All these three mountains appear in the time Lent. Today's Gospel brought us the first one. Then in the Holy Week we will be invited to follow Jesus to the other two and learn from this life-changing experience... Yes, we may argue that there were other mountains, important to Jesus and His way. To give an example only - the mountain where He preached the constitution of His Kingdom - the Eight Beatitudes ... But these three mountains I write about in this post are special places where those life-changing situations occurred on the path of salvation, where a man faces the choices and meets the Living God and his choices determine his future and future of others as well...
The Mount of Tabor - the time of union with Triune God, time of glory, exultation, happiness, rest, pleasure of being together with Living God...
The Mount of Olives - the time of tough and traumatic decisions, choosing between easy escape and the cup of suffering, between faithfulness to God and opportunism...
The Mount of Golgotha - the time of final say, the time of total abandonment, the time of katharsis, the time of sacrifice, cross, the time of resisting temptation to get down off the cross, the time of death leading to life...
Jesus went through all these mountaintops, but before he climbed the latter two, he published his testament, his last will that He wants all of his followers to do the same, to be there where He was: "I wish that where I am, they also may be with me" (Jn 17:24)
So, in order to imitate Christ and fulfill His last will, we must take the same path in our lives. Tabor, Mount of Olives and Golgotha...
These three mountains come in our lives under various disguises. I would like to share with you my quick understanding of the first one, the Mount Tabor.
To me, this mount is represented these days by the Sunday Eucharist, when we come to reunite with Triune God, listen to the Father, witness the glory of Christ in the holy gathering and Eucharist, become one through the Holy Communion in the House of God filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit, who leads, purifies, empowers and consecrate the Mystical Body of Christ which is what we are, the members of the Holy Catholic Church.
This Sunday Eucharistic gathering, intimate encounter with Living God, fills me with love, peace, power and gives me enough strength to live the next whole week charged with the Presence of Triune God in me and through me wherever I go, live and work and with whomever I meet and share with...
If I miss this Sunday intimate meeting with God and His Church, then I may not be able to stand firm and act and decide correctly and courageously when times to climb the Mount of Olives and the Calvary will come in my life. Then I may be tempted to choose an easy option, to chicken out, to run for my life, to betray Christ and my faith for momentary gains...
But this is just a quick and superficial interpretation of the meaning of the Mount Tabor in my life. I leave it up to you to meditate on this topic and come up with your own conclusions, depending on the circumstances of your life and experience.
Nevertheless, whatever we can come up with, the fact will remain the same. We are the People of the Three Mountains.
No comments:
Post a Comment