Early on Thursday morning I was sitting in the Chapel in the rectory. It was quiet. It was peaceful. It was one of those rare moments in prayer when I felt like my capacity to be present to the Lord, to be physically, spiritually, and emotionally present before the Lord who made me, met the unending and passionate desire of the Lord to be present to me. It was one of those rare moments in the silence and the stillness and the quiet when we know that we are in the presence of the Holy One. And I wanted to stay there. I wanted to stay there in the presence of the Lord. I wanted to stay there in the peaceful silence of that peaceful moment of prayer. I wanted to stay there. But there was work to be done. There was holy work to be done. There was the work of the Lord Jesus Christ to be done. And so I left the silence and the stillness and quiet of the rectory chapel.
We treasure those moments, those rare moments, in the silence
and the stillness and the quiet of prayer. These moments are not our normal
experience of prayer each day. Much of our time in prayer can seem more like
days in the parched land of the desert than moments on the mountaintop. But in
the desert or on the mountaintop God is praised. In the desert or on the
mountaintop we meet the Lord who has come to meet us. We like to stay on the
mountaintop, though, because on the mountaintop, we catch a glimpse of glory.
It was that way for the apostles too. Most of their days were spent in the hard
work of preaching the kingdom, caring for the sick, going on long journeys, and
listening to the Master. Most of their days were not spent in the silence and
the stillness and the quiet. They were spent on the sea, in the cities, and
among the noise of the world. But one day, Peter, James and John went with
Jesus to the mountaintop. And there they caught a glimpse of his glory. They
saw on the mountaintop the glory of the only Son of the Father shining through
the face and the body of Jesus Christ. They saw his glory, and they wanted to
stay there. They wanted to stay there because they knew that they were in the
presence of the Holy One.
They wanted to stay there because they caught a glimpse of
his glory. They wanted to stay there because they heard the voice of the
Father. They wanted to stay there because in the presence of the glory of the
Most High God, they recognized what Paul would later write. Our citizenship is
in heaven. We have been invited and claimed by Jesus Christ to join him in his
glory. Our true homeland is the mountaintop. Our destiny is in the glory of
heaven.
But there is work to be done in the land of exile. There is
work to be done as we make our pilgrimage to the land of glory. In the waters
of Baptism, Jesus Christ claimed us and named us as citizens of heaven. But for
this time, we are called to live on earth as citizens of heaven. Here we will
live the life of Jesus Christ. Here we will live as children of God reflecting
the glory of the Holy One. Or here we will renounce the light of our heavenly
citizenship and embrace the darkness of sin to live forever in the land of
exile. That is the reward of sin. In sin, we choose exile over glory.
But God has chosen us for glory. God has invited us to the
mountaintop even as we make our pilgrimage through the desert. He has given us
a glimpse of his glory to light our way to our true homeland. He has given us
light, but not only has he given us light. In the waters of our baptism and in
the nourishment of the Eucharist, Jesus Christ makes each of us a glimpse of
his glory. Jesus Christ makes you and me into a glimpse of his glory so that we
will be a light on the way to the kingdom where he lives and reigns with the
Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes
Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
