theROCK

Mountain Top Experiences

Have you ever had a "mountain top" experience? One of those experiences or moments in life that you just don't want to end? Moments of seeing god to clearly and feeling his presence to powerfully that you want the moment to last forever?

The Transfiguration was a mountain top experience for Peter, James, and John. Jesus was revealed to them in all his glory at the top of Mount Tabor. They were so happy, so amazed, so in awe that they didn't want to leave. With any mountain top experience, we always have to come down from the mountain. The experience is meant to spur us into action. Jesus and the disciples still had a mission to fulfill, they couldn't just sit on the mountain. Yes that experience of grace transformed their hearts.

My prayer is that we too travel to the top of the mountain to be transformed and spurred into action to share God's love with others.

Temptation

We all know the gospel passage of the temptation of Jesus in the desert. This is one of my favorite stories for the language is so powerful. There is the presumption that the devil is in control of the world as he tempts Jesus. If you recall, he promises Jesus the world provided Jesus just bow down to the devil. Thankfully, Jesus knows better and shuts the devil down. With each denial of temptation, Jesus gains power against it. I love it! We gain strength against the devil each time we resist temptation. It is at this moment in the gospel that Jesus takes control so everyone watch out! From here, Jesus heads to Capernaum and gathers the disciples. Jesus starts taking back the world. He claims it for himself. Be cautious of the sin of presumption. Don't presume heaven is a given, one must align themselves with Jesus and do what He says. He has to recognize you and know you, for you are His, but is He yours? 

The Symbolism of Ashes

The liturgical use of ashes can be found throughout the Old Testament. Ashes symbolized penance, mourning, and mortality. the prophet Daniel wrote, "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes." -Daniel 9:3. This and other Old Testament examples illustrate a recognized practice of using ashes and a common understanding of their symbolism.

Jesus Himself made reference to ashes: "If they miracles worked in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have reformed in sackcloth and ashes long ago." -Matthew 11:21

In the early Church, those required to do public penance had the priest sprinkle ashes on their heads upon leaving confession. Since the Middle Ages, the Church has used ashes to mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, as we remember our mortality and sorrow for our sins.

In our present Ash Wednesday liturgy, ashes made from burned palm branches distributed on Palm Sunday of the previous year, are blessed by the priest or deacon and imposed on the foreheads of the faithful, making a sign of the cross and saying, "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel."