Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to the Blessed Sacrament Homilies podcast, where our mission is to help everyone recognize and experience the presence of God. We hope you are nourished and encouraged by the word. Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: The Lord be with you.
[00:00:28] Speaker C: A reading from the holy gospel according to Mark.
Jesus took Peter, James, and John and.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Led them up a high mountain, apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzlingly white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, rabbi, it is good that we are here.
Let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them.
From the cloud came a voice. This is my beloved son.
Listen to him.
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them as they were coming down from the mountain.
[00:01:46] Speaker C: He charged them not to relate what.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: They had seen to anyone, except when the son of man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.
The gospel of the Lord.
[00:02:13] Speaker C: I want to share with you a story.
Now, this story, I am fairly convinced is accurate and true. The reason why I'm convinced of that is both parties involved on separate occasions told me the details, and they match up pretty well.
It's the early 1960s, and this happened at an auto plant in Detroit.
One of the characters name was Bob, and he was the union rep at that plant.
And as such, it was his job when there were labor disputes to address them.
And he had a problem where a grievance was written and he had to go and meet with the labor relations director at that plant.
But there was a problem.
You see, Bob was a big guy.
He's about 63, around 250 pounds, and rock solid.
He moonlighted as a bodyguard.
Well, the labor relations director for the plant was scared to death of him and didn't want to meet with him.
So he did what any intelligent man would do. He made his secretary meet with him.
Now, her name was Marianne, and as she told the story, she was not particularly impressed with Bob.
She said he had beautiful handwriting.
However, he turned in three pages that were one long sentence, and she wasn't impressed.
However, Bob was extremely impressed with her.
And after work, he went to the nearest flower shop, ordered a dozen roses, and had them delivered to her.
Well, two years later they were married, and a year after that I was born.
Now they both went into this first meeting reluctantly.
They didn't want to do it, but they did.
And they had no idea what that chance encounter was going to lead to for them and for me.
Well, Peter, James and John went up that mountain with Jesus, and I've seen that mountain, and it wouldn't have been a very pleasant experience.
It would have been hard work.
They would have been tired, they would have been sweaty. And they were probably wondering, what in the world is he leading us to today? Why can't we just pray along the sea of Galilee? Why do we have to climb this mountain to do it?
But they had no idea what they were going to experience and how that experience was going to change virtually every aspect of their life because it was that experience that I am sure helped to strengthen them to deal with all the difficulties they were going to face in the coming days because they got a glimpse who Jesus really was and what his presence was going to mean for them.
Well, the lesson for all of us is we never know where God is going to lead us in our lives and what those experiences are going to lead to for each one of us.
But the one thing we can always trust is God's going to put us where we need to be when we need to be there, as long as we leave our hearts open to what he can do for us, because he can always impress us and change us by his love and always lead us to life within close.
