Transfiguration

Then a cloud came down, casting a shadow over them;

from the cloud came a voice,

"This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him."

Once in the Holy Land, while camped out along the Sea of Galilee, I was trying to pray, but nothing was happening. This passage reminded me of that time, because that is how it felt: like a cloud hanging all around me, blocking me from God.

My response at that time was getting up, throwing rocks into the sea as hard as I could, and shouting in anger: "I've come all the way over here and you desert me now?"

For a long time I thought that the clouds that came into my life blocked me from God's presence. It had to be my failures that were keeping me from God. I've since come to believe that nothing could be further from the truth.

Scripture has told me that, when the clouds come, when the shadows fall, it is God who is speaking to me. Just like at the Transfiguration, God is present and in communion with us. God's presence will always remain a mystery: hence the cloud. But Jesus has revealed God as a paradox: the blind see, the lame walk, the virgin conceives, sinners like you and me are forgiven, and the dead rise.

So, when I think that God is not present, God most certainly is very present. When my life feels like it's in deep shadows, God's light is still shining brightly. When problems or sadness come my way, God is nearest to me, trying to help me and show me the way.

God the Good Grandpa

If you who are wicked know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him!" MATTHEW 7:11


What a burden of sorrow some grandparents carry for their children and grand-children. They raise their kids to be faithful Catholics. Then, somewhere along the way, the kids lose their faith and stop going to church. Even when the kids get married and start having kids of their own, they don't include religion in family life. The grandchildren don't get baptized and grand- parents are at a loss as to what to do.
The problem is not that we've been bad parents. God knows we've all done our very best. We know how to be good parents. But can we be better parents to our kids than God is to them? There's the catch. We're pretty confident in our own parenting skills, but we don't seem to trust God's.
The fact of the matter is that God is a far better parent than we can ever hope to be. And God has the situation well in hand. God promised to watch over our kids and lead them to salvation. We're called to put our trust in God's faithfulness to fulfill this promise, not necessarily in our kids' ability to fulfill our expectations. That's why we have a heavenly Father, so that when our human weakness kicks in, we have the divine presence to bail us out.

Neneveh

Scripture does not say of the people of Nineveh that God saw their sackcloth and fasting, but "God saw their works"!



The Mishnah

Lessons from Johah

There are several important things to note in today's first reading from the prophet
Jonah.

This is the second time that God gave specific directions to Jonah, the prophet who
tried to sail away from the mission to announce the need for the citizens of
Nineveh to repent.

According to the story, Jonah is an Israelite prophet preaching to a pagan people,
who actually listen to what he has to say after but a single day's walk through
the city.

Everyone, including the king and his nobles and all the animals, fast, put on
sackcloth and repent of their evil ways!

And God shows mercy on a pagan city.

Here are the lessons to be learned:

First, each of us has a call from God who is relentless until we answer.

Second, sometimes we are sent by God to foreigners, those with whom we do not
socialize.

Third, God's word is effective; it changes people's minds.

And fourth, God is interested in all people-no matter what their religion, race or sex

Maybe, during Lent, we learn from Jonah
that when we cooperate with God, the Holy One
makes our work fruitful.

Both Jonah and the people of Nineveh repent or change their minds.

Is this a fast, to keep
The larder leane?
And cleane
From fat of veales and sheep?

Is it to quit the dish
Of flesh, yet still
To fill
The patter high with fish?

Is it to faste and houre,
Or ragg’d to go,
Or show
A downcast look, and sowre?

No: ‘tis a fast, to dole
The sheaf of wheat
And meat
Unto the hungry soule.

It is to fast from strife,
From old debate,
And hate;
To circumcise thy life.

To shrew a heart grief-rent;
To starve thy sin,
Not bin;
And that’s to keep thy Lent.

Robert Herrick, Seventeenth century