As the Lord and the three came down the mountain, out of the crowd comes a father who tells the Lord that from childhood his demon-possessed boy had tried countless times to commit suicide "by throwing himself into fire and water". - Mark 9:22 - Here was symbolized the world which the Church after its vision of Jesus, must serve. Raphael's masterpiece of the Transfiguration properly shows both together - the mountain of glory and the pain-infected valley.

The Lord kept both together, for the mountain without the valley is selfishness, and the valley without the mountain is drudgery and bitterness. the reason why so many religious and priests who give primacy to the valley have not kept their zeal in service is because they took their eye off the vision of "Jesus only". Real strength for man's body and soul must be drawn from God.

Now we come to another aspect of the Church in this problem of its relation to the world. During the vision of Glory, Peter as the spokesman for the three wanted the exaltation of feeling without the exaltation of the Cross. But down below was another segment of the Church represented by the nine apostles and the disciples. They are the activists. They were not on the mountain of vision, but they were involved below. they had commitments to the social order. But they were ineffective. The Lord had once given them power to drive out devils; later on they returned saying that the devils were subject to His Name. - Matt. 7:22; Mark 6:13; Luke 9:11 -

As soon as the father sees Our Lord he reports: "I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him". - Matt. 17:16 - The curious buzz of the crowd about the disciples which saw the exorcisms die half-spoken on the lips, made them yearn for the return of their Master. As as soon He saw them, they immediately went to Him to find out why they had not been successful: they loved the poor, they wanted to help the afflicted, but why were they powerless?

And the activists get the answer from the last place in the world they expected it: from within their own hearts. The power had not been withdrawn. Priests were priests, bishops were bishops. But why then failure in the outreach of the Church to the secular world? The Lord let fly His answer, which has grief in every word: "What an unbelieving and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long must I endure you?... Your faith is too small!" - Matt. 17:-18-20 -

You are active, but you are not contemplative. Subtly does unbelief creep into hearts even when we think we are acting in faith and using His name. Very likely because of Christ's absence, or their absence from Him, they had lost the gift they once possessed. The great primal wants of man still abide; racial justice, peace, food and shelter, but they can be given also by Communists. When Christ's own supply them, the invisible mystique of faith must be present.

Nowhere else in heaven, earth or hell, but only in ourselves lies........

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -