Lent, as we know, has this aspect of giving up something. We kind of unstick ourselves from lower desires that weigh us down in the long run. Keep up this good work. But also, there should be a positive aspect to Lent. Adding something good as well. And today’s meditation on the Transfiguration kind of points to two key things that we might need to add: study about God and experiencing Him. Let’s first discuss the difference between studying something and experiencing it. And then second, how both lead to a healthy relationship with God and His Church.
To begin, the difference between learning about something VS. actually coming in contact with it. I’ve used various examples from college before, but they are so clear. We had a class called “Materials of Construction.” We would sit in the classroom, reading and learning about things like concrete blocks, steel cables, and asphalt. There was even a chapter on gravel. Riveting stuff.
But I want to talk about asphalt. How often do you hear that in Church? Asphalt is the black mixture that a lot of roads are made of. In class, studying it was a bit boring. Mix stuff together with or without heat … put it in a spot. Fun. BUT, after class we got to experience hot mix asphalt in the lab. That was kinda fun and a little dangerous. From class, we knew the ratios of what to mix, we formed shapes with it. And then after it set, the next day we destroyed it in the crushing machines of the Break Lab. In class. I learned the recipe and how strong it was … the dry knowledge. In lab, I experienced the reality and the strength … I gained true understanding.
And that’s one of the things Jesus is doing in today’s Gospel. The disciples have been around Jesus for around 3 years. They’ve been getting to know Him and His teaching, in a way “studying” who He is and learning the way of life that He was giving people. They came to love this teacher, because His lessons were really showing people what it means to be human and how God truly loves them. The Christian way of life. They also know that He is a great miracle worker because He even brought a girl back from the dead. All of this study, as amazing as the truth was … was only classroom level knowledge.
But Jesus wanted them to experience who He really is, as a divine person. To know and feel it. Hence the Transfiguration. This experience left the disciples dumbfounded and babbling. Not knowing what to say … uh, we can make tents! I hope this demonstrates what we’re talking about, study truly is different from experience. Learning about something is different from encountering it.
So this brings us to our second point: how BOTH study and experience are needed if you want a real or deeper connection with God. This is an important lesson for Lent. The reason there is so much confusion out in the world about who Jesus is AND what He taught … is because LESS and less people are going through the twofold process we’re talking about. Why do you think Christ walked everywhere and taught people for 3 years before revealing His divinity in an undeniable way?! Because study needs to come first before you can understand what you are experiencing.
If I went to break lab on day one, it would have been really cool to see asphalt chunks explode and be destroyed, there’s absolutely no debate about that … But then I wouldn’t have been equipped to know the deeper reality. There’s a purpose of design and each material is called to resist destructive forces in their own unique way. All that deep truth would have been lost on me.
I want to give this advice for Lent. Think about this two fold process of getting to know God first and HOW it makes experiencing Him possible. These two parts of the spiritual life can give you guidance on what you need. Usually most adults stopped the learning part of spirituality in high school CCD. And I will say that works for some who have a deep, deep faith. Who make time for prayer and experience God often. But most people don’t do that. For the study or knowledge part, you can always ask me about recommendations. Three weeks ago, I had someone say they hate reading and don’t have the patience for videos … we found something that works, believe it or not. In short, there has to be something in your life that inputs new and deeper data. Otherwise there is no movement. You won’t be able to emulate Peter, when after 3 years of study it clicked for Him … Jesus you are the Christ.
For those who need experience of God. Interior quiet. There’s no simple way around this. You have to create space for you to meditate and experience what an interior life feels like. There’s a process of settling down, and then there might be a topic or point brought up in prayer, and a communication time to come in contact with God.
Lent is all about doing something different and out of the ordinary. We are already in the second week of it. Keep up the good work of whatever you gave up, but this year … try to add something that might involve study about Jesus and the Church He founded 2,000 years ago COUPLED with moments of prayer to experience Him. Study and experience. It’s the same difference between Knowing and Understanding. Either way, when combined, these two things will get to you experience God in brand new and deeper ways.
