Life in the valley

Gospel
Mk 9:30-37

Jesus and his disciples left the mountain and began a journey through Galilee,
but he did not wish anyone to know about it.
He was teaching his disciples and telling them,
“The Son of Man is to be handed over to men
and they will kill him,
and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.”
But they did not understand the saying,
and they were afraid to question him.

They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house,
he began to ask them,
“What were you arguing about on the way?”
But they remained silent.
They had been discussing among themselves on the way
who was the greatest.
Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them,
“If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”
Taking a child, he placed it in the their midst,
and putting his arms around it, he said to them,
“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me,
receives not me but the One who sent me.

St Saviour Sermon

Life in the Valley

“After leaving the mountain”

The mountain referred to here was the Mount of Transfiguration. What a privileged experience that was for those who were there with the Lord. No wonder they exclaimed ‘it is good for us to be here’. However today’s continuation of the story reveals that they hadn’t grasped the significance of the experience for Jesus – that it was about preparing him for what lay ahead of him in Jerusalem namely his passion, death, and resurrection.

Tomorrow some of you will travel to Walsingham as part of the annual parish pilgrimage. I am sure that, once again, it will be a good and inspiring experience for you. Those of us back here in Scarborough will be praying for you especially on Thursday the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham.

The most important part of going away is coming back home. I have a book called ‘Coming Down from the Mountain’ all about the spirituality of returning home from a retreat or a pilgrimage. It is sub titled ‘how to turn your retreat into everyday living’. The author writes ‘you can easily find you have had a spiritual high that quickly disappears when you renenter the world of daily work and relationships’ and he goes on to provide a reflection for each day of the six weeks following a spiritual high provided by a retreat or a pilgrimage. The book addresses some of the common struggles we can face as we try to put Christian vision into practice.

You will return from Walsingham to ‘Back to Church Sunday’ and the forward journey through the parish interregnum with all its uncertainties about its length and outcome. Apart from your private lives at home or at work this church context of your Christian living will not be easy. Like the 12 in their post mountain top phase there could be tensions and arguments. In today’s gospel when this happened to the first disciples our Lord sat them down and put a little child in front of them to illustrate the childlike trust and humility they needed to emulate.

This past week the holy relics of St Therese of Lisieux have come to England and on her feast, the 1^st October, they will lie for veneration and prayer in York Minster. Therese’s spirituality is know as the little, she herself is know as the little flower. Her full title is St Therese of the Child Jesus. When it was first announced that relics were on their way to England the cardinal archbishop of Westminster said “I am delighted that the relics of St Therese are to visit England. I have always been deeply moved by her ‘Little Way’. It is in fidelity to the small things of everyday life, animated by the love of Christ, that we achieve true holiness. I am sure that the interecession of St Thereses will be of great spiritual benefit to the people of our country.”

Our Lord’s instruction to his first disciples ‘after they left the mountain’ are as relevant to us now as they were to them then:

- there is no escaping difficulties, disagreements, and suffering in the Christian life;

- they are best endured and overcome through childlike trust and dependence on God.

God grant us grace after a week at Walsingham or just another week in Scarborough to live this little way of holiness in the context of our lives and of our church.