Fourth Luminous Mystery

Avoid Sin by Making Temptation Difficult

Playing with Fire

Vice and temptation are omnipresent in today’s world, making it all too simple to succumb to one or the other. Sadly, it often appears that humanity instinctively opts for sin, as it instantly satisfies our desires. However, it requires continuous vigilance and determination to pursue virtue, the more challenging yet ultimately more rewarding path. A recent episode of the Daily Rosary Meditation podcast discussed this topic, highlighting how we frequently “play with fire” by lingering near our temptations.

The segment of the Rosary podcast that resonated with me highlighted the concept that a wise person does not deliberately place themselves in situations ripe for sin and temptation. It’s a common oversight that we can actually take proactive steps to sidestep sin. We don’t need to face temptation daily just to demonstrate our resilience. For those battling addictions, it’s crucial to anticipate and obstruct the ease of giving into those addictions. As mentioned in the podcast, an alcoholic striving to avoid temptation wouldn’t carry a flask of whiskey with them.

Temptation in our Pockets

The smartphone is a burden many of us bear. It opens the door to a myriad of fascinations. Take, for instance, I am composing this post on my phone at this very moment. It’s quite convenient to simply pull out my phone and begin writing whenever inspiration strikes. However, I often catch myself reaching for my phone aimlessly, merely to alleviate boredom and kill time. Even though I don’t engage in anything particularly harmful on my phone, it does distract me from engaging in more meaningful activities.

Many individuals find it challenging to control their social media cravings, which often leads to time squandered. Indeed, it’s pleasant to view photos and celebrate the accomplishments of friends and family. However, the reality is that many people turn to social media to vent, express anger, or exacerbate their anxieties. Social media is paradoxical; we’re aware it doesn’t bring us joy, yet we continue to indulge in it. Even if our actions on social media aren’t inherently wrong, one must wonder if deliberately fostering anxiety or depression is beneficial in any manner.

Blessed Are the Meek on Social Media

Rosary to the Rescue

When I think about battling my temptations, I meditate on the Fourth Luminous Mystery — The Transfiguration. The fruit of this mystery is a desire for holiness. And that is what we are confronted with every day — choosing what is holy or sinful. When we pray the Rosary, especially this mystery, we remind ourselves that we have a choice on how we spend our time. We can choose to make falling into sin more difficult by not indulging our temptations. We can engage in virtuous activities that lead to increased communion with God. If anything, those activities will put us in a better mood.

As we enter Holy Week and Easter, many of us find that we have some extra time. We may have time off from school or work. It is easy to fill that free time with smartphone screens or parties. But try this experiment. Try restricting or eliminating aimless screen time. That may mean (gulp) sitting in silent contemplation for a while. I encourage you to use this time of Holy Week and Easter to deliberately increase in holiness. Time spent praying in an empty church or Adoration is time well spent.

Three Articles on Faith, Courage, and Prayer

I’m going to give you a small glimpse of how I create content for RosaryMeds. When I read a book, news, or blog site, watch a video, or listen to a podcast, I get ideas on how the topic relates to the Rosary. I will then meditate and brainstorm on that topic for a week as I write drafts. However, sometimes I come across articles that I find interesting but cannot write a comprehensive article for them. I usually just read them and file them away for reference. But I’m going to try something new — write an article that includes short summaries of the various content I come across. I hope you find these articles useful and provide fuel for your prayers.

Trusting the Experts Is a Sign of Spiritual Decline – Crisis Magazine

This article discusses the dangers of “scientism” and the “technopoly” where we put our faith in so-called “experts” and technology instead of God. The author observes:

Instead of technology supporting and nurturing the values of society, technology itself reforms the values of society to revolve around it. Thus, all religious beliefs, symbols, and elements are hijacked and transferred from the supernatural realm to the technical realm. The god they serve does not speak of righteousness or goodness or mercy or grace. Their god speaks of efficiency, precision, objectivity. And that is why such concepts as sin and evil disappear in Technopoly. They come from a moral universe that is irrelevant to the theology of expertise…Sin and evil disappear because they cannot be measured and objectified, and therefore cannot be dealt with by experts.

