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!
