GOSPEL POWER l AUGUST 6, 2021

Our Lord’s Transfiguration

 Gospel: Mk 9:2-10 

2 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and  led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was  transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white,  such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared  to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then  Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make  three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a cloud  overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This  is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8 Suddenly when they looked  around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to  tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man  had risen from the dead. 10So they kept the matter to themselves,  questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. I n the person of Jesus, heaven has come down on earth  to establish God’s reign among earthly creatures and to  make human beings God’s children who participate in the  divine life. When Jesus embraced our earthiness, his solidarity with  us was complete, his divine splendor veiled in our mortal flesh. The  transfiguration is a momentary lifting up of the veil to give us a brief  glimpse of that splendor which the Beloved Son possesses in his union  with his Father, and which is at the same time a preview of the future  life to which Jesus will give us access. The transfiguration is a necessary  prelude to the drama on Calvary, for glory is inseparable from the cross.  Jesus will share with us his divine sonship by subjecting himself to  the human experience of suffering and death which will permanently  remove the veil that conceals his divine splendor. Lord Jesus, may we never fall for the illusion of seeking glory apart from the cross. Amen