The Mother Superior of a congregation of sisters in a convent outside of Dublin was dying.  The nuns gathered around her bed.  One went and got her some milk and put in a little whiskey.  Another nun asked if the Mother Superior had any last words of wisdom to share with the sisters before she died.   

“Whatever you do; don’t get rid of the cow!”

Pope Francis said, “Thanks … to this encounter … with God’s love … we are liberated from our narrowness and self-absorption.  We become fully human … when we let God bring us beyond ourselves in order to attain the fullest truth of our being.” 

 The great Jesuit poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.”  Wow our tiny planet in the midst of the Universe permeated with God’s grandeur, God’s magnificence.

Sometimes we forget God’s Grandeur amid the darkness in our world: the evil, the hardships, and the crosses.  “The Gospels report that at two solemn moments, the Baptism and the Transfiguration of Christ, the voice of the Father designates Jesus his "beloved Son” ….  The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness….” (CCC#s 444 & 459)

In the Bible, mountaintops are privileged places for encountering God, for having life-changing experiences of God.  We have all had mountaintop experiences, times or moments when we felt God's presence almost palpably and we knew with absolute certainty that he was watching over us and guiding us.

• Maybe it was a retreat.
• Maybe it was your first communion.
• Maybe it was when we went to confession for the first time in years and experienced God's mercy.
• Maybe it was in the midst of a tragedy, a difficulty, or a sickness.
• Maybe it was one day when you came to Church to pray.
• Maybe it was the birth of a baby.
• Maybe it was simply one day while you were in the mountains or on the beach and saw an indescribably brilliant sunset.

God gave them to us for a reason.  Jesus knows that following Him is demanding - no one can escape life's crosses.  Following Him requires self-mastery and self-sacrifice.  Jesus reminds us that even those hardships are woven into His plan.

Today and throughout this week, the Lord wants us to renew our faith in His goodness, wisdom and blessings.

Take a few minutes to thank God for your mountaintop experiences [those experiences of God’s goodness, God’s wisdom and God’s blessings bestowed upon us], and ask for the grace to deepen your faith.

Whatever you do, “Don’t get rid of your faith!”

May God Be Praised!