Today we hear that Jesus visited the Temple in Jerusalem for the first of the three Passovers that are referenced in St. John’s Gospel. Shocked by what He saw, He made a whip of cords and indignantly drove out the animals for sacrifice and the money-changers:

“‘Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.’ His disciples recalled the words of Scripture:

‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’”

The Transfiguration was the most astounding, amazing and mind-blowing experience for Peter, James and John. It again reveals Jesus as truly the Son of God. What glorious Light shines from the face of Christ as He gave a foretaste of Heaven and a vision of His hidden glory.

“After six days, Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And He was transfigured be-fore them and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.”

“This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

If today’s readings make us feel a bit uneasy and uncomfortable, this is a good thing! I say ‘good’ because it means that the readings touched on some fundamental truths about us and about our world. The world we live in is not perfect because of sin. Original Sin.

“I do will it. Be made clean.”

Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched the man. The leprosy left the man... and he was made clean.”

This famous passage tells us in very few words the entire History of Salvation: Jesus Christ’s hands are the hands of God reaching out to all humanity so that we may come out of the leprosy of sin, and come back to our place of peace and holiness near God. Leprosy was and still is a serious skin ailment, not necessarily leprosy of Hansen’s disease. What Moses prescribed is found the Old Testament Book of Leviticus (Lev. 14:17-20ff). When a person became afflicted, he or she first had to be presented to the priest, and then be declared unclean by the priest.

After 25 years of hard work, I was exhausted and almost lost it. I needed a break. I needed a place to escape to and take a deep breath. I had spent 20 years of my priestly life helping to form priests for our local church. I was juggling time between a provincial seminary in the Middle Belt and the diocesan seminary/institute in my home diocese in Nigeria, and I had the most challenging task of designing the curriculum and ensuring that the seminary and institute complied strictly with what we designed as content for the training of local clergy and future leaders of church and state. We were in affiliation with a local university, and every so often, we touched base with the parent institution that was more than 200 miles away.

We warmly welcome Bishop Eduardo Nevares who will celebrate the Croatian Mass at 11:30am Sunday Mass. All are welcome to attend.

Jesus said, “I stand at the door and knock.” There is a famous painting that depicts Jesus knocking on a door. The door has no handle on the outside, because the door can only be opened from the inside, by the one who lives behind the door.