Saturday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Peter H. Davids

Ordinary Time • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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In a culture that values speech and self-expression, James points to the danger of speech. In the Transfiguration we see that Peter breaks into an experience of the transcendent with inappropriate speech and is told to listen instead. We must be careful to control our speech and cultivate silence and contemplation. This is not only good for our souls, but it is the best context in which God can reveal his glory to us.

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BVM on Saturday IV Mother of Mercy

Title

Express Yourself - Not

Outline

Express yourself says our culture

You are wiser than you think

Don’t hang back - speak out - that one was often aimed at me, who was often silent in school

Self-expression is your right

And that does not include the cancel cultures and protest cultures

James takes a rather dim view of all this

Teachers have a risky position, especially religious ones, for they must speak and therefore risk stricter judgment - I think of this when I see the many Catholic (and Protestant) teachers with their own ministries (little accountability), not to mention talk show hosts/interviewers

The tongue or speech is the hardest part of the body to control, in part because it speaks openly the ultimately demonic thoughts (internal speech) that come so fast it is difficult to censure (see Evagrius of Pontus)

Therefore, love silence, for, as the German proverb goes, “Reden ist silber und Schweigen ist Gold.”

And ask of your speech whether it will indeed build up

The Transfiguration shows this wisdom in action

Jesus (and his Father, of course) choose to reveal his inner reality to three witnesses among the apostles, and to do this in private

Jesus ascends a mountain, like Moses. Jesus is transformed, a heightened version of Moses’ shining face after being with God. Moses and Elijah, the great leader and teacher of Israel and the great reforming prophet, the one who did miracles, appear and talk with Jesus.

We never find out what they said, for Peter breaks in, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

Now I understand his awe and his anxiety to do something appropriate to honor his master and the great worthies, but when the glory of God overshadows them Peter hears something different:

“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” - listen and focus your listening on him

Jesus does have things to say: as they descend to the others he says, “Keep your mouths shut about this until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” And he says in answer to a question, “But I tell you that Elijah has come and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.” That of course, is a reference to the death of John the Baptist.

Nothing is said about an eschatological headquarters on the mountain, much less about a royal palace. It is the start of the passion predictions - and though they hear with the ears they will not get it until after Jesus rises from the dead.

Sisters, we have our work cut out for us

We live in a very verbal culture, as some put it, “diarrhea of speech and constipation of thought.” “My opinion is as good as yours.”

Catching out speech while it is still inner speech and speaking God’s truth back to it is a countercultural activity, but it is necessary

Silence is despised in our culture, but it is critical if we are to hear God and stay recollected.

Most of all, while meditation as looking within is often touted as good, contemplation as obedient openness to our Lord and our Father is seen as cracked. After all, in our culture “worship” is often a term for loud music often more of a concert than an expression of our hearts.

But remember: “Reden ist silber” - and often it does not even come close to that level - but “Schweigen ist Gold” and more than gold, for it is often the context in which we experience the glory of God himself.

Readings

Catholic Daily Readings 2-19-2022: Saturday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

FIRST READING

James 3:1–10

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you realize that we will be judged more strictly, 2 for we all fall short in many respects. If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body also. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide their whole bodies. 4 It is the same with ships: even though they are so large and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot’s inclination wishes. 5 In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions.

Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. 6 The tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a world of malice, defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our lives on fire, itself set on fire by Gehenna. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. This need not be so, my brothers.

Catholic Daily Readings 2-19-2022: Saturday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

RESPONSE

Psalm 12:8a

8 You, O LORD, protect us always;

preserve us from this generation.

PSALM

Psalm 12:2–5, 7–8

2 Help, LORD, for no one loyal remains;

the faithful have vanished from the children of men.

3 They tell lies to one another,

speak with deceiving lips and a double heart.

4 May the LORD cut off all deceiving lips,

and every boastful tongue,

5 Those who say, “By our tongues we prevail;

when our lips speak, who can lord it over us?”

7 The promises of the LORD are sure,

silver refined in a crucible,

silver purified seven times.

8 You, O LORD, protect us always;

preserve us from this generation.

Catholic Daily Readings 2-19-2022: Saturday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Mark 9:6

6 He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.

GOSPEL

Mark 9:2–13

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. 4 Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. 7 Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” 8 Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.

9 As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant. 11 Then they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 12 He told them, “Elijah will indeed come first and restore all things, yet how is it written regarding the Son of Man that he must suffer greatly and be treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

Notes

Catholic Daily Readings 2-19-2022: Saturday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2022 | ORDINARY TIME

SATURDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

YEAR 2 | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

First Reading James 3:1–10

Response Psalm 12:8a

Psalm Psalm 12:2–5, 7–8

Gospel Acclamation Mark 9:6

Gospel Mark 9:2–13

GREEN