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- [00:00]
Podcast Host
You're listening to a podcast by the center for Action and Contemplation. To learn more, visit cac.org@the center for
- [00:10]
Elizabeth
Action and Contemplation, we believe that transformation is for everyone. My name is Elizabeth and I'm on the development team here at the cac. I'm grateful for the generous support from listeners like you who give freely and joyfully to to make this podcast possible. Recently, Mary Lou, a listener from our community, shared this message with us.
- [00:36]
Podcast Host
Words cannot express my gratitude for the CAC's podcasts. I started listening a few years ago on my daily walks, and they have enriched and deepened my faith and my life. I feel as if I can listen to the episodes again and again and again and always discern something new.
- [00:58]
Elizabeth
If CAC's programs, including this podcast, have been meaningful to you, we invite your financial support. Every gift, no matter the amount, helps listeners like Mary Lou engage with wisdom that calls us towards healing, wholeness, and deepening love. If you'd like to partner in this work, you can make a gift by visiting cac.org that's cac.org support thank you for being on this journey with us.
- [01:34]
Richard Rohr
The Lord be with you. A reading from the Holy Gospel as written to us by Matthew Lord Jesus took Peter, James, and John, his brother, and led them up a high mountain so they could be by themselves. And there he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. And Peter said to Jesus, lord, it is so good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them. And then from the cloud came a voice that said, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate to the ground and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and he touched them and he said, rise up and do not be afraid. And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them. Do not tell this vision to anyone until the human one has been raised from the dead. This is the Gospel of the Lord. Okay? This is a wonderful gospel. It's almost like a painting, more than a reading. And for many people, it's their favorite mystical painting because it's all symbolic. Everything is symbolic. Now. We aren't used to reading that way. Unfortunately, so let's just give you a few hints. Now, first of all, this is Matthew 17. In the preceding chapter, Matthew 16, Jesus has been talking to the larger crowds, and they're largely either misunderstanding him or fighting him. So he winnows it down to the disciples, those who were in somewhat of the in crowd, although maybe only in the early stages of conversion. So this gospel is always read on the second Sunday of Lent, because Lent should be about conversion or transfiguration, as the word is used here. So he's talking to the smaller crowd, and wouldn't you know it, they don't get it either. In fact, Peter, who becomes what we call the first pope, actually fights him on this prediction that he's going to go to Jerusalem and be killed. He says, no, you're not. I'm going to save you. And Jesus says, get behind me. The only time Jesus calls anybody a devil is Peter. Did you ever know that? Our first pope. So it shows. You can be way at the top and still miss the point, huh? I don't know why we didn't notice that. But anyway, Peter is still the leader, and now he. So he goes from the crowd to the disciples to the 12 to now to the 3. He's narrowing it down. Who's ready for this message? Peter, James and John. He led them up a high mountain by themselves, and there he was transfigured before them. Of course, there's many interpretations of this. Is this really the risen Christ story put forward in time? We don't know. But it's certainly not something that they were very convinced of that he was. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. The Jesus that they knew is seemingly very ordinary. And at the end of the story, you'll see that they walk back down the hill into the very ordinary world where everything returns as it was before. We Franciscans have a lovely house on this mountain, Mount Tabor. And I gave a retreat there, oh, 20 some years ago. And it was such a delight to have all the high hundreds of tourists go down the hill. And we had this all to ourselves. I said, wow, how many people get to spend an overnight on Mount Tabor? And I went to sleep in my little room. There were no screens on the windows. And after a few minutes, a little gnat comes in the room and just buzzes in my ear and then in the other ear. And here I thought this was paradise, you know, And I had to fight mosquitoes and gnats the whole night. So just know that there are mosquitoes in paradise. There's no perfect place. Then I came out the next morning. This is not really part of the sermon. It's just something to entertain you. And the friars, the good friars, they had little notes, attacked to the trees, no camping, because young kids, of course, bring their tents up, and they want to spend a night on Mount Tabor. And I thought, how ironic. If you wish, I will make three tents here. One for you, one for Moses. So they're still trying to make tents there, but we still prohibit it. No, sir. No tents on Mount Tabor. We want to be the only ones up there to see the transfiguration. I've lost my point. My main point is we're narrowing down from the crowd to the disciples, to the 12, to the 3, then to the 1. And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one, but only Jesus. Now, when I talk about this gospel being symbolic, this is what I'm talking about. It's a really itinerary of the spiritual journey. You start with many idols and many concerns, and your mind is all over the place and. And your heart is all over the place. You're split up into many different personalities. As the psychologist would say. If you're growing spiritually, all things being equal, your life becomes more and more centered. There's only a few things that matter. It's very interesting. I see a lot of people right now being, because of the coronavirus, thinking this way, that, you know, we're all in this together, every nation, every continent. The rich as well as the poor, the Buddhists as well as the Catholics, the blacks as well as the whites, the gays as much as the straights. All of our distinctions mean nothing. We're all subject to this suffering has that ability to pull you into oneness. Maybe you've seen it happen in your family. It's marvelous, because it almost seems like a miracle. I had my sister's funeral last night, last month, and went home to Kansas. And all the family was there, of course, for it. And there aren't, I don't think, any big resentments or anything in the family. But still, the suffering and the acceptance of that suffering, of my sister in her death just brought us together in the most beautiful way. It was just such an honor to have the funeral for my own family and for my own sister. So that's what we see happening here. He's leading them through the transfiguration experience. He's preparing them for the cross and saying, it's going to come and be ready. And it's probably the only thing that will transfigure you. There's only two major paths by which the human soul comes to God. The path of love. Great love especially, and suffering. Great suffering. And they finally come down to great suffering. Because if you love anything greatly, you will eventually suffer for it. I promise you. When you're young, God hides that from you. You think it won't have to be true for you. But to love anything in depth and long term, you eventually must suffer. And so when they raise their eyes, they see nothing but one image. Jesus. Their life has become fully focused and simplified on the one thing that is good, the one thing they desire, and the one thing that is necessary. Then he leads them down the mountain, back into the ordinary world, where apparently he looks ordinary again. And then he ends with a line that to me was always a disappointment. Don't tell anybody about what just happened. And I guess you can all interpret that however you want. And I'm not saying mine is the right one, but it seems to me he might be saying that. Don't tell this story to someone else because they'll think they understand it by just hearing about it. Religious experience has to be experienced. You can't believe it because someone else talked about it, like I'm trying to do right now. Sooner or later you have to go to your own mountaintop, you have to have your own transfiguration, and you have to walk down the mountaintop into the ordinary world where we all look like we do. Oh, so ordinary. And remember in the ordinary what we just for a moment experienced in the white light. That's good stuff, but it's going to take a while. So take a while with the Gospel.
- [14:12]
Podcast Host
Do you feel called to walk a more contemplative path? The center for Action and Contemplation is an educational nonprofit supporting the journey of inner transformation. Our programs and resources will help grow your consciousness, deepen your prayer practice, and strengthen your compassionate engagement with the world. Learn more about our resources, such as publications, podcasts, email series, and events@www.cac.org.