Father Ken’s Message:
Good afternoon and welcome to the Catholic Cathedral of Sapporo. Thank you for taking the time during your visit to our beautiful island of Hokkaido to also thank and praise God this afternoon. I am not with you all in person today because I am saying Mass at another one of our churches in the Diocese of Sapporo. I do hope you have a beautiful experience in the “Communion Service” conducted this morning at the Cathedral by my English Mass Community Staff.
We are all in this chapel this afternoon because God our Father willed us to life and sent us into the World through the love of our parents for a special purpose. The three Readings from the Bible this Sunday talk about the purpose of our lives. Knowing the purpose for our lives is perhaps the greatest thing we can achieve during our lifetime. The question for each of us to meditate this afternoon is, “whether we are running towards our purpose,” or “running away from the purpose for our lives?”
Today is the Second Sunday of Lent. Lent was intended by the early Christians as a way for us to do what Jesus did, reject the devil and live his purpose for his life. The purpose of Jesus’ life was to learn about his identity as the Son of God and use his talents to improve the quality of life for us his brother and sister human beings. Jesus’ main talent was the ability to love in many different ways. Jesus healed people of diseases, encouraged people of despair, embraced people stigmatized by society, and sacrificed his short lifetime and body as a model of the limitless boundaries of love to save one another. “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” (John 15:13) is the mission statement of Jesus as the savior of humanity. Jesus is our friend and our life mission as fellow Catholic Christians is to live like him, to stop hating which is a tool of the devil, and to make friends with as many people we can during our short lifetimes too. This is the transformation we are called to during Lent.
To help us understand our need for transformation the Gospel for today is about the transfiguration of Jesus on Mt. Tabor 2000 years ago. Let us first stop to understand the background of the word, “transfiguration.” The etymology of “transfiguration” comes from the Greek word, “metamorphosis.” All of us learned about “metamorphosis” in Junior High School Biology class. Do you remember? The teacher explained to us how a butterfly actually emerges from the body of the caterpillar within a 4-week process and then the life of the new butterfly lives only about 2 weeks during which time she lays about 300 eggs which hatch in four days to begin the cycle of life to birth more butterflies. While the writers of the four gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) probably did not study Biology in High School, but they did use the word “metamorphosis” to describe the transfiguration of Jesus in Greek language.
Of course, Jesus did not change into any new creature by way of the transfiguration episode. Rather, his real identity was made visible and audible to the three disciples; Jesus is the Son of God. Going to church is in many ways like going to school to study God. This year our textbook about God is the Gospel of Mark and the goal of our studying his gospel is precisely to learn that Jesus is the Son of God. Mark uses this title of Jesus 40 times in his gospel: God shouted it at his baptism in chapter one; God shouts it again today from Heaven in the transfiguration story; and on Good Friday the Roman soldier who pierces Jesus side with the spear will say it in chapter fifteen.
What does this have to do with Moses, Elijah and us? Jesus, Moses, Elijah, and us have something in common: the desert experience. Last week as Lent began, we heard that Jesus went into the desert for 40 days to strengthen his identity as the “Son of God” by resisting many temptations of the devil, which Adam and Eve were unable to do. Moses as you all know was born in Egypt and was adopted by the daughter of Pharoah but one day he helped save the life of a Jewish slave being abused by an Egyptian soldier. During the incident Moses unintentionally killed the soldier and being ashamed and afraid he ran away into the desert and lived there for 40 years as a shepherd. But God found Moses in the desert and talked to him from a burning bush. God gave Moses a new purpose for living, to free the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. Moses returned and freed the Jewish People in Egypt as God requested by separating the Red Sea. Elijah ran into the desert out of fear from Queen Jezebel and stayed there for 40 days until God spoke to him in the voice of a gentle breeze. God told Elijah to leave the desert and return to anoint a new King for the northern country of Israel, and to find a replacement Elisha as his disciple to be his replacement. After this God sent a fiery chariot to take Elijah up to Heaven. Both Moses and Elijah were also transformed through the power of God and their own free will
Finally let us think about ourselves. We have followed Jesus into the desert of Lent because by our baptism we are his brothers and sisters and the sons and daughters of God the Father; that is our transfiguration story. As the family of Jesus, we are challenged to accept the purpose of our lives is to love for one another and like Moses, try to save people from all types of slavery to live more happy and holy lives. My friends, let us use our own transfiguration through baptism for the greater glory of God like our brother Jesus. Thank you.
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