The Rhythm of Faith

Walking through the fields one day, a boy came across a chrysalis (or pupa) of a Monarch butterfly. For several hours he watched the butterfly struggle to force its way through the tiny hole in the pupa. At one point it seemed to stop making progress. The would-be butterfly seemed to be stuck.

The boy was concerned that the butterfly was in trouble. So, he took out his small pocket knife and carefully cut away the rest of the casing. The butterfly emerged easily, but its body was swollen, and its wings were all shriveled up.The boy expected that at any moment the wings would begin to enlarge and expand. And that the butterfly would fly.

But it never happened. The boy did not understand that the butterfly’s freedom and flight are  only possible after much struggle and hardship.

Like the concerned boy who tried to help the struggling butterfly, and like Peter’s innocent rebuke that was met with sharp anger from Jesus in today’s Gospel,  we seek to avoid what is painful, stressful, and  traumatic. But  it is in our crosses that we find the wholeness and joy of the resurrection.

Christ calls us not to walk away from the crosses  that life lays on our shoulders, but to bear them up so that we might find life,to face our crucifixion with the sure knowledge that only through those sufferings can we hope to experience resurrection.

We may wonder why the Gospel story of the transfiguration is placed among the heavy readings of Lent.Why not among the glorious readings of Easter season? The answer to this question lies in the context in which the transfiguration takes place.

It takes place right after Jesus tells his disciples that  he must go to Jerusalem to suffer and die. When Peter heard Jesus say this, he cried out, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”

Jesus then said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Peter, James, and John needed a spiritual shot in the arm after Jesus’ shocking revelation to them. Perhaps that’s also why the Church puts the transfiguration among the somber readings of Lent.

The Church wants to give us a shot in the arm before it turns our attention to the suffering of Jesus on Good  Friday. It wants to give us something to hold on to during the hours of pain and sorrow of Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross.

But there’s another reason why the transfiguration is placed among the Lenten readings. It’s because  the transfiguration is closely related to the agony in the garden.

Both these events  took place on a mountain. The agony in the garden took place on the Mount of Olives while the transfiguration took place on Mount Tabor. Both events took place at the  same time of day. Each took place at night.

And in both events the  Apostles fell asleep while  Jesus remained awake and praying. Finally, both events were  witnessed by the same three Apostles: Peter, James, and John.

What is the connection between these two events? On Mount Tabor, the three Apostles saw Jesus in a moment of ecstasy,when Jesus’ divinity shone through him in a way that it had never done before.

On the Mount of Olives, the same three Apostles saw Jesus in a moment of agony, when his humanity shone through him in a way that it had never done before.

Jesus’ ecstasy on Mount Tabor and his agony on the Mount of Olives are complementary events. They are inseparable sides of the same coin. They show the total Jesus in a total way: his humanity and his divinity.

This brings up an important point about faith. Our faith often has its “up’s” and “down’s.” It has high points and low points. It has mountains and valleys. There are times when our faith burns bright. At other times, it flickers and nearly dies.

In today’s Gospel, the faith of Peter, James, and John is bright and strong. But in a few months, their faith will flicker and almost fail. It will happen in a garden called Gethsemane, and on another mountain, the Mount of Olives. And so, too, our faith goes through high points and low points.

When we are  experiencing  a high point, our faith is strong and bright, like the disciples’ faith in today’s Gospel.

During a high point, we feel so close to Jesus that we feel we can almost touch him. We feel close to God the Father that He seems to have His arm around us. And the Holy Spirit seems to speak to us.

On the other hand, when we are experiencing a low point, our faith flickers and almost goes out, like the disciples’ faith at the Garden of Gethsemane. During a low point, Jesus seems to have lost his fight to Satan. The Father seems to have left us orphans. And the Holy Spirit seems as far away as the last millennium.

One author compares the high points and the low points of faith to life itself. During the high points, life is beautiful. We love everyone. We hug our friends and we forgive all our enemies. On such a day, we wonder how we ever thought life could be difficult.

But during the low points, nothing goes right. We feel oppressed, and sinned against, misjudged, out of place, and lost. It’s a time, when we number more enemies than we have and find fault with every friend. On such a day, it is difficult to know why we ever thought life was easy.

Faith is like that too. It follows the rhythms of happiness and sadness, ecstasy and agony, light and darkness. When this happens, God is testing our faith. When this happens our hearts are pained and our minds are confused.

But if we trust God, He will not let us down. In the end, God will bless us beyond our wildest dreams.

The Apostles James puts it this way: “Happy is the person who remains faithful under trials because when he succeeds in passing such a test, he will receive as his reward the life God has promised to those who love Him.” (James  1:12)

And so, this is the Good News of today’s readings. It reminds us that faith is a lot like life. Faith has its mountains and valleys. When we are standing on a mountain, faith is easy; it is easy to believe and to love God and one another.

But when we are standing in a valley, it is hard to believe and to love. But if we remain faithful during these trials, God will reward us with the life that He has promised to those who love Him.