HOMILY SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
ST. ANTHONY CATHOLIC CHURCH
MARCH 8, 2009 – 8, 10, 12NOON MASSES

May the Lord turn our hearts and make us pleasing to God.

The proving knife,  you are on trial,  the veil of ordinary-ness.

The proving knife.  We love this story.  Abraham is completely aware and convicted that this late born sin Isaac came from the same God who asks for him back.   It is a no-brainer.  He casts all his cares on God, knowing God will deliver him.  And God, loving this faithfulness, gives him back.

What is your proving knife?  What thing is testing the bananas off your tree?  What is cooking your grits this morning?  What is your test?
Each of us has that edge where we either go with convention, we do what anyone would do, OR! We do what God requires.  Some days it’ll be patience, but other days it will be a truth-telling in love.

God and the devil both are watching, don’t be fooled.  They watch to see if the freedom experiment will succeed.  The devil is simply an accuser, that God is not powerful.  Look!  That one! He/she does not consider your will.  God is looking on, wooing us.  Hey, we can do this together.
The proving knife can be raised many times in one day.  Will you carry out the will of God?  Or will the devil’s idea be proved?

You are on trial.  We can envision that time when we stand before the judgment seat of the Father.  But be not afraid.  Jesus is your defense attorney and the Father has given you acquittal.  Trial dismissed.  You are not charged.  Believe me?   Listen to St. Paul teach the witty, law saavy Romans, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”  He pushes the point further, “Who will bring a charge even?  Jesus who has come to pay the fines?”  Paul says, “Jesus intercedes for us before the Father.”  That is very very good news – yes?  Amen!
The veil of ordinary-ness.  Like a child looking into a microscope of its blood or salvia, the veil of ordinary-ness can be lifted to see the extraordinary in everyday life.  The veil gets lifted and we see beyond the surface.  Like when someone gets very very sick and begins to make peace, to share important stories.

Jesus lifts the veil of ordinary-ness for Peter, James and John, and lets them WAY IN.  Not only does Jesus glow, Elijah and Moses show, but they are told to hush until He rises from the dead.  They are as dumbfounded and scared as the child looking into that microscope. 
Mom I have bugs in my blood!  My mouth has alive squiggly things!

The apostles get confirmation that Elijah was taken up, that Moses did not die.  They see the One who they have followed confirmed a 2nd time, first at the waters of baptism and now on the mountain.  And the confusion created by the “risen from the dead” thing is huge.  All Jews believe that everyone rises together at the judgment.  Why Him, alone, first?  Ugh.
They didn’t even ask him about it.  He must have still been in the cloud!

But He wasn’t.  The veil got lifted and we are all given a snapshot of the Kingdom of God.  Light, ancestors, Glory.  It a mountain-top experience like some of the one you have had.  Real confirmation.  We live from these experiences, from tastes, from glimpses that prove.

Pick up your knife with confidence.  Stand trial before anyone knowing you are always finally acquitted.  Let the lifted veil remain with you like a power-pill to bring hope during trial.  You saw, He was God.
You are made in His image.  You know who you are.
You know what to do.