2nd Sunday of Lent
13th March 2022
St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh
“I have been to the mountain top”
The mountain top has a strong grip on the imagination of so many. It is remarkable to witness the dangers and risk climbers across the world subject themselves to in order to experience standing on the pinnacle, the mountain top. It holds a fascination that sadly leads to so many tragic accidents and deaths on the ascent and descent.
The Bible has many instances when the mountain serves as the privileged place of encounter with God. All those threads of divine presence on the mountain are drawn together in the account of the Transfiguration of the Lord as recalled by St. Luke’s Gospel to-day.
Jesus went to the mountain to pray – bringing with him Peter, James and John. As we hear of the extraordinary encounter, we need to attend to the description of what the three heard, saw and came to understand. Links are made with Moses and Elijah, great figures of the Old Testament to which Peter offered to build tents there and then – thereby hoping to hold the intensity of this moment. Soon they are covered in cloud which makes them fearful – in which they hear again the words of affirmation first heard at the Baptism of Jesus “This is my Son, the chosen One, Listen to him”. Then they saw Jesus was alone and they “kept silence”.
This is “some experience” for Peter, James and John. In their short time being especially close to the Lord Jesus they will witness a Transfigured Jesus dazzlingly bright and a disfigured Jesus, tortured and broken. The early Church preachers have spoken of the mountain top experience as preparing them for the darkness of the Kedron Valley.
With the outbreak of war in the Ukraine a new evil is stalking the world. While all conflict is usually complex in history and defiant in desiring peace, the conflict stands in the long history of individual minds trapped in greed and conquest. Evil is personified in people we know, it thrives in concealment and lies.
This tragedy cries out to heaven for resolution. The capacity of new military weaponry makes war a barbaric and lunatic exercise.
The immediate response of the international community is encouraging but the response of families across so many countries is a real inspiration. Not least our own. The offer of practical shelter is enormous – it will not be without its difficulties and challenges.
As a diocese and parish, we will have a special appeal for the Ukraine on Sunday week March 26th /27th. And while we want to help the Ukraine we also want to stay mindful of the wider worldwide needs of the Global south so severely affected by climate change.
On this Sunday of the Transfiguration, we are called to see that our blessings in good time strengthen us to endure and persevere when tested by violence, hunger, sickness or despair.
Once we have been to the mountain top of God’s presence, we have experienced a glory and joy no evil can destroy.
