Category: Ordinary Time

Today’s Gospel reading is from Mark and details the Transfiguration of Jesus. As Mark states: “Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. . . .  Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, ‘This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.’”

The Apostles were rightly scared. This would have been quite a scene to witness.

But God’s command was clear: Listen to Christ. 

And nearly 2,000 years later, this command is still something we must follow. 

Yet we often struggle to abide by it. We know we should listen to Christ. We try. But sometimes it’s really difficult. Sometimes the world gets in the way and it’s hard to hear Him. Sometimes we allow the things of this world to push Christ’s voice aside or to obscure it. And sometimes we just outright refuse to listen. 

When do we refuse? When we don’t like what He tells us. When His words are too hard to follow. When we fear being ostracized by coworkers, friends, family, or our communities for adhering to our beliefs. All of the above?

Christ never said that following Him would be easy. And many of us know that it’s often very hard. It’s hard because listening takes effort. According to merriam-webster.com, listening means “to hear something with thoughtful attention: give consideration.” 

Listening is not simply hearing something and dismissing it. Listening requires our attention. It also requires us to think and to open our hearts to Christ. We must allow His words to wash over us, to guide us, and to change us. 

So if we truly listen to God’s words, we must also reflect on and adhere to them. We must let His words transform us. And then we must speak them out to the people in our lives and in our communities, for listening and living out the word of God means that we help transform other people as well. 

This is what Christ called His Apostles to do, and it is what He calls us to do as well.

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In the Gospel reading today, we read the story of the beheading of John the Baptist. According to Matthew, at Herod’s birthday celebration, Herodias’ daughter performed a dance that very much delighted Herod. He was so taken with her that he said he would give her whatever she wanted. After consulting her mother, she asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Though the king hesitated because he did not want to put John to death, he also did not want to lose face in front of the guests. So he complied and had John beheaded.

Aside from the tragedy of John the Baptist’s death, this story should impel us to reflect on what we allow to influence us in our lives. We should ask ourselves: How can I apply the lesson in this story to my own life?

Herod knew what he was doing was wrong, but he did it anyway because he felt pressured by those around him.

How often do we do something we know that we shouldn’t? We allow others to persuade us, to change our point of view, or to make us think that something isn’t as bad as what we originally thought. 

It’s the essence of peer pressure, and it happens all the time—even to adults—and especially in matters related to morality. We get so swept away by what others want that we conform to society’s standards and set aside God’s. 

There are many within society, even in leadership positions, who like to teach that we should allow people to do what they want with their own bodies, in life-or-death situations, or within their own homes. “Live and let live,” they say. 

Why is this wrong? It’s wrong because it perpetuates a society based on people’s wants rather than on God’s laws. 

When we adopt this attitude, we allow ourselves to step further and further away from Christ. It’s like taking a brick house down one brick at a time. The loss of one brick may not matter. But when brick after brick is removed, only a shell of a house is left.

Every time we allow others to influence us so that we take an action we know is wrong, we are removing a “brick” from our path to heaven. If enough bricks are removed, the path becomes crumbled and obscured, and we lose sight of eternity with God. 

That is why we must pray and talk to God on a regular basis. Not only that, but we must be quiet and block out the world that’s trying to distract us with its mesmerizing dance. When we do this, we can hear God’s response.

If we keep our eyes focused on God rather than on the dancer, we will not lose those bricks that pave our way to heaven. And any that have been lost can be replaced, for God is merciful, and He wants us to spend eternity with Him.

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