Faith in the One who Extends the Invitation

Unbound sponsor Larry Livingston ponders the message of the Transfiguration for us today.

The temptation to share what they’d seen at the Transfiguration must have been powerful for Peter, James, and John. They’d just had, literally, the ultimate mountaintop experience—the revelation of Jesus as Son of God, one worthy to stand in the company of such heroic figures from salvation history as Moses and Elijah. Yet they’d been charged not to tell anyone.

Keeping that experience to themselves must have been enormously frustrating, but it was probably for the best. Had they given in to the temptation to tell others what they’d seen, in their enthusiasm they might have fallen into what a friend of mine once called “the tyranny of the new idea.”

What my friend was referring to is what happens when people have an “aha” moment and then try to convert everybody else to their new way of thinking, sometimes to the point of annoyance or even alienation.

The point is that none of us can force enlightenment on another person. All we can do is invite them to experience it for themselves. And if they accept that invitation, it’s usually because of their faith in the one who extended it.

Faith in the goodwill of others is how most Unbound sponsors come into our community. They hear the witness of those who’ve seen individuals’ and families’ lives changed for the better—often including their own—and they’re drawn to become a part of that movement.

That’s also how people become Christians, not just in name but in the deepest sense. They see how faith in Jesus affects the lives of others and they want that for themselves. They yearn for the insight of St. Augustine, who said, “Our hearts are made for you, O Lord, and they cannot rest until they rest in you.”

What they saw on the mountaintop was important to Peter, James and John and it’s important for us as well. But perhaps equally important is what led them to go there in the first place.

You really have to believe in someone to follow them up a mountain.

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None of us can force enlightenment on another person. All we can do is invite them to experience it for themselves. #CatholicMom

Please pray with Unbound:

Loving God, guide us up and down the mountains in our lives. Bless us with kind traveling companions, those of good humor who energize us while we climb and commune with us while we rest. May all our mountains lead to you, and when we descend may it always be to serve others more deeply and compassionately. We ask this in the name of your Son and our brother, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

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