Reflection
Jesus took Peter, James and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves
and he was transfigured before them.
Mark 9:2-10
In spiritual traditions, the mountain top is where the divine reveals itself and the human is transformed. The summit of the mountain enters the sphere of eternity and its base is in the mortal world. It is the place where earth touches sky. We may experience God on the mountain top but more often we find God in the valleys. Not every moment or worship experience holds transfigured moments. We were never meant to live on the mountaintop. Most of the time we live with a veil shrouding the holy. God is with us in the plain, ordinariness of life where we live every day. We need not climb the mountains to find God. Sometimes when we do pay attention, the veil is lifted, and we see past the surface to the depth of life. We know we live always in God’s presence. The thing to strive for is to become aware.
Prayer
They who seek God will see God’s face everywhere.
Psalm 24
Action
Don’t look for extraordinary revelations. Try to be open to the places in your life where God is revealed.
Suggested Reading
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 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.
Mark 9:2-1
We all need to go apart, to ascend the mountain in a space of silence, to find ourselves and better perceive the voice of the Lord. This we do in prayer. But we cannot stay there! Encounter with God in prayer inspires us anew to “descend the mountain” and return to the plain where we meet many brothers weighed down by fatigue, sickness, injustice, ignorance, poverty both material and spiritual. To these brothers in difficulty, we are called to bear the fruit of that experience with God, by sharing the grace we have received.
Pope Francis
We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time.
Thomas Merton
Real religion is not about transcending life; real religion is about transforming life.
Joan Chittister
God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.
Voltaire
To be is to live with God.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
To think you are separate from God is to remain separate from your own being.
D. M. Street
In our stillness, we acknowledge God’s greatness and we are at peace in our life. Stillness saturates us in the Presence of God.
E’yen A. Gardner
Think often on God, by day, by night, in your business and even in your diversions. God is always near you and with you; leave God not alone.
Brother Lawrence