Pray and meditate on the Fourth Luminous Mystery — The Transfiguration. The fruit of this mystery is the desire for holiness. We need to consecrate ourselves to God, not technology. It’s not that science and technology are inherently evil, but they can become false idols in our lives. We should stay focused on serving God and looking to him in all things regarding our souls.

Are We Willing to Defend Our Faith? – Crisis Magazine

This article talks about the need to defend our faith in the face of a culture that is antithetical to Catholic values. It calls out the Church hierarchy as being too accommodating of non-Catholic voices inside and outside the Church.

If Catholic conviction about Christ, grounded in history from the time of the first stirrings of the Church’s life on the day of Pentecost, is true—and therefore binding upon the faithful—then we’re all obliged to defend it. We shall have to answer before God Himself, in other words, on how well we have done in discharging our duty, which means upholding the dignity and identity of the Son of God.

The Third Sorrowful Mystery is The Crowning of Thorns whose fruit is Moral Courage. May God grant us the courage to defend Church teachings. God will help us live faithfully in a world that will attack us for it.

When Prayer IS the Distraction (catholicexchange.com)

This article talks about three ways we pray that really aren’t prayers. They are:

Telling God how good we are by telling Him our various good works.
Requesting the Lord for signs or trying to make deals with Him.
Asking God to justify or validate our actions.

We should contemplate Jesus’ actions at the Garden of Gethsemane in the First Sorrowful Mystery. This mystery is the epitome of mindful and faithful prayer. Jesus humbly asks for the strength to do God’s Will. There’s a request to have God find another way, but Jesus isn’t trying to negotiate with God. Jesus lays out his fears but also his confidence in God’s plan for him. When we think about this Rosary mystery, let’s imitate Jesus in our prayers.

Find Joy by Rediscovering “Awe” of God

Walking Alone

This article is my commentary on these interesting articles. I suggest reading these articles first and then finishing up with mine.

The central message in both of these articles is that many of us choose to walk through our lives without God. We work, eat, sleep, and find various leisure activities but it’s all in a very secular way. We fail to acknowledge God’s influence on our lives throughout our day. Not living with God results in a bleak worldview because we see nothing beyond what can be seen, heard, and explained.

Ignoring God at Our Peril

When we seek answers but then deliberately ignore God’s response, we often receive an inaccurate view of reality. We get information through the lens of politics, media, and big business; all of which have their own interests. Their interests usually don’t include providing you peace, truth, and joy. For example, we may have fears about climate change or Covid. But listening solely to the media or government mouthpieces will give you a distorted view of how you should respond. If you want peace, perspective, and truth, you need to include God in the conversation through prayer.

I’m not saying that you completely ignore all worldly sources of information. Science does a good job of explaining the nature of the physical world around us. Engineering, technology, mathematics, etc. have given us wonderful inventions and improved our standard of living. But there is so much more to our lives than what these fields can explain. We may know the science to create a Covid vaccine or engineer an iPhone. But science and secular psychology can’t show us how to live with true joy. For that, we need to have God in our worldview.

God helps us navigate our fears, anxieties, and all the other aspects of our modern lives. Science may be able to explain Covid and even treat it, but God helps us manage our fears and concerns around it. I think many people are so fearful of Covid, climate change, or the issue of the day because they don’t listen to any higher authority than their social media feeds. They don’t want to listen to God and hear His guidance for navigating our lives amidst these challenges. Take God’s voice out of any current issue and you’re left with a bleak outlook on the world governed by whoever is yelling the loudest.

Finding our Daily “Awe of God”

If you’re looking to bring God into your daily life, pray the Fourth Luminous Mystery of the Rosary — The Transfiguration. When I think of Jesus rising into the sky and turning a dazzling white, I envision the sense of awe St. Peter, James, and John must have felt. I think we need to have a sense of awe of God (traditionally known as “Fear of God”) throughout our day. We need to acknowledge God at work in the very large and the very small.

This is becoming a theme in my posts, but I’m saddened by the drop in regular Mass attendance in my parish since the Covid lockdowns. I think there is a strong correlation between the drop in Mass attendance and the increasing unhappiness many people are feeling. Secularism doesn’t give people a very good means of finding joy. Ever wonder why babies and small children are so happy? Everything in their world has a sense of awe to it. When Jesus said we should be more like children (Matthew 18:3), perhaps he is calling us to regain some of that childlike awe regarding our faith. I think attending Mass and praying will help us find that awe as we start to acknowledge God at work in our lives.

