"Transforming Sufferings Into Grace" Feb 26, 2021

Blessings to you this Lenten season! Last Sunday, we heard the account of the Temptation of Jesus. This Sunday we will hear the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus. This amazing moment in the life of our Lord (which Peter, James, and John were privileged to experience) was not just another day in Galilee. 

The scene of the Transfiguration of Jesus takes place on a mountain because mountain tops in Scripture are places where something important happens and where God is encountered. Here are some examples: In the Old Testament, Abraham is willing to sacrifice his son on a mountain; Noah’s ark comes to rest on Mt. Ararat; the law is given to Moses on Mt. Sinai; Jerusalem is built on the top of Mt. Zion.

Mountains are places of encounter with God. In the New Testament, Jesus gives the law on a mountain: the Sermon on the Mount. He dies on Mt. Calvary. Jesus leads Peter, James, and John to the mountain top where He was transfigured before them. This transfiguration was meant to help the disciples make sense of the previous predictions of the Lord’s suffering and death. His suffering and death is what will lead to glorification. Jesus would lead them back down the mountain on to the road up to Jerusalem where He would give witness to them, not just by word, but by example.

In the transfiguration, Jesus showed them clearly – indeed all of us – that what we suffer in this life in the name of Jesus will be gloriously transformed in the Resurrection on the last day. In other words, as the Transfiguration helps make sense of the Lord’s own suffering, it too will help us make sense out of ours as well. In reality, all people in some way will experience suffering, both physical suffering and emotional pain. It is part of the human condition. We all have crosses to bear, every single one of us. Often times, we just try to manage them, doing so on our own.

Coming face to face with our own crosses, we can easily forget about the glory that will be ours in the Resurrection. Instead, we want to run as far away from suffering as fast as we can. Don’t we? But the God the Father said, “Listen to him!”

Denying ourselves, taking up our crosses, and following Him will lead to our glory. But how quick we can be to avoid suffering! Listening to the words of Jesus, inviting us to be champions of the cross, is not easy. St. Paul speaks about those who are enemies of the cross of Christ. An enemy of the cross of Christ is one who cannot see beyond the cross to the GLORY that awaits us. In predicting His own passion, Jesus knew the apostles would need something to hang on to, to give them strength. And so, do we!   

If we are listening to Him, the crosses we carry will be transformed in a glorious way, even as we carry them. They may not go away, but how we carry them will be different. Even in the midst of our suffering, we will experience new life ... allowing us to carry our crosses courageously and joyfully.

When we embrace the cross in our life, we are no longer its enemy. If we bring our sufferings to the Lord, we open ourselves up to a great intimacy with Him, and find our lives transformed. Embracing our crosses transforms our fears into hope, our sadness into joy, our weakness into strength, and our lives as ordinary men and women into disciples who can receive His love in the midst of the struggle! This ultimately will reveal that we have 'listened to him.'"

My dear friends, believe in God’s promise and the power of His grace to transform your sufferings, sadness, fears, discouragements, and disappointments into wellsprings of grace and glimpses of glory.

Have a blessed Lenten season!

Fr. Robert T. Cooper, Pastor
Divine Mercy Parish and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School