August 6, 2025 // Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Luke 9:28-36
Reflect on the Word //
I recently finished an intensive nine-month prayer program. The final day was a mountaintop moment, reveling in the accomplishment and pouring out my gratitude to God. I wanted it to last forever, but the feeling was fleeting. The next day a valley was waiting: the engine light in my car went on, and other demands of daily life sent me spiraling mentally and spiritually.
Airing my frustration to the Lord, I recalled a deep truth from my months of prayer: this pattern of mountains and valleys in the spiritual life is never aimless. Christ gives us mountaintop moments, or graces of consolation, to sustain us through life’s valleys that tempt us to desolation. These graces, revisited in desolation, can help propel us on to the ultimate consolation of Heaven. With this reminder from the Lord, the graces of gratitude from my prayer program came flooding back; I was able to face my current valley with renewed trust in God’s provision and reliance on His goodness.
In today’s Gospel of the Transfiguration, Saint Peter confronts this truth in an intensely powerful way. He glimpses Heaven and stammers in awe as he beholds God’s glory, suggesting they build three tents and stay there forever (see Luke 9:28-36). But Peter’s mission on earth is not yet finished. Christ intends for Peter to bring the graces of this moment of Transfiguration back into the world, and into the valleys of His impending Passion and Death, in order to experience the greatest good of all—Resurrection.
Like Peter, Christ has something far better in store for us than even the best moments of this life. Our mountaintop moments aren’t meant to be substitutes for Heaven or consolations that we compartmentalize. They are glimpses of Heaven intended to accompany us as beacons along the difficult journey that leads to true glory.
The Lord gives us these mountaintop moments to become a grace of Transfiguration in our lives. With Christ, we can allow these glorious graces to infuse life’s most desolate valleys with hope. In turn, every redeeming valley, united to Christ, will help purify and prepare us for the greatest consolation of Heaven—where our joy will never, ever end.
Relate to the Lord // Recall a mountaintop moment of consolation to meditate on when in times of desolation. Give thanks to the Lord for it!
Megan Hjelmstad (“Helm-stead”) is a wife, enthusiastic hockey mom, and Army Veteran living in Denver, CO. After serving fifteen years in the United States Army, Megan now serves the Church as an author, speaker, and women's mentor in her “spare” time. Megan loves to share God’s hope in suffering and is the author of Offer it Up: Discovering the Power and Purpose of Redemptive Suffering. She’s a long-time team member of Blessed is She and a writer and speaker for several other ministries. Megan adores books, sleep, sunshine, and Colorado’s great outdoors almost as much as she adores Jesus in the Eucharist. Learn more at MeganHjelmstad.com.
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