Transfiguration of the Lord
Cycle A
August 6, 2023
Religious composer Marty Haugen has a musical collection called The Song of Mark, which features stories from that Gospel. One song called “So Good to be Here,” is a delightful number that has the three disciples present at the Transfiguration on the mountaintop with Jesus, singing how nice it is to be with Jesus on the mountain of Tabor, where all their troubles seem so far away.
Peter, as we hear in the Gospel read in church this Sunday, wants to set up camp on the mountaintop. And you get the impression he’d be happy staying right there. I suspect we all sometimes share that sentiment. The good feelings we may get from Sunday Mass or a great retreat experience tempt us to stay put, to bask in the glow of the transfigured light of Jesus.
But there’s a real world out there. The problems and obstacles to the Good News confront us there. With Christ, as composer Marty Haugen reminds us in his Gospel song, we must go back down the mountain–to suffer, die, and rise to new life.
