Three weeks ago, we mentioned Dr. Michael Brescia of New York.  He’s actually famous for being a pioneer in kidney dialysis which has saved tens of millions of lives.  One day, in the 1960s, when ten of his patients were about to die, he was thinking about how to help them when the solution came to him during lunch.  He recounts: “A drug company was very interested in it; they offered me $50 for every dialysis…  I thought, ‘I’m going to be rich!’  But then I go and tell my father.  He says: ‘I’m so proud of you, son.  How many people in the world will be saved every year…?’  I said, ‘50,000…’  The drug company had told me I had to keep it secret for one year so they could prepare to open dialysis centers around the world at the same moment.  My father says, ‘No, no!  If you do that, when you shave in the morning, your face will disappear in the mirror…  When you sit down at the dinner table, you will have to keep a chair empty for all the people who died that year because of your silence.  Don’t think of this world – for boats, and cars, and houses, you will let 50,000 people die?  No, give it away!’  I was mad at him, but I knew he was right.  I left and published it immediately.  Recently, they told me the value of the invention is now about $60 billion”.

Would we say he did the right thing?  In a parallel way, we have the cure for spiritual sickness, and it’s Jesus.  He is the answer to the questions of life, meaning, suffering, and eternity.  As Christians, we want to share Him with others, but we often keep the cure to ourselves because of fear of looking weird, being looked down upon.  We need to realize that being silent about Jesus unintentionally harms people, because they don’t receive the cure.  So, we need to learn to share Jesus in the most loving way.

Our theme today is how Jesus comes into our lives.  The first point is that Jesus’ approach is person-centered.  Notice that Jesus came into our lives through other people—why?  Why didn’t He just appear to us directly?  Because it’s gentle this way.  God is respectful of our human freedom.  He doesn’t just say, ‘I’m God,  I love you.  I want you to love Me, too.’  No.  He’s said to all of us, ‘I want you to know Me first.’

We see this approach in today’s Gospel.  The Transfiguration refers to Jesus revealing His divine glory through His human body.  He doesn’t do this at the beginning of His ministry.  At the beginning, He invites people to spend time with Him, to know Him, see Him heal people, and listen to His teaching.  Jesus wants us to trust Him, and so He takes time.  Only after that does He reveal more of Who He is.

Notice also that Sts. Peter, James, and John are the only ones to see Jesus transfigured.  Why only these three?  Because they’re the same three who will later see Him in His agony, and their faith will be tested.  Because their faith will be tempted the most, they need to be strengthened the most.  Remember a fundamental truth about God: For those of us who are strong, He speaks to us strongly; to those of us who need gentleness, He’s very gentle.

The second point has to do with the content of what we say.  After the Transfiguration event, the text says, “And the disciples kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen” (9:36).  What were they silent about?  What happened on the mountain.  But they’re not silent about Jesus.  When we speak to family and friends about faith, we have to be clear about what we start with.  For our loved ones who don’t believe in Jesus, I would suggest not inviting them to Mass, because they don’t hear the essential truth of Jesus in a way they can understand.  Invite them to Alpha.  More on this in a few minutes.

While on the mountain, “They [Moses and Elijah] appeared in glory and were speaking of his [Jesus’] exodus, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (9:31).  ‘Exodus’ refers to His Death and Resurrection.  Just as Moses led the Hebrew people in an exodus from Egypt to the promised land, so Jesus leads humanity in an exodus from sin to love, from death to life.  This is part of the heart of the Christian faith, but it took the disciples a long time to understand it.  In the same way, when we talk to people about Jesus, at some point, we need to speak about this, and give them time to ponder it.

Today is the second part in our series on the five systems of the Church and we’re pondering evangelization, sharing the good news.  At some point, we want to share these four parts of the kerygma:

1) Every human heart has been created not by accident, but by Someone Who loves them; that means every person is sacred and has a purpose, and God wants them to be happy;

2) We separate ourselves from God the Father by our choices, our sins;

3) Jesus comes to reconcile us to the Father through His Death and Resurrection, so that we can have the fullness of life;

4) Jesus asks us if we’ll respond in trust and love.  We don’t have to cover all four points all at once.  For many of our loved ones, we just focus on the first point, and let them sit with it, because it’s beautiful and profound.

Over the past ten years or so, our parish family has really changed with regard to evangelization.  We’re more gentle, joyful, and confident in sharing the spiritual cure that we’ve received!  Here are our statistics for the Christ the King Challenge over the past two years.  434 of us have made Jesus the center of our lives—that’s amazing!  Praise God!  We’re each coming to Jesus in our own time.  Also, it’s a blessing that 20 people are now on the journey to becoming Catholic.

Most of us know we’re starting Alpha on March 27, 2025.  Here’s a video about it and how to invite people we love.

I’m so grateful to Lian for sharing her fear of being judged, being self-conscious—that’s the human condition, like the first time we go to a gym: Everyone looks in shape and we don’t know what to do.  Just like people at church, they don’t smile, but they’re actually friendly!  Alpha is such a welcoming place; you don’t need to know anything; it’s just about exploring faith without pressure.

I’m also grateful to Kate for admitting her mistakes, because I’ve made similar mistakes: I used to focus too much on the head and not enough on Jesus and how He comes into our lives.

So, let’s invite people we love, without pressure.  If they say, ‘No,’ okay.  If they say, ‘Yes,’ let’s go with them.  And don’t feel pressure yourselves!  Trust in the Holy Spirit.

Speaking of the Holy Spirit, did you see Him in the Gospel?  “While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them…  Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him” (9:34-35).  In the Old Testament, God’s presence is often represented as a cloud, for instance, over the tent of meeting (which is dark because God is mysterious), in the wilderness (which is light to guide the people’s way).  The Holy Spirit works in our hearts, so that we can hear God the Father’s voice that encourages us to evangelize.  He is the principal agent of evangelization; He does the heavy lifting.  He also works in people’s hearts when we invite them, so give them weeks, months, even years to respond to Him.

Dr. Brescia’s father encouraged him to give the cure away, and so imagine if God the Father were to encourage us: ‘I’m so proud of you!  How many people in the world will be saved every year if you speak about Jesus?’  If we hesitate and delay, He would says, ‘If you wait, when you sit down at the dinner table, you’ll have to keep a chair empty for all the people who spiritually died because of your silence.  Don’t think of this world – for respect and wanting to look good, you let hundreds of people die?  No, give the cure away!’  Jesus comes gently into our lives through other people.