Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm: 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22; 2 Timothy 1:8b-10; Matthew 17:1-9
Listen to him.
A person once told me they were a mystic and the first thing that came to my mind was - mystic no; kind of freaky, yes. I wondered, can an everyday person be a mystic?
My idea of a mystic came from movies and fantasy novels. It was an ancient thing or a Hollywood interpretation of Christianity as an ancient thing. Mystics spent their time in prayer or a monastery or a convent or a cave. They had visions, stigmata, or experience holy ecstasy. Mystics aren't normal everyday people.
I pictured mystics walking in a mist with hoods and long robes, otherworldly. I never imagined a highly-intelligent woman in business clothes. I've learned since, that a true mystic is someone with insight into the mysteries of God.
One of those mysteries is the presence of God in our lives. The Bible is full of mystics, normal ordinary people that experienced the presence of God in their life.
Abram's insight came when God told him, "Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I will show you."
Leave what makes you who you are, your family, your kinsfolk, your inheritance, and go. Leave what protects you. Leave your father's house. Leave what makes you who you are and gives you comfort. Walk the path I give you. Live in the world depending on the LORD your God and by the LORD God's instructions. Experience the LORD in the world, follow Him to a promised land.
Peter, James, and John had followed Jesus from the beginning. They followed even though Jesus promised hardship and ridicule. They followed not understanding the words He preached or the message He spoke. He took them to a high mountain.
They knew He was messiah, the anointed one, the son of David. They knew he was something more than an ordinary man. They knew these things; but, did they know Jesus?
Jesus was transfigured before them. His face shown like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And a voice spoke this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased, listen to him.
The transfiguration allowed them to see the son of the living God. They got a deeper understanding into the mystery of God, the mystery of Jesus.
Abram, Peter, James, and John came to understand the mystery of God through the ordinary and not so ordinary experience of God in life. Each grew in their faith.
That is the way our faith grows through the ordinary and not so ordinary experience of God in life. Our existence, our everyday life living with the mystery of God begins in the concrete reality of breathing, of our body being, of our thoughts, emotions and feelings. The secret to these mysteries, listening to Jesus.
Jesus taught us to find God in this world, in our neighbor, and in the ordinary of life. He taught us in parables of the ordinary. Jesus taught us how to see, what to emphasize, and what to ignore.
People protest, we do not live in the same world Jesus did. Humanity and society are changing; yet, we are still created in God's image. We forget that and forget God's presence in our lives.
That brings us back to mystics. Abram became a mystic by walking the path the Lord set before him. Peter, James, and John followed Jesus to have their eyes opened by the transfiguration. All truly aware of God's presence in their life.
Most of us are aware of God and are trying to understand the mysteries of God by believing Jesus Christ is our Lord and savior, the only Sion of God. We grow in understanding the mystery of Jesus believing in the true presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. We move to familiar with the Holy Trinity by recognizing the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete in our life and in our world.
These are realize by contemplation and prayer. Look at your life, God has put us on the path we walk. Look back on God's presence in your life. Believe your prayers are heard. Believe your prayers are powerful. Pray all the time, pray in Jesus name. Study the word of God.
In the hard times we find our strength in God. God calls us, not because of what we do but because it is God's will. Listen to him. Be aware of his presence. Follow where he leads.
Maybe there are a lot of mystics that are everyday people. People freaky for Jesus.
Y'all be good, y'all be holy and preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen
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