christ’s baptism,
the Spirit led Him into the wilderness. In part it was to take on the devil, but
also to be alone and to process what had happened and that now, His public
ministry begins. So maybe it was a similar thing with Peter, James and John.
It took a long while to process what they had seen and heard, and there was
more to come with Holy Week.
Profound experiences, good or bad, can take us a while to process. It’s said
that there were men who fought in the battles of the First World War, who
didn’t speak about it until they were well past their retirement age. Sometimes,
we need time and space with the Lord, not only to be spiritually renewed and
refreshed, but we might also need time to process various spiritual experiences
in our past where we didn’t have time to stop and think. And then, flowing
from that, there might be decisions to be made.
Peter, James and John certainly had theirs. And we will certainly have ours.
Curious about exploring things further? If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk