The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

We find our Lord today transfigured before three of His apostles. Our Holy Mother the Church places this scene before us during this season of penance to show us the glory that awaits us if we persevere in the life of penance She has called us to.

We must first embrace the life of penance as we saw last week with Christ fasting in the desert. Our Lord first calls us to penance before He calls us to pleasures. The anti-christs call us to shun penance and live a life of immediate pleasure and gratification only to reward us with an eternal fruitless suffering in Hell.

In order to reach the reward of our penances we must climb the mountain. We must head off on our own because there are few that will climb with us because the world sees the climb as too hard and difficult and they would rather enjoy the fleeting but immediate pleasures of this world. We must follow that which St. Paul is calling us to in today's Epistle. "For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from fornication. . . ." We must climb above the ways of this world, always reaching for a higher goal, and never satisfied with the empty enjoyments of this world.

And on this journey we must take three companions. As our Lord took Peter, James, and John so we must take the virtues that these three Saints symbolize, Faith (St. Peter the rock and foundation of the Church), Hope (St. John the first Apostle to receive the crown of martyrdom.), and Charity (St. John the beloved one). Our life of penance must always be accompanied by these three or it will be all in vain.

"Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe." (Heb. 11: 6.) It is faith that convinces us of the necessity of penance and gives us the motivation that we need to accomplish it. "Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish." (Luke 13: 3.) Many sinners have lost their faith, or are weak in it, and do not take to heart its truths, therefore only a few of them truly repent and do penance.

Hope gives us the glimpse of the joys that await us. We see briefly the transfiguration of Christ. We see glimpses of the saints in Heaven and of the Angels and the joy and happiness that is theirs. Trusting in the mercy and goodness of God we have cause to hope for a similar reward. The sinner who has lost hope can not be converted because he considers conversion useless. He will say to himself: "Why should I trouble myself to do penance, since I cannot hope for forgiveness from God?"

But, above all these things we must have Charity. Without love we can do nothing of value. If we only allow divine charity to take hold of our souls, we will be able to accomplish everything. Once the sinner is overcome with love he will experience the most bitter pain and grief for his misdeeds; he will break with a strong hand the fetters of sin; and, full of contrition, implore mercy and grace. Mary Magdalen tore herself from the companions of her sin, hastened to Jesus. She rushed into the dining-hall, where many guests were assembled, she disregarded their rash judgments, and threw herself down before Jesus, washed His feet with her tears, and would not go away till she heard from Him the consoling words: "Thy sins are forgiven thee." If this holy and divine love would fill our hearts, how promptly and manfully would we enter on the way of penance, and how constantly would we walk in it!

With these three companions we climb the mountain of penance to receive this encouraging consolation of the Transfiguration. Then we are brought back to our lives of penance to continue to the end of our days here on earth. What the soul experiences in these heavenly gifts is beyond words and those who have seen them are forced to observe what our Lord commanded His apostles to do. We must keep them hidden in our own hearts until He comes back again. Only then will we have the wherewithal to communicate to others the wonders that we have seen.

Let us strive with manly courage to climb this mountain of penance even if we must climb without the company of our friends and relatives. But, let us take as our best companions the virtues of: Faith, Hope, and Charity. Though we may wish to never leave the moments of joy that we experience on this mountain, let us not fear to continue to climb higher, for there are always greater heights to reach for with greater rewards. A true love of God will never be satisfied to say this is enough or I have gone far enough. Love is always seeking to grow and to go further and further. And as God is infinite there is no limit to the heights we may reach and the joys we may experience.

Franciscan Benefactor Seraph Subscription Vocations Have you remembered God?