CHILDREN’S STORY:
Jesus taught the people and performed miracles as he traveled to different places with his apostles.
One time, Jesus fed a crowd of 4,000 people with seven loaves of bread and a few fish. After everyone ate their fill, there were seven baskets of food left over. Another time, he restored sight to a blind man in Bethsaida.
During these travels, Jesus talked to the apostles about many things. As they were heading toward the villages of Caesarea Philippi one day, he asked them a question.
“Who do people say that I am?” he asked his friends.
“John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets,” they answered.
“But who do you say that I am?” he wanted to know.
“You are the Messiah,” Peter replied.
Jesus warned the apostles not to tell anyone.
He then began teaching his friends that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and that he would be killed and rise after three days.
After six days, Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain while the other apostles remained behind.
Jesus was transfigured before his friends’ eyes, and his clothes became a dazzling white.
Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking to Jesus.
Peter, James and John were so terrified that they really didn’t know what they should do or say.
“Rabbi, it is good that we are here!” Peter managed to get out. “Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
After Peter spoke, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them.
A voice could be heard from the cloud.
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him,” the voice said.
Suddenly, Peter, James and John looked around. Moses and Elijah were gone, and Jesus was alone with them.
As they came down the mountain, Jesus told his friends not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.
READ MORE ABOUT IT:
Mark 8 & 9
Q&A
1. What did the transfigured Jesus’ clothes look like?
2. Who appeared to speak to Jesus?
TRIVIA: What item did Jesus and the apostles forget to bring in the boat during their travels? (Hint: Mark 8:4)
Answer: Bread
BIBLE ACCENT:
In Mark 9, we read that Jesus, Peter, James and John saw quite a sight when they came down the mountain.
A large crowd had gathered around the rest of the apostles, and some scribes were arguing with them.
“What are you arguing about with them?” Jesus asked.
“Teacher, I have brought to you my son possessed by a mute spirit. … I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so,” a man in the crowd said.
Jesus asked for the boy to be brought to him. The spirit threw the boy into convulsions, and the boy fell on the ground, rolled around and foamed at the mouth.
“It has often thrown him into fire and into water to kill him,” the father said. “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
“‘If you can!’ Everything is possible to one who has faith,” Jesus replied.
“I do believe, help my unbelief!” the boy’s father cried.
“Mute and deaf spirit, I command you: Come out of him and never enter him again!” Jesus said.
The unclean spirit left the boy, and Jesus helped the boy to stand.
SPOTLIGHT ON THE SAINTS:
St. Joseph
St. Joseph was the husband of Mary and the earthly father of Jesus. He was a carpenter, and he also was a relative of King David.
Joseph is a model of humility and obedience to God’s will. He followed God’s instructions that had been given by angels in dreams. In his first dream, he was told to take the pregnant Mary into his home as his wife. Right after Jesus was born, he was warned in a dream to protect Mary and the baby by fleeing to Egypt.
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Joseph being declared patron of the universal church, Pope Francis proclaimed a yearlong celebration dedicated to the saint.
We remember Joseph on March 19.
PUZZLE:
Unscramble the letters in the words and arrange them to form a quotation from the children’s story.
ays ma how i leeppo od hatt
Answers: say, am, who, I, people, do, that
Who do people say that I am?