Day 57: Let's Step Away

I'm Fr. Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and this is the Rosary in a Year podcast, where through prayer and meditation, the rosary brings us deeper into relationship with Jesus and Mary and becomes a source of grace for the whole world.
The Rosary in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. This is Day 57.
To download the prayer plan for Rosary in a Year, visit ascensionpress.com forward slash rosary in a year or text R-I-Y to 33777. You'll get an outline of how we're going to preach month and it's a great way to track your progress.
The best place to listen to the podcast is in the Ascension app. There are special features built just for this podcast and also recordings of the full rosary with myself and other friars.
No matter what app you're listening in, remember to tap follow or subscribe for your daily notifications. The fourth luminous mystery is the transfiguration.
Matthew chapter 17 verses 1 through 13. And after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart.
And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him.
And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is well that we are here. If you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.
He was still speaking when behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.
When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were filled with awe. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, Rise and have no fear.
And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, Tell no one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.
And the disciples asked him, Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come? He replied, Elijah does come, and he is to restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased.

So also the son of man will suffer at their hands.

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

All right, friends, so I'm going to approach the fourth luminous mystery here, the transfiguration,

beginning with a very distinct

memory of the first time that I ever really saw the stars. And I don't know if that's a universal experience, if all of you also remember the first time you really saw the stars, but for me, it stands out.
And the reason I'm going to start there is because I'm more and more convinced that in this lifetime, the truths of the faith and our encounter, our scene of the face of Jesus are like our scene, the stars in the sky. Like they are lights and they are lights like stars.
And the first time that I ever saw the stars, I really saw them because I came from the suburbs, right? And so there was a time when I was in sixth grade, about 12 years old, where we took a trip out. We call it Outdoor Ed.
So we went up into the mountains and one night they took us out from the cabins and they found us an open grassy area and we all laid down. We looked up and I remember seeing the stars and the Milky Way and shooting stars.

And they were bright and they were brilliant.

And they were so much more numerous than I ever thought or ever had seen.

Because back in the suburbs with all the light pollution,

you saw some, but you didn't really see them.

And I remember very well the experience of awe. This is awesome.
At the same time, I remember laying on the hard floor and being cold and being up in the mountains away from many of my favorite things, many of my comforts, my own bed, my own home, my own friends, et cetera. And I think that it is pedagogical.
It is noteworthy. There's a lesson in the transfiguration happening up on a mountaintop, traditionally understood to be Mount Tabor.
Especially at this time, when Jesus is inviting them to go up the mountain with him,

they're going to only have what they're going to be carrying with them.

As far as like food and water goes,

they're going to be very vulnerable to the elements.

If it's cold,

they're not going to have shelter to shield them from the cold.

If they're going to be sleeping,

right,

they're going to be sleeping outside.

It's uncomfortable.

It's set apart.

And the gospel itself says that Jesus took with him, Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain apart. And it is here that he was transfigured before them.
And it is here that they experienced awe. This is where we're able to really see the Lord and really appreciate him, right? The stars in the sky, they are so much more brilliant and deep and beautiful and even powerful than many of the worldly lights, which we'll talk about in a second.
But to really be moved by them and to see them and to appreciate them, you need to go set apart. You need to step away.
And if we can contrast this with some lights that I have some experience with here in New York, like the lights of Times Square, like you go into Times Square, which is the opposite of the mountaintop, like there are a lot of lights flashing and they're colorful and they're bright and they're moving and they change quickly. So if you're in Times Square in the middle of the night, it might be pitch black outside, but where you are, it's going to be lit up because of all of these lights.
And here's the thing, these are the lights of the world. If you are in Times Square, first of all, one of the things that's almost never going to happen is you're almost never going to look all the way up.
You'll look up a little bit, but only so much. And here's a second thing.
But even if you do, if you're in the middle of Times Square and you look up into the sky trying to see the stars, what will you see? You will see nothing. It will simply be black.
Because of all of these worldly lights, all of the light pollution is going to actually block out the stars. And my friends, I think the reality is that many of us, because of the lives we live, particularly our relationship to entertainment, media, social media, streaming, the phone.
We may not be physically in Times Square, but Times Square is now in our hand and it's in our mind. Like how many of us, as we try and pray, or as we try and contemplate the truth of God, like we're just so distracted, it doesn't go anywhere.
There's all of this, if we could call it like a light pollution. There's all of this noise that we are consuming externally and that we have interiorized, which makes it so hard for us to really contemplate, ponder, and be moved with awe by the lights of faith.
And they make it really hard for us to see the beauty and the brilliance of the face of Christ. In many of my conversations with my spiritual director at some point, like, hey, you know, when I think of you, I always think of the transfiguration because for years in an ongoing pattern, the Lord has been, if you will, inviting me hiking.
The Lord has been saying, hey, let's go up the mountain apart. Let's step away.
Let's slow down. Let's create a culture and an environment more like the mountaintop so that you can see and be moved by the beauty of my brilliance.
My brothers and sisters, as we pray with and ponder the transfiguration

today, I offer this same invitation to you. Jesus is saying, hey, let's go hiking.
Let's step away. Let's go apart.
Let's cut out the noise. Why?

So that you can see that which is most awesome

and most brilliant and most beautiful

and that which you are made for.

The splendor of the goodness of God

shining forth in the face of Jesus.

So as we're praying today,

okay, Jesus, show me what I need to step away from. Show me what's causing this light pollution and making it hard for me to see your face.
Asking for this grace and the courage that it takes, my brothers and sisters, let us pray. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of

our death. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and be world without end amen in the name of the father

and of the son and of the holy spirit amen all right friends thanks for joining me and praying

with me again today i look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow poco a poco

bye now