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Sts. Joseph & Paul Catholic Church |
Homily Archives | |
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Transfiguration – B
No. 07
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Stories can open our hearts and transform our lives. Listen to this anonymous story. Once there was a little cricket chirping away in the forest. Along came a proud lion, who confronted the cricket, demanding to know why such a small, unimportant little creature would make so much noise. The cricket replied to the lion, “because I have something to say.” “You cannot possibly have anything important to say,” proclaimed the lion. “But I do have something to say, and I have something to sing. God gave me my voice, and I have a right to share it,” said the cricket.
“No you don’t,” roared the lion. “You are disturbing my forest and
what you have to say cannot possibly b “But I am trying to tell you in a nice way that I have something to say,” the cricket argued. And with one quick swat the strong lion swatted the cricket and knocked it into silence. Later on that night, as the lion slept, the cricket quietly crept into the lion’s ear. There he planted himself until morning came. When the lion awoke, the cricket began to sing the song that God gave him to sing. “Where is that cricket?” roared the lion. “I thought that I dealt with him.” The lion was furious and searched throughout the forest looking for the little noisemaker, but he could not find him. Finally, the cricket spoke up and said, “I am in your ear, deep inside where you cannot hurt me. This I had to do so that you would listen to me." The lion then felt the cricket in his ear. He began jerking his head and jumping around trying to shake the cricket loose. But the cricket continued to chirp. In his anger, the lion began tearing at his ear with his sharp claws, but he could not silence the cricket. By this point, the lion had clawed a deep gash in the side of his head, and he was bleeding. At this the lion humbled himself to nurse his damaged ear, and he could not help but hear what the cricket had to say. There is a voice inside each of us -- the voice of God, if we would only stop and listen to what God has to say. This Feast of the Transfiguration shares with us a story from Sacred Scripture. In this story, we hear that Jesus took Peter, James and John onto the mountain, and there he is transfigured before their eyes. He wanted to give these three disciples a glimpse into his future, into his glory, into his resurrection. Upon seeing Jesus changed, a great fear rushed over the disciples. They were so terrified that they did not know what to say. With this, a voice came from the heavens and said, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” On coming down the mountain, Jesus told them not to tell anyone what they had seen. All the disciples could only reflect in their hearts on what they had seen . Deep inside of our hearts, we can hear the voice of God speak and sing to us. Though for this to happen we have to stop and listen. We live in a noisy world. We are people on the move, always coming, always going. There is constant noise around us: radios going, televisions blaring, cell phones ringing, computers talking, traffic moving, people speaking… How can we ever allow voice of God to transform our lives if we do not stop and listen? We can be as proud as the lion and say that I don’t need to hear what the voice of God planted deep within me has to say. So we roar and swat at the world and claim ourselves as the king our domain. But could we find the grace to humble ourselves to stop and listen? Listening can be fearful, but, over time, that fear will subside, and the transfiguration will take will take place. Find a quiet spot this week and listen to what the voice of God has to say.
8-14-2006
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