A State Of Shock

When our blessed Lord appeared in glory to the three Apostles, Peter, James and John, we can imagine what their reaction was.  They probably knelt down in homage before this man who now showed himself to be more than just a man.  They must have been in awe of this amazing spectacle, as Christ’s face shone as brightly as the sun, the light reflecting off his raiment, making them as white as the snow.  On either side of him appeared Moses the Lawgiver and Elias the Prophet.  The senior Apostle, Peter, was the only one who was able to speak, and his words were those of a typical person in the state of shock.  His words don’t really make sense, they fail to measure up to the incredible event that is taking place and which he doesn’t comprehend.  So instead of coming up with something suitably profound for the occasion, he babbles out what he thought was something practical he could contribute.  “Lord,” he says, “it’s good for us to be here:  if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles (or shelters); one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.”  But the good Lord does not deign to give his suggestion a reply.

Pausing for a moment, we should give heed to the way our Lord deals with the shocked and babbling St. Peter.  He does not reprimand or mock his silly remarks, he just doesn’t answer.  He knows the sincerity of this man upon whom he would one day build his Church, he is familiar with the spontaneity of his character, and so just lets the event take its course, as the voice from heaven is heard, proclaiming Christ to be the Son of God.  No need to point out that he didn’t need them to build a little shelter for him to rest in, no need to draw attention to the triviality of Peter’s suggestion in comparison with this great declaration of Christ’s divinity.  He knows Peter will eventually come to the right conclusions by himself.

It’s a good idea to give a little thought to our own circumstances and apply this lesson to ourselves.  How often do we find ourselves overwhelmed with emotion?  It could be any emotion: the stress of fear or grief, the joys of falling in love, the torments of pain, sorrow, worry…  And in the midst of our psychological turmoil, what do we do?  The godless simply give in to their emotions, cursing the bad ones, and yielding to the temptations of the “nicer” ones.  We who are Christians, knowing that all good things come from God, as well as a few bad things now and again to test us, what do we do?  I hope that it would be our instinctive reaction at such times to turn to God in whose hands our fate lies.  But what should we say to God in the midst of such havoc?  Chances are that we beg for the bad things, the fears, pains and sorrows, to be taken away, or that we beg for our hopes and unfulfilled wishes to be granted.  We react to our emotions with more emotion, pleading and begging for our peace of mind to be restored.  In short, we act like St. Peter, failing to see the bigger picture and instead reducing our situation to the trivial and obvious.

This is why, I think, God often answers these prayers in the same way—with silence.  He gives us time for our emotional panic to subside and for us to rationalize our situation and come to the right conclusions.  It’s important we do not come to the wrong ones.  We must never think that God is too angry with us to answer our prayer, or that he is the cause of the evils that beset us.  We must certainly never curse God for our woes.  Nor must we ever doubt his abilities or willingness to help us, especially if our prayers aren’t answered as fast as we would like, or in the way we want.  Father knows best, and in this case “our Father who art in heaven” certainly knows best.  If he allows traumatic events to take place in our lives, it is because he knows what is best for us, and/or for the common good.

So what should our prayer be at times like this?  As usual, we can refer to the prayer our Saviour gave us, the Paternoster.  It is the perfect prayer and contains everything we would ever need to say to God or ask from him.  In cases like this, we should rely heavily on the specific prayer “Thy will be done!”  Let’s get past the trivialities of our own will and submit with all our heart to the will of God.  We must learn to pass beyond our own feelings to acknowledge the bigger picture, the greater plan of Almighty God.  Resignation to God’s will is the first step to deal with whatever overwhelms us.

And once we have made this submission with all sincerity, let’s add another part of the Our Father, the prayer “Give us this day our daily bread.”  Our daily bread in this case is the specific means by which we can survive the burdens with which we are so sorely laden.  If we are consumed with fear, our daily bread is not the removal of that fear, but the courage to deal with it; if our overwhelming difficulty is a specific temptation, our daily bread would be the fortitude and perseverance to overcome whatever urges us to sin; if we are in dire physical pain, our daily bread is not so much the restoration of our health but rather the inner strength and patience to deal with the pain God has allowed.

The answer to all our prayers will really always be the same one God gave to St. Peter at the Transfiguration: “This is my beloved Son.”  Christ is God, and the consequences of being his follower is that we must indeed follow him.  The final destination of our journey together is of course the eternal kingdom of heaven.  Let’s just realize that between earth and heaven there is a stepping stone called Calvary.  If we find ourselves in that place, we know we’re headed in the right direction—there’s no such stepping stone to hell, so if we’re galloping through life from one pleasure to another, we should be alert to the peril we are in.

Stand in awe before the transfigured Christ.  Repeat the words of St. Peter, that “Tis good, Lord, to be here.”  But then, once we’ve stopped babbling our trivial wishes to God, make sure to finish up with: “Thy will be done, and, please Lord, give us this day our daily bread!”