I see the Holy Mass as a ‘Mount Tabor Experience,’ where not only bread and wine are transformed but we who receive Jesus are also transformed. As I’m preparing for this Sunday’s Mass, I’ve been looking at the altar, the whole of the sanctuary as Mount Tabor. I am excited and I’m praying that what happened there 2,000 years ago may happen here for us as we celebrate. In fact, every Mass should be for us a time when we can say like Peter: “Lord, it is good for us to be here.”
Part of a Mount Tabor Experience is also to hear a Voice – the Voice of the Father that says: ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased.”
Every Mass should be able to take us to the depth of our heart and soul where we hear that voice that says to us: ‘You are my beloved Son… You are my beloved daughter….’ This is the essence of every prayer! Thomas Merton said that prayer is like entering into Paradise where we experience our belovedness.
Pierre lived in a community for the mentally handicapped. One day someone asked him:
‘Pierre, do you like praying?’ ‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘And what do you do when you pray?’ the questioner asked. ‘I listen,’ Pierre answered. ‘And what does God say to you?’ ‘He says, “Pierre, you are my beloved son.”'
May every Mass truly enrich our souls!
Happy Sunday!
Fr. Obi