Gospel: Matthew 17, 1 – 9
Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.”
And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Homily
Often times we get so caught up in the struggles of daily life that we do not remember the past, and yet to be aware of the past is so essential if we are to understand the present and to provide for the future. That is why the Jews of today refuse to let us forget the holocaust, with the stated goal that genocide be never state sponsored again. Unfortunately we forget it so often and other holocausts continue to happen. If we do not learn from the past we are doomed to repeat its mistakes.
At times however the past energizes us and we continue to struggle so that we can build on the gains of our ancestors. The Gospels tell us that “many prophets and kings longed to see what we see and never saw it, to hear what we hear and never heard it.”
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But they could not remain on the mountain; Jesus energized by this encounter with his roots has work to do. Jesus used the best of the past to create something new. That is why scripture presents Jesus as the New Moses, leading his people once again out of captivity to a new promised land. Jesus had to dig deep within himself to find the strength of the ancestors in the faith, and this brought him, and us with him, to resurrection.
As a Caribbean people however we do not look at the best of the past. We dwell so often on what attempted to dehumanize us and not at what was positive. We dwell on indentureship and slavery, we forget the strength that allowed our forefathers to survive in inhospitable conditions, we forget the creativity that allowed us to forge a new culture and identity when our culture was taken from us, and because we concentrate not on the strengths but on the negatives, we allow others to dictate to us who we must be. Yet when we concentrate on our strengths, on our creativity, what wonders we can perform. Everyone that I have spoken to speaks about the brilliance of some of the portrayals this Carnival.
Yes all of us are responsible for the future of our land. We have to be like Jesus, the New Moses, leading our people to something better, but to do it we have to tap the glorious past that we all carry within us; The strength of those who resisted, the creativity of those who forged a new thing out of the remnants of the past and what the new environment gave to them, the persistence of those who refused to let adversity conquer them.
The disciples are told by the father “This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favour. Listen to him.” They too would need to listen to the experience of Jesus, and they too would have to draw strength for the forefathers in the faith if they were to be faithful to the mission given them by Jesus.
We too, as disciples have to listen also to the experience of Jesus. We have to make it our own. We too have to draw strength from an encounter with the strength of our forefathers.
The Church puts saints before us so that we may imitate them. Let us put our forefathers also before us so that we may be able to imitate what was best in them for the good of our people.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, you have given us a strong foundation. We are built on strong pillars of faith. Help us, as we struggle with the problems of life, to draw strength from our forefathers in the faith who created a new people and a new culture out of the remnants that were left to us so that we too may leave for those who come after us a tradition upon which they too will be able to build. We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our mother and your Son Jesus. Amen
