2/24/2013 – 2nd Sunday of Lent – Transfiguration – Luke 9:28b-36

     Back before I became a priest, I did missionary work as a lay person – three years up in Canada, and three years in the country of Ecuador in South America.  When I first arrived as a missionary in Ecuador to work in the rain forest jungle, I had to face the fact that I was very shy and introverted.  Thus, I had to find a comfortable way to introduce myself to the people and to begin ministering to them, even though I was just starting to learn Spanish and my grasp of the language was still not very good.  Boy, I was perplexed as to what I could do.   But I soon found a very creative way to introduce myself to others.   I would gather scraps of paper, often from old magazines or old writing paper that I had no use for, and I would sit and fold these pieces of paper into different things using the Japanese paper folding art of Origami.  Here are a bunch of cranes and stars and other things that I have fold.  When I arrived in a village in the Ecuadoran jungle where I was to work with different church and community groups, I would sit down on the church steps with some pieces of paper and I start making these animals and other objects out of paper.  In a few minutes, I would have a huge crowd of children from the village, curious as to what was going on, and instantly the people of the village were introduced to me and my missionary work in a very creative way.

      By using Origami, paper can be transformed into different objects and shapes.  In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus transformed and transfigured right before the very eyes of some of his disciples.   How they respond to the transformation they see is up to them.   We see Peter’s response, of how he wants to go inside himself rather than go out into the world, how he desires to set up some tents for Jesus and the prophets Moses & Elijah who appeared with him on that mountaintop.  This might make us think about how we want to respond to the transformation that is available to us during this holy Lenten season.  We can spend our entire time on our Lenten journey praying and fasting and going inside of ourselves.  Certainly, those Lenten disciplines are important and essential aspects of our Lenten journey, but equally important is the way we reach out to others and live out our Lenten faith journey in our daily lives, and how we allow this journey to have a lasting affect on our lives after Lent comes to an end.  What comes after the Transfiguration in the 9^th chapter of Luke’s Gospel is that after Peter’s suggestion, Jesus tells the 3 disciples to rise, as he takes them down the mountain and takes them back to the world below.  Immediately, they encounter a man who is possessed by a demon, who keeps throwing himself into fire and water.  Jesus is told that this man was brought to the disciples, but that the disciples were unable to cure.  Jesus tells them that this is because the disciples had such little faith, that if they had the faith even of a small mustard seed, that they would be able to move a mountain.  How is that the disciples had this profound, transformative experience up on the mountaintop with Jesus, but they are still are struggling with their faith?  Being open to transformation is one thing, but how is that transformation going to change our daily lives?

      We have been looking at the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela on our journey during Lent.  I have brought my backpack, hiking shoes, and walking stick to show you what my faithful companions were on my journey of almost a month.   I am a member of forum of pilgrims from the Camino that posts questions and answers on the internet about our pilgrimage experience.   One person asked – “What was the most important thing you learned on the Camino?”  I could rephrase this question by asking – “How were you transformed by the Camino?  One person answered – Gratitude – being grateful for things in my life.  Another answered – “I learned never to give up. Never give up on big things like achieving a goal - reaching Santiago - when my body hurts, when I'm tired, when it seems too hard. And never give up on small things, like adjusting my boots and pack until they are comfortable, finding exactly the right way to pack my backpack, or finding the best coffee or pastries in town.”   Another wrote – “I learned to listen. I've always been a bit of a loner but really enjoyed walking with different people; some for a week or more, some for just a couple of miles. Others I just shared a meal with and never saw again. I found that everyone has a story and you only have to ask the right questions to let them share it.”  Transformation comes in many shapes and forms on the pilgrimage route, and I don’t think there is a pilgrim that doesn’t come away transformed, enlightened, and changed by that experience. 

      What we can say about pilgrimage we can also say about our faith and about our journey during Lent: it is about transforming ourselves, transforming our world, and being relevant to all that is going on in our world today.  Just as a pilgrimage experience is transformative, our Lenten disciplines of almsgiving and performing works of justice and mercy to the poor and needy will not only help others, but they will transform our own lives as well.   Our faith is about prayer, growing in our relationship with God, and practicing our Catholic faith through our liturgy and sacraments, but a genuine faith also is about healing the hurts that exist in our world, about speaking out for justice, about being in solidarity with the poor and the vulnerable in our society.

     I will leave you this to think about: How are we being transformed in our Lenten journey of faith?  And what are we going to do with that transformation – what actions are we going to undertake – in order to truly transform our lives and to reach out to others, helping to transform our world in the process?