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The Transfiguration | Into the Mysteries of the Rosary Ep 10 | Fr. James Brent, O.P. · Into the Mysteries of the Rosary

• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, welcome to Into the Mysteries of the Rosary, a miniseries of the podcast contemplata.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Every mystery of the Rosary is a revelation of God's love for us.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we come now to a particularly intense revelation of God's love, the fourth luminous mystery, the transfiguration.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Every detail of the story has layers of meaning.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: So let us go through the details as we find them in the seventeenth chapter of Saint Matthew's Gospel.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: First it says after six days, an allusion to the six days of creation.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now comes a new Sabbath, a special moment of contemplation.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: The transfiguration is an event of recreation, first of Peter, James, and John, but also of you and me, to the extent we receive it.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: To the extent we believe in the mystery of the Transfiguration, like Peter, James, and John, we too shall be recreated.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: We will receive the grace of contemplative prayer and a loving awareness of the divine sonship of Jesus.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus had the seventy two disciples, whom he sent out to preach.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: He also had the twelve, whom he chose and called to be with him.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: But here he takes just three up the mountain Peter, James, and John.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus chose the three from among the others, for a more personal revelation of himself.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was an act of special love for them, but it was also part of God's eternal designs for their formation.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: God wanted to give the three in particular the special grace of beholding Jesus in the transfiguration, so that the three might bear witness to him later, each in a special way.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Peter was to be the prince of the apostles.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: James was to become the first martyr among the twelve.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: John was to be the authority behind the fourth gospel, the gospel that testifies most clearly to the divinity of Jesus.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus led them up a high mountain apart.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: A high mountain.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: No one just strolls up a high mountain.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: It was a long and arduous climb.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: So too is the road of Metanoia and the journey of our transformation in Christ.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: There is no other road to transformation except the way of the cross.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Scripture described the place as being apart.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Come away with me to a lonely place, the Lord once said, and rest awhile.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Here Jesus fulfills his teaching literally.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: He literally led them apart from all the others.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: In so doing, Jesus taught them how great things come to pass when we follow him into silence and solitude for prayer.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: God is light, Scripture says, and the book of Revelation says that in the end they will need no light from lamps or the sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: The light of Jesus on Mount Tabor is a manifestation of His divinity.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: The three disciples did not experience the beatific vision, but they beheld his glory as much as they could hold at the time.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: But why did Jesus reveal to them his divinity?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: He was befriending them.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: After all, to tell someone your secrets is an act of friendship.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me who you share your deepest secrets with, and I will tell you who your closest friends are.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Here Jesus shares his innermost secret with the three.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: The light radiating from him reveals the secret of his divinity.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: But not only the light.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: The other figures involved also bear witness to the divinity of Christ.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: The book of Exodus says that Moses used to go outside the camp of the Israelites and pitch the tent of the meeting.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: The cloud of the divine presence would descend and stand at the door of the tent.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: There Moses would speak with the Lord face to face as a man speaks with a friend.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah too encountered God on Mount Horeb, not in the strong wind, not in the earthquake, and not in the fire, but in a gentle breeze.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Moses and Elijah were both conversationalists with God, and now their conversation continues.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: The cloud descends once again like it did at the old tent of the meeting before Moses.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps the overshadowing of the cloud on Mount Tabor produced a gentle breeze, like Elijah experienced on Mount Horeb.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Moses represents the whole law.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah represents all the prophets.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: The presence of Moses and Elijah together says that the law and the prophets testify to Jesus Christ as God.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is well that we are here.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Here Peter tries to respond to the revelation he has received, but he responds by using his old categories, categories from the old law.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: He talks like it is the old feast of booths.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: But Saint Luke and Saint Mark both tell us that Peter did not know what he was saying.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: This new revelation calls for a new response, and three booths will no longer do.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: That is why, right in the middle of Peter's proposal to build the three booths, God interrupted him.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: While Peter was speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved Son.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: The cloud stands for the Holy Spirit, but it was the voice of God the Father giving the definitive revelation of who Jesus is.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the eternal Son of God.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: The Father also taught the three a new way to worship, a new way to respond.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: The proper response now is not to build three booths, the proper response now is to put all their faith in the very person of Jesus.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: The proper response is to listen to him.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: As the cloud overshadowed them and the voice resounded, Peter, James, and John fell on their faces and were filled with awe.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Falling on your face before someone is a sign of humility.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: What is more, they were struck with fear.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: All throughout sacred scripture, the ordinary response to divine revelation is fear.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: So too at the Transfiguration, the three disciples were filled with awe struck wonder before God.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Their awe struck wonder was so great that Jesus himself had to lean down, touch them, and say Rise.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: When he said rise, Jesus not only helped them get up, but he also prophesied their future and ours.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: For God sent His Son Jesus into this world so that you and I might rise with him on the last day in the resurrection unto life.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so we shall, so long as you and I hold fast to Jesus in faith, hope, and love to the end.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: When they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus alone.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Lifting up the eyes stands for contemplation, a simple gaze of faith fixed on Jesus.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord granted them the grace to gaze upon him in a special way.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: For just a moment, they were able to forget themselves and everything around them and simply behold Jesus.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: You and I too are called to contemplate the face of Jesus in faith, and Jesus will grant us the grace to do so.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: The essential thing is to ask for the grace.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: It is also essential to realize that no matter what might be going on in our lives at present, no matter what the trials may be, God is doing something really good.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: He is leading us somewhere, up Mount Tabor, so that we might come to know him and know his love for us in a whole new way.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to this episode of Contemplata.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends wherever you listen to podcasts.