PUTTING THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE

 

Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them up a high

mountain apart by themselves.

Mark 9:2

What a difference twenty years make! Depressed by the sexual abuse scandal that erupted in our country and feeling unsupported in my work as a Vocation Director, about this time of the year back in 2004, I found myself at an all-time low. You can't imagine what it was like to be a Vocation Director during the height of a clergy sexual abuse scandal! News about the scandal was so bad that I asked for some time off to get way and to regain my balance. I needed to pull myself together and get some clarity about what to do next. I spent the whole month of February that year, alone, in a small cottage, on a deserted beach, in northern Florida. I probably spoke to one person that whole month. I probably ran into less than five people on that cold and windy beach during my extended time away. I loved it and I would love to do it again someday – the next time without a scandal!

I came home with the clarity I was looking for. I went from having one of the worst years of my life, to one of the best years of my life. Even though things had gotten worse before they got better, I came home able to handle the constant drip of bad news much better. It even prepared me to handle the next round of bad news when I retired six years ago. I even went from that bad news to six very good years before the next round of bad news. I guess, in time, you can get used to the "bottom falling out" every few years if you take the time to go off for a while to reflect and pray for God's guidance as you wait for another "golden age" to manifest itself. 

Three weeks ago, we read about Jesus getting up early, before dawn, and going off to a quiet place to reflect on his life and to ask for direction for the day ahead. That was followed by many trips to quiet places during his ministry - to seek clarity from God about what he was supposed to do next. Last week, we followed him into the desert for that forty-day retreat he made before he started his ministry.  

Today, we fast-forward to the end of Jesus’ life to the time before his final entry into Jerusalem for his crucifixion, death and resurrection. Today we remember him taking his closest companions on a mountaintop retreat to prepare them for what was about to happen when they got to Jerusalem.  At this point in his ministry, Jesus could read the handwriting on the wall and it spelled “suffering” in big letters. This time he went to the mountain to get final clarity on whether embracing the impending suffering was really the right thing to do. The question to which Jesus wanted an answer, was not “what do I want to do” or “what do people want me to do,” but “what does God want me to do?”

Just as a desert is a good place for introspection, a mountain is a good place for perspective. In a desert, there is nothing to distract you. You are forced to look within. On a mountain, you can see in all directions at once. On a mountain where one can see in all directions, Jesus got a glimpse of the past, the present, the future and how they all fit together heading into his last days. On a mountain, Jesus was able to see the connections between where he came from, where he was presently and where he was going. 

(1) Jesus saw his connection to his past. Israel’s two great heroes appeared to him and talked with him: Moses and Elijah. They told Jesus that indeed he was the one they had dreamed of centuries ago  and had foretold would someday come to save the world. They told Jesus that he was indeed on the right path and that he should indeed proceed onward. If their word was not enough, from a cloud God repeats the words that he had spoken to Jesus at his baptism, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”

(2) Jesus saw his connection to his future. The words used in the gospel today to describe Jesus’ clothes becoming “white as light” are the same words used of his clothes at the resurrection. His “white as light” clothing, gave him a glimpse of the glory to come. It helped him get a sneak preview of his victory on the other side of the suffering he was about to endure.

(3) Jesus saw his connection to his present, where he was on his final journey. He tells his disciples, flattened with fear, that there was nothing to be afraid of, even though they had to go down from the mountain and go through the suffering ahead of them. Their tremendous mountaintop experience was meant to help them go through what was about to happen. In fact, this is where we get the expression “peak experience.” I am sure many of you are familiar with the expression “peak experience.”  A “peak experience” is one of those intense spiritual experiences that people, like good old St. Peter, try to hold onto or repeat again and again, but simply cannot because they are unrepeatable.  They are simply “glimpses of glory” and “sneak previews” of heaven itself. They are not meant to be permanent. “Peak experiences” are meant to be memorable experiences that help us get through hard times.

Going off to the desert, going off to the mountains, going off to the beach, going off to the woods or simply going off to a quiet room to listen to yourself think, to listen to your heart of hearts, to listen to God, is an absolute necessity for those who would follow Jesus. The place is not important, but the listening is! If you listen with your heart, you will get the clarity you need, no matter what questions you need to answer or what problems you need to face.   

No wonder so many in our culture seems to be so confused! Our world is so crammed with noise that we cannot hear ourselves think. Surely, you have realized that there is no such thing any more as a quiet dinner in a nice restaurant. In the summer, cars with their windows rolled down and monster speakers blaring, cruise our streets day and night. There are few places left where you can escape constant noise. 

No wonder our culture seems so confused! Our ears are being blasted with constant noise from cell phones, earphones and an over-saturation of electronic stimulation. No wonder our culture seems so confused! We consult our horoscopes and seek out expensive advice gurus, but we don’t take the time to just be quiet and to listen to ourselves. We are driven to fill the quiet, to kill the quiet and to run from the quiet, as if the quiet were our worst enemy. The truth of the matter is that it is in the quiet that we can get our bearings, clarity is given to us and a sense of who we are and where we are going is shown to us.

My friends, the message today is simple: make friends with the quiet. In silence, everything falls into perspective, the path becomes clear and where we need to go becomes obvious. To stay on the right path, we have to go to the quiet often, regularly and routinely, just as Jesus had to do!

That can happen when you are all alone in a deer stand in the woods, on a walk by yourself in the park, on a visit to the Blessed Sacrament in an empty church or just driving down the road by yourself with the radio off! Lent is a time to simply shut up and listen! Doing that has always worked for me in times of confusion and doubt and it will work for you - if you give it a chance! I learned a long time ago that, when people come to me when they are confused about what to do next, all I have to do is get them to talk. I don't have to give them an answer. Most of the time, they already know the answer. They have just never been quiet enough to hear it!

Most of the time, the solution to many of our problems are found in simply listening to that small whispering voice within our hearts. It is there that we hear what God wants us to do! We probably already know the answer we are looking for, but we just haven't been able to hear it above all the static and noise outside of us!  

Friends, instead of all that “giving up candy bars for Lent” stuff, it would probably do us more good just to take a few minutes every day to withdraw to a quiet place. That’s what Jesus would do! I think we would be surprised by what we would learn if you'd just shut up for a while, cut out all the external static and just be quiet and listen to ourselves think! Reflect for a moment on where you came from, where you are now and where you are headed! It will be helpful to put things in perspective! 

With what’s left of Lent, I challenge you to find some time and find your place of peace and quiet. I think you will learn that that’s where you can hear clearly what you already know down deep!