Welcome to Finding God in Our Hearts. The following production, Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is a weekly program of deep spiritual insight on Scripture, revealing the indwelling presence of God. We appreciate your listenership and if you find this program valuable, please subscribe and share with your friends. Share this program is funded with kind donations by listeners just like you make your donation@pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com Today we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. The opening prayer O God, who in the glorious transfiguration of your only Begotten Son, confirmed the mysteries of faith by the witness of the Fathers and wonderfully prefigured our full adoption to Sonship. Grant, we pray to the servants that listening to the voice of your beloved Son, we may merit to become coheirs with him who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, Holy One, God forever and ever.
Amen. A Reading from the Old Testament the book of Daniel, 7th chapter, 9th through the 10th verse, and 13th and 14th verse. Thrones were set up and the Ancient One took his throne. His clothing was bright as snow and the hair of his head as white as wool. His throne was flames of fire, with wheels of burning fire. A surging stream of fire flowed out from where he sat.
Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him. The court was convened and the books were opened. As the vision during the night continued, I saw One like a Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven. When he reached the Ancient One, it was presented before him. The One, like a Son of man, received dominion, glory, and kingship. All peoples, nations and languages serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away. His kingship shall not be destroyed. The Word of the Lord the Lord is King, the most High, over all the earth. The Lord is King. Let the earth rejoice, let the many isles be glad. Clouds and darkness are round about him.
Justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne. The Lord is King, the most High, over all the earth. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his justice, and all peoples see his glory. The Lord is king and most high over all the earth because you, O Lord, are the most High over all the Earth, exalted far above all gods. The Lord is King, the most High, over all the Earth.
A reading from the New Testament from St. Peter, Second Peter First Chapter 1619 Beloved we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty, for he received honor and glory from God the Father. When that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory. This is my son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain.
Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it as to a lamp shining in a dark place until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts the word of the Lord. This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. The Gospel for this Sunday is taken from St. Matthew 17, ninth verse.
Jesus took Peter, James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud came and cast a shadow over them.
Then from the cloud came a voice that said, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they felt prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, rise and do not be afraid. And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus alone. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus charged them.
Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead. The Gospel of the Lord. Take the next few moments as we listen to this music to ponder the images and the thoughts that come to you. As you listen to these readings, it’s very clear that we live in a world that is filled with goodness and with evil, with life and with death, with those things that bring us into a place of joy, in those things that cast us down into the darkest depression. So why did God create the world this way? Well, it’s clear that there is a reason for these two powers, because the real work of being here is evolution, growth, change, deepening our understanding of who we are, who God is, and how we’re supposed to live in this earth and what’s going to happen afterwards.
And it’s a struggle, and it’s supposed to be a struggle. And when you think about it, you would say, well, all Right. If we are in this process, you know, what’s the direction, what’s coming? Because it’s so easy to get caught up in the dark side of the world and think that it’s never going to be filled with light. But we look at the first reading and we see Daniel dreaming a dream, much like we dream about the world that we’re living in. And he has a nightmare.
And sometimes the world we’re living in feels like a nightmare. Division, discord, separation, isolation, fear. And as he goes through this nightmare of these nations that are all of a sudden in the image of these demonic, devouring creatures, he’s seeing this destruction so powerfully, and it frightens him. And then finally, at the end of his dream, he sees something else. Something that’s bright, something that’s filled with light, something that is sitting on a throne, and that’s the image of power and authority. What we see in this dream is the fear that he has of the way power in human beings can be so destructive, so harmful, so much pain can be caused by it.
But yet there’s another force, this goodness. And it is light, and it is wonderful, and it is pouring out fire. And fire is the image of purification. So we live in a world of evil in which it enters this light, and the light is there to purify, to transform, to change, to evolve human beings out of creatures that can destroy into creatures that give life from darkness to light. So then we go to the disciples. And the interesting thing about the disciples, in terms of their life with Jesus, they had to have times where they were filled with enthusiasm seeing Jesus do these wonderful miracles and saying, oh, God, this is just.
Life is so much more powerfully good than anything else. They see goodness pouring out of this man. But then at one point in the ministry, Jesus has a long talk with his disciples, and he said, look, I know you believe that we’re here to establish a kingdom of light and truth and goodness. But I want you to know that in this process of my trying to establish this, I’m going to fail. I’m not going to be able to do it, at least not in the way one might think I can do it. I’m not going to overpower evil.
I’m going to let evil overpower me and teach you something about evil, teach you something about which power is stronger, good or evil. And so I’m sure it was very disturbing to the disciples to think that this thing they were working for, Jesus becoming the one who would rule the temple, and they would be there Ruling it with him. That had to bring up a lot of fear and a lot of darkness. And so what happens? Jesus decides to take the disciples. Not all of them.
Peter, James and John, all three who are part of the letters of the New Testament. He took them because they were somehow his core group up on a mountain after he had said that he’s going to not survive the power of evil. And he’s turned into light, enlightenment, something that overpowers darkness. And they see the promise that God is making that the world is always going to be moving toward life, toward light, away from darkness. And what he shows them is that they, they have a clear understanding that the role of Jesus, the role of God throughout history has been to reveal himself slowly. And so we see the evolution of religion in this moment of transfiguration when Jesus is there and with him is Moses and Elijah.
Moses is the law, Elijah is the prophets. And so what you’re seeing is that Jesus has come to break open a new image of the work of divinity in the world and the hope that this work has for all of us. When he’s saying, look, we’ve moved out of the place of the law where it’s right and wrong and you must do right or be condemned. And we’re moving out of the prophetic role of having to be told what God says. You’re going to be invited into a relationship with God through this. Giving up my life, Jesus says, to evil.
You’re going to be somehow filled with this incredible gift. And it’s not justice anymore, it’s mercy. It’s not darkness anymore, it’s light. That’s what I want you to have as your vision. Your vision. So it’s interesting that when Jesus then has this experience with his disciples of being transformed, it is a vision.
And it does explain something about visions. Visions are a way of seeing that which is unseen. And so we don’t know what the future is like. But it’s easy for us even to look at anything going on in the world today and say, you know, global warming, it’s going to be the end of everything. It’s going to be horrible. Or the world is never going to be united again, or a nuclear war is bound to start anytime now and destroy the world.
All those images of darkness need a vision, a way of seeing the unseen that is optimistic and life producing, hope producing. That’s the image that I take from this beautiful feast of the transfiguration. And when Jesus finished his ministry, when he was going through it, though, let’s say the disciples weren’t, you know, they weren’t convinced even at the time, even though they had this experience. But what I love about the way Peter tells the story, it’s almost like he’s saying, look, I know I wasn’t there when Jesus died and I didn’t know, I doubted the whole thing or whatever. I mean, they all kind of fell apart except for John. But he’s saying in this second reading that when that experience of the transfiguration, seeing Jesus as light, but mostly hearing the words of God, saying, this is my beloved son.
Listen to who he is and what he’s doing. And then he said it was like. It was like in my heart there was a sense of light coming. And it was. And he mentions the morning star. And I don’t know if you know what a morning star is really interesting.
A morning star is planet Venus, planet of love and beauty. And when just about the sun is beginning to rise, so does Venus rise. And it’s bright even though the sky is still very dark. And it’s almost like he’s saying, if that can happen to your heart, if you can have something when it’s still dark, that is like a seed of a vision that we have to hold close to ourselves always. That this thing that’s going on, this evolution of our planet, of our political systems, where all is moving toward, is something good. If we don’t have that, I don’t know how you live in the disposition that we’re challenged to live in.
Take that vision into your heart, hold it in your heart. Know that light is always coming and know that the darkness looks like it’s overtaking it. And then if trusted through that darkness, there is the most amazing, amazing feeling, the enthusiasm, being filled with God, that all things work together for the good of everyone. It’s essential to hold in your heart lest darkness overtake us. Amen. The closing prayer Father, you have planted in our hearts a vision of your work, of your power, of our destiny.
Help us always to stay focused on the vision that we’re moving in a direction that is giving life and beauty and truth. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen. The music in our program was composed and produced by Ryan Harner. For this show, Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is funded with kind donations by listeners just like you. You can make a one time or recurring tax deductible donation on our website pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com we thank you for your listenership and your continued support. Without it, this program would not be possible.
Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is a production of the Pastoral Reflections Institute, a nonprofit in Dallas, Texas, dedicated to enriching your spiritual journey. Executive Producer Monsignor Don Fisher, produced by Kyle Cross and recorded in Pastoral Reflections Institute Studios. Copyright 2023 SAM.