Lent is a time for prayer,
for fasting
and for showing practical concern for the poor.
Our Cafod prayer last week,
the Cafod family fast day last Friday
and the associated second collection today,
is therefore a very ‘balanced’ set of Lenten activities.
Today, however, I am going to be less balanced,
and focus on prayer, on giving time to God.
Biblically, high mountains are holy places –
places where God’s presence is in some way more immediate.
We know that it was Jesus’ practice to seek out lonely places to pray.
I feel sure Jesus led Peter and James and John to the high place
for them all to spend time in prayer:
to spend time dwelling on the mystery of God.
On that high mountain,
Peter and James and John have an extraordinary experience,
– a revelatory experience.
They receive insights into who Jesus is.
There seem to be two parts to this.
The first, associated with light, with glory,
has Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah:
the great religious figures of the past.
The experience frightens the disciples.
[The Greek word is stronger than that:
‘terrified’, ‘out of their wits’, seems to be closer to the sense.]
The same word is used elsewhere of Moses’ mountain encounter,
when he receives the Law, [Heb12:21, Septuagint Dt 9:19]
and I think listeners are supposed to hear that connection.
Peter does not know how to react:
he starts to gabble, he wants to do something.
He wants to build three dwelling places.
He sees Jesus as on a par with,
of equal in importance to, Moses and Elijah.
This is a profound thought,
with far reaching consequences given Jesus’ teaching,
but it is the wrong conclusion.
Peter knows he is in the presence of something awesome,
something glorious, but he misunderstands.
He needs to remain receptive and attentive:
he has more to learn about Jesus.
After light comes dark.
The brief vision of glory is enveloped in cloud.
In shadow,
and I think that is important,
in shadow, in a kind of darkness,
the revelation of Jesus’ identity occurs:
This is my Son, the Beloved.
Jesus is more than another Moses or another Elijah:
He is the Word of God, the Son of the Father,
who, in humility we cannot comprehend,
lays aside his divinity to share fully in our life as a human person.
Truly, as Paul says to the Romans,
such a gift shows that God is on our side.
Of course,
the disciples are still some way from understanding this,
but the seed has been planted.
For them,
the revealing darkness of Good Friday,
where silence speaks,
is still in the future.
As well something they certainly didn’t understand properly,
the disciples are given something simpler to work on!
This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.... Listen to him.
This also gives us something to work on this Lent:
listen to him.
We have to pay attention to Jesus.
So today’s question is:
what should I do this Lent
in my prayer
to be more attentive to Jesus,
to listen better,
to grow in appreciation of who he is?
The starting point has to be the prayer pinnacle of our week:
what should I do to be more attentive to Jesus in Sunday Mass?
One possibility is to spend a bit of time reading the Sunday readings carefully during the week,
perhaps by coming to the group here on Wednesday at 7.30.
Then there is daily prayer:
what should I do to be more attentive to Jesus on a daily basis?
There are helpful booklets in the Narthex.
[Also: the Jesuit's http://www.sacredspace.ie/ and the Prayer of the Church http://www.universalis.com/]
Another possibility is to decide to read St Mark’s gospel,
perhaps a chapter a day,
noticing the various ways Jesus is addressed.
Like the disciples,
we have to hand ourselves over to Jesus’ guidance,
in the metaphors of prayer from today’s gospel,
we may have to spend lots of time trudging up a mountain,
we may receive, perhaps frightening, illumination,
we may receive dim appreciations in darkness,
and we will have to come back to our ordinary business,
perhaps puzzled, but walking with Jesus.