Fair is fair and after being quizzed yesterday at Mass by
Fr. Rich I have a question for him.
And I am betting him five dollars he won’t know the answer. Fr. Rich, what is the geological term
for Mount Tabor? [“I never took
geology"…silence.] Monadnock, obviously. I would also have taken inselberg, but thanks for the five
dollars.
I
mention this because Mount Tabor, the site of the Transfiguration, is indeed a
unique structure. It is an isolated
mountain rising in the middle of the flat Jezreel Valley. When I went to the Holy Land I visited
Mt. Tabor and some of my classmates got carsick driving up and around its sides
to get to the top. I can only
imagine Peter, James and John as they followed their Lord up the hillside…what
a climb!
Mountains
are fairly common in the Bible.
Moses went up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. Jesus gave His Sermon on the Mount. Peter was given the keys of heaven and
earth at a giant rock structure in Caesarea Philippi.
Both Jesus and the sacred authors
of the Bible use characteristics of nature to teach spiritual realities. Whenever we hear of a mountain in the
Scriptures we should immediately think of heaven. These awe-inspiring physical landmarks indeed rise to the
heavens. Jesus intentionally
brought Peter, James and John to the top of Mt. Tabor to show the heavenly
reality of his presence on earth.
Peter responds, “Master, it is good that we are here…” We can say the same when we climb the
mountains of our faith: the sacraments.
It is good to participate in heaven kissing earth at Mass. It is good to climb God’s mountain of
mercy in Confession.
Like Peter, James and John, we are
called to come down the mountain after being fed from heaven. We are called to return to our work,
all the time seeking others to join us on our return to the mountain top.
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