2^nd Sunday of Lent; March 17, 2019

Gn 15:5-18   Ps 27   Phil 3:17-4:1   Lk 9:288-36

Deacon Jim McFadden; (New) Folsom Prison & SJB

 

The readings from today awaken a sense of wonder to a world beyond our own—a mystical consciousness. So, in the first reading—memorable, magical, strange—Abraham enacts a ritual in which God establishes a covenant with him. How important is the notion of covenant is throughout the Bible; this one is accompanied by mystical symbols. First, the mountain, the deep terrifying darkness, the flaming torch, the voice from heaven: they’re all symbols which signify that Abraham is not making some ordinary contract that you’d make with an ordinary human being. Rather, he is making a covenant with this strange, beguiling, intriguing, and mysterious God that he cannot control and he knows it. He is someone beyond this world.

Then in our second reading St. Paul talks about our citizenship in heaven. It’s interesting that Paul was both a Jew and a Roman citizen; so, he was aware of a dual citizenship and he’s telling his fellow Christians that their true citizenship is not of this world. You mean my city, state, and country is not my true citizenship? Yes, that’s right! While we are citizens of those places with all their attendant responsibilities, they are not our true citizenship where our ultimate allegiance abides.

Where is it, then? Paul responds that it exists in Heaven, where we ultimately and truly belong. That’s why our Church Fathers would often describe Heaven as patria or homeland. I’m going home when I’m going to Heaven. And, Paul scolds his listeners who are preoccupied with the things of this world: “Their minds are occupied with earthly things” (Phil 3:19). He then proclaims that we await our Savior, who comes from Heaven, and who will “change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body” (v. 21).

What does he mean by that?   While it may not be completely clear, we do know Jesus is coming from a realm beyond this one, where even his bodylines is transformed, transfigured to a higher pitch. Just as our bodies are suited for our world of time nd space, his body is suited for another realm. Finally, Paul says that the world we live in is not the final world or reality—that there is another dimension.

You see that both of these readings from Genesis and Philippians are trying to shake us out of a kind of complacency. There’s more to it than meets the eye. As Shakespeare observes in Hamlet: There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, that are dreampt in your philosophy.”

            Then we have the more beguiling, intriguing Transfiguration of the Lord in today’s Gospel reading. In both the Abraham story and the Gospel, we have the mountain, the darkness, the voice, the dazzling light—all spiritual symbols that speak of a breakthrough of a higher world.

Take the mountain. In Scripture the mountain becomes the meeting place between the ordinary and the extraordinary. It’s an elevation to what we’re used to; it’s a descent of the divine and they meet on a mountain—Mt. Sinai, Horeb, Tabor, the Sermon of the Mount.

What about the darkness in both the Abraham and Transfiguration stories? In darkness we’re not in charge. Why do we close our eyes when we pray? We impose darkness on ourselves as though to say, “I’m no longer operating in the world where I feel confident: in the light, I can move around, manipulate things, rearrange the furniture. But, when it dark, you’re thrown for a loop as we always are when we are in the presence of God because, as Isaiah reminds us, “My ways are not your ways; my thoughts are not your thoughts” (Is 55:8).

The voice? God is speaking to us and it behooves us to listen. God is breaking through into our ordinary experience. Vatican II put it quite rightly in the implications of the Christian faith for this world: commitment to social justice concern for the poor, and even for the planet we live—a concern championed by our current pope who authored the remarkable Laudate Si. These are commitments of a lively Christian faith. Deeply believing Christians are indeed concerned about social justice, the poor the planet, etc. However, nothing of the Catholic Tradition, including Vatican II, would sanction a forgetfulness or disregard of the supernatural. The Bible continually reminds us that we are only sojourners here: the Earth is akin to the Motel 6 and our real and ultimate home is Heaven. We’re passing through the world to a higher one. Again, maintain a balance: it doesn’t mean that we’re indifferent to the goods of the world; we’re very interested. But, as Paul puts it, “We have our citizenship in Heaven.” St. Augustine said that we are in a journey through this world, but we shouldn’t become beguiled by the ease of the trip or the countryside we’re passing through. As Theresa of Avila said, “Everything passes; God alone remains.” And, so, all of these readings are lifting us up, compelling s to look higher, to be aware of a supernatural dimension.

Let’s go back to Paul’s glorified body. What Peter, James, and John saw on Mount Tabor was Christ’s glorified body, which had changed before them, which was left beguiling ambiguous. He was transformed, transfigured. In the Greek, it is rendered that he became dazzling white, glorified. What does that mean? It’s not just about Jesus, but it’s about us too because we’re summoned to this heavenly destination and we will be given a glorified body like the Lord’s. So what can we say about that?

If we consult the Doctors of the Church, we hear from St. Thomas Aquinas, who says that it will have identity. What he means is that it will be same body that we have now. Those in Heaven will recognize us and we will recognize them. We will see each other, know and recognize each other. In other words, there is a continuum of one personal identity.

But, that is not to say that we’re the same. Think of a caterpillar that emerges from the cramped confines of the cocoon. When it emerges, it eventually becomes something richer and more beautiful, as its able to fly become one of the more splendid things in creation. Yet, it is the same entity, though transformed, lifted up, glorified if you will. Something similar, Aquinas suggests, will happen to us in our glorified bodies.

Secondly, Aquinas says, that it will have quality. What does that mean? It means that it will be at the height of its powers, fully possessing integrity. When I look back at my life in my youth, I was at the height of my physical powers: I could surf, race bicycles over hilly terrain, run marathons. I could seemingly move about whenever and wherever I wanted. But, as we get older the body loses its flexibility, agility; it gets heavier, less responsive. Your body begins to lose its powers. The glorified body, Aquinas says will be full, integral, powerful, beautiful at the height of perfection.

Thirdly, Thomas says the glorified body will possess impassibility, unchanged-ability; it will never change or diminish, which is one of the saddest things in life. When you see some you haven’t seen for 25-30 years, you wonder, “What happened?!” and they could probably say the same thing about you! But, in Heaven in our glorified body, we will never have to worry about being less than what we are. Indeed, we hear from the book of Revelation, that “Every tear will be wiped away” permanently (Rev 21:4). Sickness and death will not threaten us. Think about that. How much of our lives are diminished because we’re always afraid of sickness and death. That won’t be true in Heaven in a glorified body.

Fourthly, the glorified body will have agility. Does that mean we’ll be doing callesthenics in Heaven? I hope not! But, it means the utter submission of the body to the soul so that we’ll be able to accomplish what we want, travel to where we go, be with whom we want in the wink of an eye. Or, as he puts it “At the speed of thought.” Think of how quickly you can think of something, and t that moment it is true. If I say I want to be with my daughter and granddaughter in North Carolina, there is a lot I have to go through to go from the desire to actually landing in North Carolina. For Aquinas, it says we’ll be able to do what we want, when we want because the body is utterly submissive to the soul.

And, finally, what we see in the Transfiguration account, it will have clarity or luminosity. Isn’t it curious that we associate holiness with light, that we place haloes around pictures of our saint? So, the Resurrected body will have this quality.

People of God, as we make our way through the long slog of Lent, which is meant to symbolize the long slog of life, we’re permitted today, even encouraged of the glorious transfiguration towards which all of us are moving. Amen.