A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 9:2-10)
Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. . . . Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.
As Peter witnesses the Transfiguration, he says to Jesus: “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Then, giving insight into Peter’s state of mind, Mark tells us, “He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.” Next, God’s voice comes from heaven telling Peter, James, and John to listen to the words of his beloved Son. Suddenly, all was as it had been before, and Jesus stood alone with them. He tells the disciples to relate to no one what they had just witnessed. Finally, Mark leaves us with this statement, which every Christian ponders throughout life: “So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.” In the Transfiguration, Jesus reveals in an astounding way the realization that he is the Son of the living God; even more, he unveils for a moment what one day we may become in remaining in him.
Father in heaven, help me connect the two voices I hear in today’s readings. In the first reading, you speak to Abraham, who you asked to sacrifice his own beloved son but then held him back, sparing his life. “Because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore.” Ages later, you gave your beloved Son as a sacrifice for all, and did not hold back his death, but he willingly accepted death in order to destroy it and rise to new life—not for himself alone but for all. As Saint Paul said, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Strengthen my faith, Lord, so that I stand side by side as a witness of the Transfiguration, confirmed in hope of the glory of the Resurrection.
From the responsorial psalm: “I believed, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted.” Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones. I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.” If God is for us, who can be against us?
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.