It’s Grand Prix weekend in St. Petersburg. It may not be as challenging as the Grand Prix in Monaco, but it’s just as exciting. Here are a few questions you can ask your children/grandchildren:
What is a race car's favorite food? Fast food. What is the least favorite? Brake-fast. And, what is the longest-running event? The human race! Of course, slow and steady gets us to that finish line.
Lent calls for a shift in gears, a change within ourselves: steering into a more God-centered, other-centered life.
Last Sunday, we were in the wilderness with Jesus and the tempter. This week we're on a mountaintop contemplating the transfiguration.
The word of God first takes us back to Abraham who hears the call of God. Abraham was an ordinary man with extraordinary faith. Because he trusted God completely, he set out for an unknown future.
Many of us can relate. A new place? A new job? Surely Abraham was anxious. Yet he trusted in God's unconditional love. God calls us to be people of faith, to trust God as we journey through happy and uncertain days to our heavenly dwelling place.
Paul in his letter to Timothy speaks about God’s tremendous love. God is indeed "this tremendous lover,” which is a title of a book you might enjoy. God became one of us in Jesus so that we could become like God. And one day, we shall see God as God really is. That is why Paul urges us to live a holy life now.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta showed that holiness is not a luxury for the few; holiness is meant for all. A so-called “untouchable” was alone dying on the sidewalk. The nun as usual bowed with the respectful greeting: “Namaste.” She saw the image and glory of God within this emaciated person. And many saw God in her action.
Yes, to see God despite a “distressing disguise” is to live a holy life.
In the Gospel, the disciples experienced the transfiguration of Jesus; they saw the unique and awesome presence of God in Jesus.
As described, Jesus’s face became as dazzling as the sun, his clothes as white as light, an allusion to the white tunic early Christians wore after they were baptized. The disciples glimpsed the “glorious” Jesus beyond the flesh and blood Jesus they knew. They also saw their own future in the transfigured Jesus.
Jesus lived by faith, completely trusting in his Father's unconditional love for him. That faith made Jesus a transformative person, ushering in the kingdom of God. That faith was tested to the breaking point on the cross. To quote the great theologian Karl Rahner: “Jesus surrendered himself in his death unconditionally to the absolute mystery that he calls his Father, into whose hands he committed his existence when...he was deprived of everything that is otherwise regarded as the content of a human existence.”
Jesus died as he had lived: with faith, with hope. Yes, he died murmuring, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” And in the mystery of death God transfigured Jesus into a new kind of spiritual embodiment.
And just as Jesus became a transformative person ushering in the kingdom of God, Jesus calls us to become transformative people.
As co-workers with God, we have to do our best to transform injustice into fairness; hate into peace, indifference into compassion, sorrow into joy, despair into hope, self-centeredness into other-centeredness so that God, like the risen Christ, can transfigure us into a new kind of spiritual embodiment.
I close with a few transformative tips from Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz:
• Focus on your character. Be trustworthy. Behave honorably.
• When you make a mistake, make amends.
• Show people you care. Prove it consistently by praising people's efforts.
• Show your enthusiasm. Both a great attitude and a bad attitude are contagious.
• Surround yourself with people who encourage. Set the right example. Your hard work can generate the feeling that everyone is in it together.
• Set goals at every stage in life. Work hard to achieve them.
• When negative thoughts arise, start thinking, “I can.” It works a lot better than “I can't."
A pastor put his own forward-thinking point on it, observing: "We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way, we cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that’s our attitude. We are in charge of our attitude—so have a positive attitude toward life." Amen!
