“A mountaintop is a great place to see the stars, but to clearly see God requires a change of heart.”
- David McCasland
On Friday, March 11, as I was about to teach my eighth grade religion class in our school, there was an interruption on the P.A. system of children singing “Happy Birthday” for my 49th birthday:
- David McCasland
On Friday, March 11, as I was about to teach my eighth grade religion class in our school, there was an interruption on the P.A. system of children singing “Happy Birthday” for my 49th birthday:
I wish to thank everyone for all the cards, greetings, birthday wishes and kind remembrances. They are humbly received and gratefully appreciated. As I read through the cards which the children wrote to me, a third grader, Jessica, said, “Happy Birthday, Fr. Rich. I hope God blesses you as much as He can!” The card from my 90 year-old Godmother, Aunt Jo, from Salem, OH read, “May you be blessed with everything bright and beautiful ... on your birthday and always.”
The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (500 BC) said that change is inevitable and is a constancy throughout life. His famous quotation, “We cannot step into the same river twice. That being, the water has passed downstream.” People often ask us, “Do you feel any different or older on your birthday?” The fact of the matter is, life changes. For many, change is hard: we fear it, we resist it, we deny it, and with much obstinacy, will not face it. We even sometimes take comfort in the familiar, “Better the devil you know, than the devil you don't know." Nonetheless, change is a part of life. We grow from infants, to children, to adults; we move away from home and our parents. We find new partners; we face new responsibilities. We get sick; we grow old. We die. Change happens to everyone. We must face change, whether we like it or not. And we must even, in hard times especially, grow through it, so that we may become transformed.
Mother Church in her ageless wisdom gives us a 6-week period of time-out each year in the season of Lent which marks change. This time is set aside for quiet reflection on the meaning of our lives in faith. Through Lent, we become ever more aware of the crucible in which our faith is tested, refined, purified and cleansed. Lent offers us an opportunity to embrace change, to accept it and grow through it. Each life has its ups and downs, its high points and its low points, its moments of glory and its moments of disillusionment.
This week, on March 20, we welcome the Vernal or Spring Equinox. Equinox comes from two Latin words, “aequus” meaning “equal," and “nox” meaning “night.” In the calendar year the equinox is the time when the sun crosses the equator and on this day the length of day and night are closest to equal. This event of the sun marks, in the Northern hemisphere, the official beginning of spring (the season of birthing) from winter (a season of waiting). As we move to Daylight Savings time, the festival of life and light abounds.
I remember as a child, Mom would always say after the cold, dreary, long winter, “We must do Spring cleaning of our house to refresh and empty out the clutter of the sedentary months. To open windows, get rid of stale air, plant the garden, begin the newly grown lawn and rid the closets in the basement of things no longer needed.” So too, in the season of the soul in springtime, there is awe and wonder at the changes that take place through God‟s renewal in us. Spring generates the new life of surprise, delight, unmitigated joy, new hopes and new beginnings.
On this 2nd Sunday of Lent, Jesus gives three of His disciples, Peter, James and John, a glimpse of glory in order to help them grow in holiness. The Father glorified Jesus in His humanity and the disciples saw the holiness of His inmost reality. Jesus came to create a new humanity by transforming us and filling us with His own holiness and glory. Lent is a time for those seeking Baptism and those already Baptized to deepen incorporation into Christ by dying to our old humanity and rising with Him as a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). We must believe that we can overcome our failings, weaknesses and sins and be changed in a lasting way. Through the power of the Holy Spirit within us, we grow in faith. “My grace is sufficient for You, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). When we proclaim this truth about ourselves, we strengthen our faith in God's power to change us. Sometimes we think that we are making no real progress in the spiritual life as we continue to struggle with the same issues. However, the answer to this is that the Spirit‟s work in us is necessarily hidden: “So do not lose heart ... Our inner nature is being renewed everyday” (2 Cor 4:16). It is only through our death that the hidden work of transformation will be fully revealed.
The Russian philosopher, Nicolas Berdyaey, (1874-1948), made this comment on the beauty on the Transfiguration, “The Transfiguration of the world is the attainment of beauty. The kingdom of God is beauty. Art gives us merely symbols of beauty. Real beauty is given only in the religious transfiguration of the creature. Beauty is God’s idea of the creature, of man and of the world.” It is through contemplation of the resurrected, glorified and transfigured Lord, that we glimpse the joy and the hope of our eternal heavenly destiny.
