Faith Daily | 19 February 2022

PRAYER of the DAY - APBA p 537

Let your merciful ears, O Lord,

be open to the prayers of your humble servants;

and that they may obtain their petitions

make them to ask such things as shall please you;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

GOSPEL for the Day: Mark 9: 2-13

2Six 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, 3and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5Then 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.” 6He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

9As 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. 11Then they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 12He said to them, “Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? 13But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him.”

GOSPEL REFLECTION: Allan Bell

Jesus and three disciples go up a high mountain presumably for solitude and to communicate with God, just as Jesus does elsewhere in the New Testament. Even today there is something about being in nature and climbing a peak which can bring a feeling of calm closeness to God. Jesus had definitely chosen one of those “thin places”. Not only is he transfigured and visited by Elijah and Moses but then God declares that Jesus is his Son. In all it must have been an overwhelming mystical experience for the disciples. For me the message here is clear - Jesus is God’s Son, the Beloved; listen to him!

Having been up the mountain and received the message they must inevitably come down the mountain to the earthly world. In this part of the journey the three disciples, trying to make sense of what they have seen, ask Jesus about Elijah. In answering their question Jesus attempts to get them to focus on what is to come for him in the real world. Easter is not far away.

This passage suggests to me that it can be useful for us to go to our “thin place” and communicate with God as best we can, but we also need to prepare for the return to the challenging real world and to apply what we have learned.

Jesus is God’s Son, the Beloved; listen to him!

FINAL PRAYER:

‘Blessing

"May your journey through this day

offer a thin, thin place

where heaven and earth meet

and time falls away."

From - In the Sanctuary of Women :A Companion for Reflection and Prayer ( By Jan L. Richardson)