2nd Sunday in Lent 8.3.20 Trust
At the Transfiguration, Our Lord was attempting to
strengthen the apostles so they would be assured of His glory and goodness; and
remember that assurance when they would be confronted with other things such as
the Crucifixion, or their own persecution which would follow later.
All God's miracles have this effect – assuring us of His
power and desire to do us good.
We need lots of assurance in this earthly life, because we have
to endure a lot of bad things before we can enjoy the good things without
restraint.
It is easy to become discouraged in the midst of sufferings;
and easy also to give up altogether. We need only see how many people have done
so to realize that.
Events such as the Transfiguration, and even more so the
Resurrection, remind us that our suffering is finite; is limited in time and
extent.
We have to suffer only a short time (1 P 5,10); whatever we
suffer is more than compensated by the weight of glory (2 Co 4.17).
We find it hard to be cheerful in the midst of suffering,
but it does help certainly to know there is great glory coming afterwards.
Why do we have to suffer? Because we are caught up in a war
between good and evil; and it is impossible to come through a war without someone
getting hurt (and that might include us).
We will be glad to talk of our battles once they are over. Just
now they are not over. We are still fighting on many fronts – our own
concupiscence; dealing with divisions within the Church; dealing with the wider
society, so intent on denying or ignoring the ways of God.
It is as certain as day follows night that good will
prevail. The whole of creation is in God's hands; He holds all the cards.
If the power of evil appears unchecked it is only because God
permits it.
As we go through the battles we grow in spiritual maturity. Our
capacity to love, to endure, to understand – these are all increased; as is our
trust in God.
We become strong enough to withstand misfortune, and we are
able to trust in God even if the whole sky falls in on us, cf the experiences
of Job.
God does not overtax us in practice, knowing that we are
still learners in the spiritual life, but
at least on principle we would be able to survive, even if we suffered
like Job.
By the grace of God we can overcome anything that comes in
our path.
Thus we can negotiate the Cross and not be intimidated by it,
knowing that the grace will be available, and that the Resurrection comes straight
after.
The mountain-top experience enables us to see the whole of
our lives in one scene. We rise above the details of the current crises, and
see the whole picture, as God always could see.
We have a long history which has brought us this far. We do
not know how much longer before God wraps up the whole proceedings, but it is
our privilege to be able to be some part of the story.
We are small players on a big canvas; yet we are important
in God's sight.
Assured of a glorious destiny if we hold on to the end, we
proceed in confidence.
Life would be a lot easier than it is if more people would trust
in God. This lack of trust, as a general state of things, is one part of the
Cross we have to endure.
If we trust, we will be helping others to do the same.
It is Cross followed by glory; night followed by day. We
will see better times.
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