Transform Me
Lord, transform
My suffering into growth,
My tears into prayer,
My discouragement into faith,
My fears into trust,
My expectations into hopes,
My anger into closeness,
My bitterness into acceptance,
My guilt into reconciliation,
My loneliness into contemplation,
My silence into peace,
My deaths into resurrection.
- Armaldo Pangrazzi
The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (500 BC) said that change is inevitable and is a constancy throughout life. His famous quotation, “We cannot step into the same river twice. That being, the water has passed downstream.” People often ask us, “Do you feel any different or older on your birthday?” The fact of the matter is, life changes. For many, change is hard: we fear it, we resist it, we deny it, and with much obstinacy, will not face it. We even sometimes take comfort in the familiar, “Better the devil you know, than the devil you don't know." Nonetheless, change is a part of life. We grow from infants, to children, to adults; we move away from home and our parents. We find new partners; we face new responsibilities. We get sick; we grow old. We die. Change happens to everyone. We must face change, whether we like it or not. And we must even, in hard times especially, grow through it, so that we may become transformed.
Mother Church in her ageless wisdom gives us a 6-week period of time-out each year in the season of Lent which marks change. This time is set aside for quiet reflection on the meaning of our lives in faith. Through Lent, we become ever more aware of the crucible in which our faith is tested, refined, purified and cleansed. Lent offers us an opportunity to embrace change, to accept it and grow through it. Each life has its ups and downs, its high points and its low points, its moments of glory and its moments of disillusionment.
This week, on March 20, we welcome the Vernal or Spring Equinox. Equinox comes from two Latin words, “aequus” meaning “equal," and “nox” meaning “night.” In the calendar year the equinox is the time when the sun crosses the equator and on this day the length of day and night are closest to equal. This event of the sun marks, in the Northern hemisphere, the official beginning of spring (the season of birthing) from winter (a season of waiting). As we move to Daylight Savings time, the festival of life and light abounds.
I remember as a child, Mom would always say after the cold, dreary, long winter, “We must do Spring cleaning of our house to refresh and empty out the clutter of the sedentary months. To open windows, get rid of stale air, plant the garden, begin the newly grown lawn and rid the closets in the basement of things no longer needed.” So too, in the season of the soul in springtime, there is awe and wonder at the changes that take place through God‟s renewal in us. Spring generates the new life of surprise, delight, unmitigated joy, new hopes and new beginnings.
On this 2nd Sunday of Lent, Jesus gives three of His disciples, Peter, James and John, a glimpse of glory in order to help them grow in holiness. The Father glorified Jesus in His humanity and the disciples saw the holiness of His inmost reality. Jesus came to create a new humanity by transforming us and filling us with His own holiness and glory. Lent is a time for those seeking Baptism and those already Baptized to deepen incorporation into Christ by dying to our old humanity and rising with Him as a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). We must believe that we can overcome our failings, weaknesses and sins and be changed in a lasting way. Through the power of the Holy Spirit within us, we grow in faith. “My grace is sufficient for You, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). When we proclaim this truth about ourselves, we strengthen our faith in God's power to change us. Sometimes we think that we are making no real progress in the spiritual life as we continue to struggle with the same issues. However, the answer to this is that the Spirit‟s work in us is necessarily hidden: “So do not lose heart ... Our inner nature is being renewed everyday” (2 Cor 4:16). It is only through our death that the hidden work of transformation will be fully revealed.
The Russian philosopher, Nicolas Berdyaey, (1874-1948), made this comment on the beauty on the Transfiguration, “The Transfiguration of the world is the attainment of beauty. The kingdom of God is beauty. Art gives us merely symbols of beauty. Real beauty is given only in the religious transfiguration of the creature. Beauty is God’s idea of the creature, of man and of the world.” It is through contemplation of the resurrected, glorified and transfigured Lord, that we glimpse the joy and the hope of our eternal heavenly destiny.
Transform Me
Lord, transform
My suffering into growth,
My tears into prayer,
My discouragement into faith,
My fears into trust,
My expectations into hopes,
My anger into closeness,
My bitterness into acceptance,
My guilt into reconciliation,
My loneliness into contemplation,
My silence into peace,
My deaths into resurrection.
- Armaldo Pangrazzi