This is our second point. How are study and experience attained? I would say the first thing that has to happen is to kind of stoke of the fire of interest in your life. You have to know WHY all this is important. I will say it was hard for me to write this homily focusing on the people who are here now. It’s almost as if this message is for those people who don’t care or don’t put any effort into.
In Lent, we focus on prayer, fasting, and alms-giving, but today please focus on prayer as we consider what happened on that Mountain Top.
Right before the Transfiguration, Jesus revealed to the disciples the fact that He had to suffer and die. This is probably the worst news the disciples could have heard. This Jesus was a person who was teaching about God and performing miracles…and He has to die? After this troubling and saddening news…He takes Peter, James, and John up a mountain to give them a glimpse of who He is…Why? Because this experience should give them the strength to overcome the horrible passion and death of Jesus and REALLY understand who this Christ is.
The same happens in our own lives. We are either going through something difficult OR we are about to face something hard in our lives. God desires to help us through these times…but head knowledge and studying about God can only help so much. He wants us to REALLY encounter Him…to hear Him in prayer…to have FAITH in His power and love…and sometimes…to feel His presence as if He’s standing in the room with us.
BUT…we need to become aware of God and disposed or in the right disposition to look for Him. And Jesus teaches us HOW we can be ready for God. Because He “took them up the mountain.” Now this may be an easy phrase to say…but Peter, James, and John had to climb a mountain in order to see the Glory of God at the Transfiguration.
Our deacon class was very privileged and blessed to have spent some weeks in the Holy Land in January. But part of our trip was to climb a mountain that Biblical evidence states is most likely the Mount of the Transfiguration by the sea of Galilee. We climbed it…and let me tell you…Peter, James, and John did work. So to see the Transfiguration… they did have to do some arduous work!
We can bring both of these lessons together. First, it’s not enough to study something…you need to experience it in reality. Second, sometimes it requires effort on our end to encounter God.
Well in short…Lent is the perfect time for these two things to come together…because both are achieved in prayer. You might know someone who knows all about Jesus and can quote every line of Scripture; however, if this studied knowledge is not accompanied by prayer (which is a lived relationship with God) then it’s dry. Also…many married couples can tell you this…Relationships take work! You have to spend time with your loved one and communicate with them. With God…that communication is prayer.
I’m going to let you in on a secret. Priests are asked not only to pray the Liturgy of the Hours 5x a day and it’s healthy to have devotionals like the rosary…but they are asked to do 1 Holy Hour per day. This is one hour with God in unstructured prayer. Honestly…this is how the priest climbs the mountain to see the Glory of God and experience the love that will keep him strong. This is how a priest is able to say a funeral mass for some tragic passing in the morning…be joyful in his visits to the sick in the hospital in the afternoon…but be pleasant and excited to help prepare a couple for marriage in the evening. With prayer…the lived relationship with God where you talk and grow to love Him and learn to accept His constant love and forgiveness for you…you can do anything.
So this Lent. ADD PRAYER. Start small. 15 minutes a day. Try making an area in your house a quiet place for this prayer. Maybe even have one chair dedicated to prayer…a prayer chair. I might market that. Get in your prayer chair…maybe with a Bible…or spiritual reading…or nothing. And just be open to God. Start small tell Him about your day. But consistently do this. Again…it’s great to study God…but you need to experience Him…but it will take you CLIMBING a mountain…so to speak. Don’t worry…God really will help you start. If you’re already at 15 minutes. Maybe push it to half and hour.
Either way…This Lent. Try to experience God…because He desperately wants to show you His Glory. But it’s also important to note…He may not give you fireworks in prayer right away…maybe just a more solid connection to Him. Either way…in prayer you come to understand that there are moments when God expresses His love for you and He’ll give you strength to fight something evil in your life, or Endurance during some struggle, or peace…during a painful sickness or loss of a loved one.
I’m still praying for all of you this Lent. Together…let’s form a deeper habit of prayer and arrive at Easter ready to experience Christ in His glory.
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