“THIS IS MY BELOVED SON. LISTEN TO HIM.” MK 9:2-10
Humbly submit your will to God and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.
Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother 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 Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
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 they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.” MK 9:2-10
The Transfiguration of Jesus is a foreshadowing of what is to come for Jesus (Passion, Death, Resurrection) and us (our lives and eternity). The symbolism is Moses represents the Old Law and Elijah the Prophets leading up to Jesus. The Transfiguration takes place on a mountain symbolizing Jesus’ future climb to Calvary to die for us and transfigure the human race. This is the only other event besides Jesus’ Baptism that God speaks, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”. CCC 568
Christ’s Transfiguration aims at strengthening the apostles’ faith in anticipation of his Passion: the ascent onto the “high mountain” prepares for the ascent to Calvary. Christ, Head of the Church, manifests what his Body contains and radiates in the sacraments: “the hope of glory” (Col 1:27; cf. St. Leo the Great, Sermo 51, 3: PL 54, 310c). Last, Jesus tells Peter, James, and John not to tell anyone until he rises from the dead foreshadowing that He will die and rise. CCC 554 From the day Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Master “began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things… and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”290
This gospel is loaded. What does this mean for us? It strengthens our faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He is who He says He is. Jesus reveals to us His identity today! It proves that He must die and rise to transfigure humanity. We receive this grace in our Baptism and we die with Christ, bury our inherited Original Sin, and put on a sanctified soul. At the end of time, we will receive our new glorified bodies like Christ after He resurrected. Isn’t this what we want? God gave us this free unmerited gift of grace through the death of His Son because He wants us to be with Him; this is God’s mercy. Many people do not even recognize this love and grace.
Doesn’t this inspire us to change or be transfigured. Yes, but change is hard. I suck at it. Old habits die hard, but Jesus is more powerful. Grace restores what sin has damaged. Bring yourself to God’s grace everyday. We are called to go to heaven (be a saint). We are earthly people with a heavenly homeland. This will require carrying daily crosses, forgiving, and spending time with people not things. He has given us an intellect, free will, and memory which are the Spiritual powers that are more powerful than any superhero’s powers so we can know Him and His plan for us to get back to Him. Jesus has reconciled us with God. We have to step up and do our part. We are called to respond and the Father wants us to participate in our salvation with Him.
Fr. Walter J. Ciszek, S.J. puts it best in his book “He Leadeth Me” when he says,
“The fullest freedom I had ever known, the greatest sense of security, came from abandoning my will to do only the will of God. What was there to fear so long as I did his will? Not death. Not failure, except the failure to do his will. “For if God is with us, who can stand against us?” Choosing to do his will and experiencing the spiritual freedom that followed was my greatest joy and the source of tremendous interior strength.
Spiritual freedom of this sort, as I knew from bitter experience, is not something that can be obtained overnight or ever possessed in its final form. Every new day, every new hour of every day, every new circumstance and situation, every new act is a new opportunity to exercise and grow in this freedom. What is required for growth is an attitude of acceptance and openness to the will of God, rather than some planned approach or calculated method. Striving to eliminate all self-will, to accept God’s will revealed in the circumstances of daily life, is the surest way to achieve growth in conformity to the will of God. It will provide more than enough virtue to be practiced, suffering to be sustained, pain to be borne; more importantly still, it will make us fit instruments to achieve his designs, not only for our own salvation but for others as well.
The service of God must take preference over all else. A spirituality based on complete trust in God, therefore, is the surest guarantee of peace of soul and freedom of spirit. In it the soul must learn to act not on its own initiative, but in response to whatever demands are imposed by God in the concrete instances of each day. Its attention must always be centered precisely and primarily on God’s will as revealed and manifested in the people, places, and things he sets before us, rather than the means required to fulfill it.
Then no matter what these means demand–suffering, risk, loneliness, or physical hardships such as hunger or sickness–the consciousness of fulfilling God’s will in accepting them makes the sacrifice easy, the burden light. Accepting whatever comes or happens as the will of God, no matter what it costs spiritually, psychologically, or physically, is the surest and quickest way to a freedom of soul and spirit that surpasses all understanding and explanation.” pgs. 158-160
Love Jesus back with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength, love those He has put around you, love the lowly that Jesus came to heal and those that are different than you (corporal works of mercy) and be transfigured in this life so you can experience joy here and in the next. It requires sacrifice but the rewards are eternal! Never give up hope!
Today’s challenge: Change something in your life today that is keeping you from being completely open to God’s will in your life.
Be a servant, become a saint!
#Christian YOLO
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