Pastor's Spiritual Reflections

By Fr. Leo Schneider (3/8/2009)

Dear People of Holy Name,

One thanksgiving I traveled home to my parent’s house after the parish liturgy. The trip was between Eau Claire and La Crosse in Wisconsin. There was a horrific snowstorm and I could barely see the tail lights on the van in front of me. If they were going in the ditch, so was I. My knuckles were white and my body tense as a board. Somehow, by the grace of God, I made it home in one piece, where it took a long while to relax and overcome the trip. When I am in a plane I find it scary when there are clouds and I can’t see. This is especially nerve racking when we are making a landing, with snow covered mountains below us and seemingly around us, and then all of a sudden there is nothing. Clouds take over and there is nothing to see. I don’t like that.

My experience of not being able to see makes me think of the disciples experience in today’s gospel when they are overshadowed by a cloud. They cannot see and then a voice comes out of nowhere and speaks to them. That must have been scary. Then all of a sudden things were back to the way they were with just Jesus before them, but a Jesus of whom they have a completely new understanding.

Prayer is climbing the mountain, going into the presence of God. We do that whenever we take time to pray because God is always with us. At moments in our prayer we may become overshadowed by the presence of God. God’s voice may speak to our hearts and give us a new understanding of ourselves and God. Prayer is the place where we become transformed, just like the disciples on the mountain. They were in the cloud; they participated deeply in the mystery of Christ’s glorification. We too are called to participate in the glory of God.

After their encounter with the glorified Christ the disciples came down the mountain with Jesus. There was still a journey to be made to reach the fullness of Christ’s glory in the resurrection. Before them stood Jerusalem and the crucifixion, only then would they be able to answer their own question of what rising from the dead meant. Prayer gives us direction and strength for the journey of faith. Living our faith brings our prayer to fruition. In the process, we become transformed and in turn the world, in which Christ’s kingdom comes.

In our life and prayer there are two realities of God we need to keep in balance, God’s justice and God’s mercy. St. Bernard of Clairvaux speaks of kissing the two feet of Jesus, one of mercy the other of justice. He puts it this way. “If I cling too long to the foot of justice, I become full of fear and am close to despair. I must quickly move to the foot of mercy. But if I cling too long to the foot of mercy, I soon become very lax and remiss and in danger of losing my Lord. So I sing both of his mercy and of his justice.”

It is good for us to live in awe of God, but when fear overtakes us we must put our faith in his mercy. God loves us and gently guides us with direction and comfort, challenge and consolation, justice and mercy. As we pray, entering the cloud of God’s presence, let us ask the Lord to keep a balance in our lives between prayer and action, justice and mercy, work and re-creation. Then we will be transformed and become Christ in today’s world. We will be his love and mercy, his justice and his peace. For this let us climb the mountain this week, that we may be ready to journey on, encouraged and enlivened by the Spirit that speaks to us from our own cloud of unknowing. May God so bless us in our prayer!

In Christ’s peace, Fr. Leo