An Encouraging Word: MISSION TRIP THREE 2-21-16

Sunday, February 21, 2016

MISSION TRIP THREE 2-21-16

FIRST THINGS FIRST
I want to wish my sister, Brenda, a very happy birthday!

SUNDAY HOMILY

“A Glimpse of Glory”

Rev. Ronald Knott

February 21, 2016

Jesus was transfigured before them.

His clothes became dazzling white,

whiter than any bleach could make

them. The disciples hardly knew

what to say, they were so terrified.

Mark 9

A taste! A sample! A feeler! A lick! A sip! A bite! A glimpse! A glance! A peep! A flash! A forecast! A tease! A preview! We have lots of name for it – experiencing something beforehand. This is what this mountain top experience is all about, Jesus giving his disciples a glimpse of glory in advance.

On a mountaintop, you can see in all directions. On the mountaintop in this gospel story, Jesus was able to see in all directions, not only literally, but also symbolically. He could see the past, the present and the future. He could see where he came from, where he was and where he was going. He could see how the prophets of the past foretold his coming as the Messiah. He could see the necessary suffering in front of him. He could see the glory that awaited him after his resurrection. This insight, this realization, was a mind-blowing, clothes-glowing, religious experience when everything came together for him. In other words, it everything came into focus. As we say today, he “got it!” From this gospel, we have created a word for these kinds of experiences. We call them “peak” experiences.

The only problem with a taste, a sample, a feeler, a lick, a sip, a bite, a glimpse, a glance, a peep, a flash, a forecast, a tease and a preview, we end up wanting more, right now! That’s what was on Peter’s mind, when he blurted out in the middle of this mind-blowing experience, “Lord, this is so wonderful, so unbelievable! Let’s just set up some tents and stay up here forever!”

This is what happens when we have been on a wonderful retreat or have gotten a major insight at a workshop or program. We want to repeat it over and over again and make it permanent. We even crusade to get other people to go where we went for that experience so that they can have the same experience. How many times have we been hounded by people who insist that we, too, go to Marriage Encounter, Alcoholics Anonymous or Medjugore so that we, too, can have the same wonderful experience that they experienced?

“Peak experiences,” however, are normally unique, not transferable nor repeatable. They serve a unique purpose. Like the one in the gospel today, these experiences help us go through the bad times, without losing hope. What happened on that mountain that day helped the apostles make it through the rough days ahead of them. They had to come down from the mountain and face the passion and death of Jesus before he could rise from the dead. When they did see the risen Christ in his brilliant white robes, they remembered – they remembered their mountain top experience with Jesus in his “dazzling white clothes, whiter than anyone on earth could bleach them.” They actually got a glimpse of the glory of the resurrection beforehand.

The thrill of a new perspective cannot be sustained for an indefinite period. We normally have to go back to reality and deal with all the old issues and old problems. If these experiences are personal, unique, temporary and not transferable, then why bother with them to begin with? Isn’t it just a cruel tease? Absolutely not! Rene Daumal described the slipping back into the old realities this way: “You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees, one descends; one sees no longer, but one has seen.” There is an art to living in the world of real life, with its real problems. When one can longer see, one can at least remember what they have seen and keep going.

I believe that a “peak experience” is what separates those who remain in the church and those who drop out. Without that one special Mass, that one special retreat, that one special experience of the holy, it is hard to keep going in a church that seems to be experiencing so many problems. The deeper the “peak experience,” the more desert one can endure. It is impossible to explain this to someone who has never been “on the mountain.”

I have been fortunate enough to have two or three of these experiences as a priest, times when I felt, beyond a doubt, that God had worked through me to help others. They do not happen every day, but they are so powerful that I could remain in the priesthood, without giving into hopelessness.

For this reason, I am committed to turn my time and attention to doing some extra work to make the money to send some of the youth of this diocese to World Youth Day in Poland in July. One of them, Raphique, is from this parish. I believe puts them in a position to have a unique, once-in-a-lifetime religious experience that will sustain their faith for years to come. I am hoping it will be one of those "peak experiences" for these youth.

These “peak experiences” cannot be staged or arranged. They are gifts from God that come in God’s own time. If you have never had one of these experiences, pray for this gift, pray for your “glimpse of glory.” They make the tough times bearable. They help us make sense of all the nonsense so many of us have to endure.

A DAY OF GREAT REJOICING

A VAN FOR THE CORPUS CHRISTI COMMUNITY

Funded by a donor through R J MISSION PROJECTS, a charity started by my friend and I.

This is our second van. The first was given to the St. Benedict Community last December.

The priests receiving the van for the Corpus Christi Parish.

Father Peter Okonkwa and Father Boniface Oganna, volunteer missionaries from Nigeria, serve three communities,
Corpus Christi in Villa. St. Martin de Porres in Stubbs and Our Lady of Lourdes in Argyle.

I had Mass here in Stubbs this morning at 10:00. I presented the keys to the parish at the end of Mass. Some great photos to follow in posts of the near future - as soon as they are available to me.

This is the third church in the trio of parishes the van will serve. This is Our lady of Lourdes in Argyle near the new airport that is being built. It is several years behind schedule, but it is coming along. It appears to me that the latest March 2016 deadline will also be missed. Once it is done, I will be able to fly directly from Miami without having to go through Barbados.

Corpus Christi Community itself does not yet have a church. that community meets in a classroom at the Community College in Villa where the new bishop's ordination was held.

SPECIAL THANKS TO JAMAL

I want to thank, Jamal, for driving me from the Pastoral Centre to the churches and back home. We used the new van this time. The last time, we used his Toyota pick-up truck!

WORLD YOUTH DAY

Through our R J MISSION PROJECTS friends, we are proud to sponsor six SVG young people to attend World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, this July.