Take time
Homily — 2nd Sunday of Lent — cycle B
Gen 22:1-2,9a, 10-13,15-18
Rom 8:31b-34
Mark 9:2-10
This is not new stuff. But neither is Lent. I think a lot of what we hear in Lent is reminders of basics that we need to check in our lives. A way to rebalance or redirect ourselves back to or finally onto the path to right relationship with God.
Sometimes it is a teaching to let go of old ways and beliefs and idols/gods that hold us back from our relationship with the One True God. This is one of the big messages from the first reading from Genesis today.
Sometimes it is a simple message to us to remind us of who is really on our side and who is the one steadfast Entity in our lives — the one who we can always turn to, the one we can always rely on, the one whose arms we can fall into whenever we need that warm comfort of love, the one who is for us and and no other can be against.
Today as I read the Gospel, some commentaries/reflections, and recalled some recent conversations, I was reminded of our need to get out of the chaos and the noise that can keep us from connecting our heart to God.
Jesus on many occasions stepped away from the crowd to be alone/to be quiet/to get away from the noise of the day to day. This time, in our Gospel, we see that he took a few of his closest friends up a mountain to get away (and what an experience they had. I had some pretty good “mountain top experiences” in my life, but nothing like this)
And it’s not like God can’t or doesn’t show up in the chaos, I think he does...A LOT, but we are so absorbed in what is happening that we don’t or can’t experience it. Society’s garbage; work or school stress; family and friend drama; emotional, mental and/or physical health issues can all contribute to this spiritual numbness or noise that blinds us from God’s divine voice interceding in our lives/trying to connect with us to comfort and direct.
So, it is important to take some time to get to “the mountain” so that as we become more attuned to God’s language in our life we can hear God even in the din of daily life. Lent reminds us of this through readings like we have in the Gospels. Lent itself is a reminder that we are to take time to simply be. But even before Lent existed we had something more frequent and more available. We had/have the Gift of Sunday — an opportunity for a weekly mountain top experience, a time away from the daily grind to just be with God through prayer, worship, praise, and relationship within the community.
This time with God is so very important. It is a time we can calm ourselves, give everything to God, and communicate with God in the silence of our hearts.
I pray that you can experience that within Mass. I also pray that you will take time to bring this Sabbath rest with you throughout your week if even for a few minutes every day. (While you are taking your shower, brushing you teeth, commuting to work or school, when you park your car take 5 minutes before you go into work or your home, 10 minutes of quiet before you lay your head down for the night.)
It doesn’t take much, a little bit here and a little bit there to keep connected to God and the Gift of Sunday.
We might not be transfigured, but with a bit of heart-to-heart with God we can be transformed.