Mountain High

Mountain High

Climb the Highest Mountain Look across the Sea; Open your heart to a wide open world; the Lord your God is There!

A test that might confront each one when we are in the clutches of worldly attractions that promise nothing but a bleeding heart.  Look into the deeper understanding of mountains and God.  Finding the many times in Sacred Scripture that the Lord used mountains to convey a particular aspect of his Omnipotence. 

Then the Lord said, “Go outside and stand on the mountain (Horeb) before the Lord, the Lord will be passing by.”  A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord - but the Lord was not in the wind.  After the wind there was an earthquake - but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake there was fire - but the Lord was not in the fire.  After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.  When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.  (1 Kgs 19: 11 - 13).  The gentleness of God reveals the Crucified Lord saying, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”  (Lk 23: 34). 

Our waiting for an unexpected visit from the Lord may surprise us as the world we live in today is full of guns, hatred, and evil.  The quiet touch of Christ is more than we expect but is the gentle love of a forgiving God.   A mountain of love is ours to give to our enemies.  

Some time after these events, God put Abraham to the test.  He called to him.  “Abraham!”  “Ready” he replied.  Then God said, “Take your son Issac, your only one, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah.  There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.”  (Gn 22: 1 - 2).  The precursor of the Crucifixion of God's Son Jesus.

Can anyone believe that sacrifice can be essential in today’s selfishness that does not care about the needs of so many.  Yet, we must find the premise that tells us to offer our sensuality for a fasting from greed and self-imposition that excludes those around us.  Before each one stands a mountain that presents to us a possibility of sacrifice beyond our dreams.

God heard the cry of his people who were in bondage as slaves in Egypt.  He waited until his Servant Moses was ready to be called.  Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian.  Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  Here he encountered the Burning Bush and ultimately became the Savior of the Israelites in Egypt  (Ex 3: 1).  The very path that the Son of God would follow to Calvary.

Would any of us be willing to take the banner of hope for the innocent citizens in their community and stand up against the tyranny and anarchy that plagues our streets today over senseless political factions that promise to destroy the peace we so desire.  Standing on the hilltop of challenges makes us like Pied Pipers to rescue the hurting people around us. 

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, his brother, and led them up a high mountain (identified as Tabor) by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.  And behold Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.  (Mt 17: 1 - 3).  The Resurrected Christ in all of his Glory.

As we watched the Glorified Christ preparing for his Passion it says to us that the view resembles the forgiveness that is being handed to you and me; in payment for our sinfulness.  The mountain that Jesus, Moses, and Elijah appeared on reminds us that there is a reckoning of holiness that can only come from the Resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ.

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain (Mt of Olives) to which Jesus had ordered them.  When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted.  Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and earth has been given to me.  Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.  And behold I am with you always, until the end of the age.”  (Mt 28: 16 - 20).

This commissioning of the disciples goes further than the first 11 who are being sent.  The very position that we who sit in the Church contemplating our mission comes through as the evangelizers we are supposed to imitate.   Beyond the mountains of doubt are the open fields of gentle peace in eternity with God.

Ralph B. Hathaway