Homily L2-B Lent, Second Week, cycle B

In 1995, I was part of a musical group that performed Marty Haugen's “Song of Mark”.  This was a 2 hour musical production with band, adult and junior choirs and several soloists.  Just before intermission, the song “So Good to be Here” is performed. The song wonders what James and John and Peter may have been thinking up on Mount Tabor as they witnessed the transfiguration.  It is a bit whimsical and tongue in cheek, but always made me wonder.

What was going through the apostles minds as they saw this amazing sight on the mountain top? Would the apostles be thinking, as the song suggests, “no people to feed”?  “Had it to here with your neighbor” “Just kick back and write the Good News?”  or “So good to be here with Jesus” as they were setting up the tents for Elijah and Moses?

No matter what they were thinking, the actor that played Jesus then sings, “We must walk down the mountain to the valley below”.  Unfortunately, that is true.  Every time that we have an experience on the mountain, we must return to the valley. Our mountain top experience may have been a spiritual retreat, a quiet time in the woods, or some other experience, but eventually we have to leave the mountain and come back to reality. But what do our lives look like in the valley?

That very question was asked of me when I was on a retreat.  If I was videotaped for a week and the tape was played back, could people watching tell that I was a Catholic?  Does my life in the valley show that I am a Catholic?  I'm afraid to say that they probably could not tell then.  The question haunted me.  As I went about my life I saw the sin and poor choices I was making.  I realized that my videotape did not look much different than any atheist.  I do believe that I changed my behaviors to reflect the life in the valley that I wanted to live. Looking back, one consistent high point of my videotape was my Mass attendance. 

Some find that Mass is their mountaintop experience.  This is not really surprising to me.  We have just heard the word of God.  In a few moment we will be partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ.  We are in the presence of God here, just like Peter, James and John were.  A former parish had rugs at all the doors to remind us of this.  As we entered, we would read “Enter to Worship”.  As we left we would read “Leave to Serve”.  This is a good example of the mountain/valley experience.  We spend an hour praying and worshiping God and then leave to spend the rest of the week in the valley.  But this begs the question again.  What do we do with the 167 hours a week that we are not in Mass?  We keep doing the good things that we are doing.  We re-examine our choices to make sure they are good choices.  We let the world see the Christ in us that we recharge every week here at Mass.

I wonder if our life in the valley can help bring our fellow Catholics back into the pews.  For every one here in the pews today, there are 6 other Catholics who rarely, if ever,  enter a church.  Many believe that it is the job of the priests to bring these people back to our Church.  It is the job of all the priesthood, and by our Baptism, we are all part of the priesthood.  If the job is left just to the ordained, we are leaving the job to less than 0.5% of the possible workers.  If by our example we can get people to once again say “See how they love one another”, they will come back.

In that musical, at the end of the song, as the apostles leave the mountain top, the choir sings... “From the peace of the mountain to the trials down below.  You are called now to labor, be the seeds God will sow.  Bring new hope, bring true healing to that world of woe.  Walk on, walk on into the valley.  Walk on, walk on into the valley.”