A Sign of Hope

     Yesterday, August 6th, was the Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord.  As the gospel tells us, Jesus, just before the darkest hour that he and the early Church had to face, takes Peter, James and John to the mountain top to pray.  He was transfigured before their eyes.  He appeared to them in all of his glory, along with Moses and Elijah (the law and the prophets), to reveal that their glory resided in their unity with him and that he is their hope, their light in the darkest of moments.  He had chosen them to be his friends and to do his work, and they were his beloved.  Darkness and sin and despair would not overwhelm or destroy them.   They could place their trust in him.

     There is an appropriateness to this feast falling where it does at this moment of time within the Church.  Within the next week we will be confronted with the sins of a number of priests over the past seventy years and be enveloped in the darkness of shame and confusion and anger and despair at a level that we have not experienced in a long time.  This will be presented in the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Grand Jury investigation report of the last two years that is about to be announced.  The Church will be accused of cover-ups and selfish intents and condemned by so many.  This will be a time of darkness that I am not looking forward to.

    Before these challenging moments and the raising of hatred and persecution  from many for the Church, with Evil rejoicing in the undermining of the Faith of God's People, I find it necessary to take a moment and see the goodness of the vast majority of our priests and leaders, the deep faith of the laity who see the frailty of the human condition and who have experienced the tender mercy and compassion of our loving God, and the truth that the Church, an imperfect human institution, has been established by Jesus and empowered by his Spirit to proclaim the Good News and to build up the Kingdom of God.  It is he that calls us to holiness.  It is he that challenges us to turn away from sin and to believe in the Gospel.  It is he that embraces us in our repentance and restores us to grace in his love.   This imperfect institution is growing in grace and mercy in our unity with him and reflects the glory of God even in our tarnished moments.  This vision is a sign of hope for me as I hope it is for you.