Encountering His Presence

First published August 6 2021 under the title “Seeing God.”

“Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,

‘This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.’
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.”

Mark 9:7-8

Jesus brought Peter, James, and John up the mountain. We know something is about to happen when we read “up the mountain” for mountains are places where God meets His people. Moses on Mt. Sinai. Elijah on Mt. Horeb. Jesus on Calvary. God comes to meet His people.

Peter, James, and John did not know what was about to happen. They saw Moses and Elijah. They were ecstatic! These were like two big celebrities from the past. Then the Father spoke — “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” They heard God speak. The Father affirms the Son’s identity and then He speaks to Peter, James, and John, telling them to listen to His Son. The term used to describe this event is “theophany.” A manifestation of God that is experienced by humans. The Apostles saw God, heard Him, and felt Him. But what did they do with that experience? Peter wanted to stay on the mountain by making some tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Perhaps it was a good place to be at and the company was amazing, but the truth was as it is now: they cannot stay there.

An experience with God cannot be kept to ourselves. When we have seen God, our lives cannot remain stagnant. The life of a Christian is one of encounters, with God and with man, a series of mountaintops and valleys. We can never be sure how those experiences will turn out to be, sometimes they will be filled with joy and inspiration, and other times they will be filled with sorrow and feelings of emptiness. But there is one thing we can be sure of, and that is that Jesus will always be there. “Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone by Jesus alone with them” and that should be enough. When the going gets tough, and when the world seems dark and lonely, we must always remember that Jesus is with us. When we encounter Jesus in our brothers and sisters and in the sacraments, we will have seen God. And in seeing God, He comes to us and calms all our fears and worries, giving us all the graces we need at that moment to weather through those storms. Our Lord is waiting to encounter you, will you see Him?

**For a related reflection/article on the Transfiguration, see “Building Tents and Mountaintop Experiences” on Philip’s earlier blog.

Invaluable Treasure

“Jesus said to his disciples:
‘The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.’”

Matthew 13:44

What is your most prized treasure? What is something in your life that you hold on to — maybe to others it’s ordinary but to you it is not. Perhaps we all have our own little collection of things that we keep because they contain special meaning to us. In this week’s readings, Jesus tells more parables about the Kingdom of heaven, but this time it’s not about mustard seeds or yeast or weeds and wheat. This time the Kingdom is compared to treasures.

There is a man who while working in the fields, discovers a treasure chest containing lots of silver and gold. Overjoyed he goes home, gathers all of his valuables, sells them, and with the money earned he goes and buys that plot of land. Perhaps that plot of land was just an ordinary plot of land. Maybe it was even a plot of land that could not produce much fruit. Yet, he uses all of his money to buy that plot of land. To others this man may seem silly because he is trading in his entire livelihood for a piece of useless land. But this man knows that what he will gain is much more than he ever had and ever could earn. This is the same with our friendship and relationship with God. What we gain in exchange for our sins and selfish way of life is something much more and far better than we could ever have imagined — participation in the life of God and eternal life. But do our actions match that of the man who bought the plot of land? Do we readily do away with our sins and bad habits and joyfully embrace the prized treasure of relationship with God?

The Kingdom is also compared to a merchant who searches for fine pearls. Similar to the man who sold everything to buy the plot of land in which the treasure was buried, this merchant uses all of his money to purchase this pearl of great price that he has been looking for his entire life. To us, this pearl of great price is the Lord, our faith, eternal life. But to God, this pearl of great price is us, each and every one of us. The conditions in which the pearls are found may not always be pristine. They may be covered in slime or sand or other debris, yet the merchant sells all he has to purchase it. St. Paul tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We are so valuable to the Father that He sent His only Son into the world to gather us to Himself. We are the dirty pearls, yet the Lord washes us, cleanses us, and polishes us with His love and mercy. The Almighty God searches us out and gave His all — His only Son, the Son’s life — just so we might be saved, so that we might come to realize our value. The debris on us do not devalue us because the inherent value of each and every one of us lies in the truth that we are the beloved sons and daughters of the Father. In other words, our sins and wrongdoings do not define us. We are defined by what God sees us as — His precious treasure, His pearls of great price, His sons and daughters whom He has loved from all eternity.

So, what is our invaluable treasure? What is that which occupies our hearts? Does it lead us to God? Perhaps today we can revisit those fields and rediscover that which first caused our hearts to be filled with joy.

Possibility of Coexistence?

“He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,
"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

Matthew 13:29-30

Perhaps it is safe to say that we human beings we see good and evil at play all the time. Sometimes it seems as if the good wins and other times, evil. But we must not confuse this interplay between good and evil to be a coexistence. Of course good and evil are seemingly coexisting in the world, but not because God has no power over evil. That is the point I am trying to convey: there is a coexistence not because the Lord of Life and the Prince of Death are equally powerful and so a “truce” exists. Only because God permits it is there this coexistence. The good and evil dwell in the same sphere because God in His Providence allows it for a bigger plan that is to come.

In today’s Gospel, Matthew shares with us several parables Jesus used to explain the Kingdom of Heaven. Among them is a parable about a sower who sows good seed but an enemy comes at night and scatters seeds of weeds. When asked if the weeds should be uprooted the sower said “no” because the good might also be uprooted. So the weeds and the wheat are allowed to grow together. But when the harvest time comes, the weeds are separated from the wheat. Likewise, good and evil are at play in this temporal sphere but when the Last Day comes, the Lord will separate the good and evil, sending the wicked back to their rightful place and gathering His faithful sheep to Himself. But the problem is that we are here in the here and now. The Last Day has not yet come and we know neither the day nor the hour. So, what should we do?

We must continue to do good and pursue the truth at all cost. Sometimes evil and lies help us see the truth and goodness that lies in beauty. Perhaps that is also why the Lord permits evil to exist in this world. When we can see both good and evil, we can then discern which is from God and devote our entire lives and beings to living out goodness and pursuing holiness and truth. So then, coexistence is a possibility, but only because God permits it and not because God has no power over it, but because He does and uses it to bring about great good.

May we neve lose sight of the omnipotence or all-powerfulness of our God and draw strength from the Cross, knowing that good has already triumphed over evil, and live out our lives striving for the same, holding fast to the truth that at the end, love and goodness prevails.