Joy is Following God’s Truth, Not Attacking it

Spinning Plates

Have you ever seen the circus or carnival act where someone attempts to spin multiple plates on sticks? It starts out easy enough but as more plates start to spin, the harder it is to prevent them from crashing down. By focusing on certain plates, others are neglected and fall. It’s only by running around frantically that you keep them going. Even a small miscalculation sends them crashing. It’s difficult to micromanage so many objects taken out of their natural state that will just follow the laws of physics without your constant intervention.

I feel like our society is spinning plates right now on multiple levels whether political, economic, or social. Many of our politicians and their supporters insist on abortion on demand. But we then have to deal with the social impact of life being seen as an inconvenience, not something worth protecting. We have to spin the plates of suicide, euthanasia, broken families, and health issues just to name a few. You can’t just demand freely available abortions and pretend they will happen in a vacuum. Devaluing human life has a chain effect of many undesired consequences.

We see this spinning plate scenario play out in many other areas. We want to legalize all sorts of drugs and behaviors citing “personal freedom.” But then we need to deal with the side effects of people needing to feed their addictions. Society doesn’t want to lock people into marriage and raising families. But then we need to address issues brought about by single-parent households. Lately, we don’t even want to acknowledge basic biology. We then wonder why young adults are so confused and retreat to their phones. After all, isn’t easier to bury your head in Tik-Tok videos than face all these societal messes?

Catholicism: A Solid Foundation

The beauty of Catholicism is that her doctrine avoids the spinning plate problem. Instead of life being a tumult of spinning plates, it’s a nicely set table. Acknowledging the truth about the sanctity and dignity of life avoids the issues and tragedies of promoting a culture of death in the name of freedom or privacy. Following the 10 Commandments leads to people treating each other with respect, peace, and harmony instead of everyone doing whatever they feel like. Knowing that there is the Truth of God sure makes life a lot less confusing than the mess woke progressivism has made.

Catholic doctrine has been pondered and refined for centuries by some of the greatest human minds. Just think of the great works and logical arguements of Saint Thomas Acquinas or Saint Augustine for example. Think about the brilliant encyclicals of the popes. These weren’t politicians looking to boost their re-election chances by catering to their base. They looked at Jesus and his disciples’ teachings and made logical, sound arguments about their validity.

Don’t get me wrong, following Catholic teaching doesn’t lead to a utopia. After all, we are sinful people who can easily be led astray by Satan. But Catholicism has answers that don’t lead to more dispair and unhappiness. It might create more work in the short term whether that be finding a loving home for an unintended pregnancy, fighting addictions, and generally nudging people towards what is good. But, work and effort are not the same as being unhappy or unfulfilled.

I think one of society’s largest problems is that we’ve stopped nudging people to do what’s morally good. Instead, we allow them to do what feels good. As a culture, we indulge peoples’ wants instead of helping them seek what they need. As a Church, we’ve stopped emphasizing the need to regularly attend Mass and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. How do we expect people to do what is right if they no longer hear the Truth and pray to follow it? How can we expect people to reform and convert if they don’t understand the saving power of Reconciliation?

God’s Truth isn’t necessarily a prescription for a specific economic, social, or political system. Although, I’m sure we can all think of political systems that deliberately attack religion and how the countries that embrace them turn out. While the details may be different, systems based on Truth certainly lay a solid foundation for a stable society. I said this in a previous article about how the Bible said God repeatedly punished the Israelites for disobeying Him. I pointed out that the Israelites were probably bringing punishment upon themselves by stealing, lying, murdering, and coveting. A society that embraces the opposite of God’s Truth will inevitably collapse into chaos.

Seeking Truth in the Rosary

I think this is a good time to reflect on the Fourth Luminous Mystery — The Transfiguration. I love the image of Jesus appearing between Moses and Elijah. You have Moses, the bringer of the Law. You have Elijah who challenged and won against the followers of Baal — a pagan God the Israelites repeatedly worshiped and led to much suffering. The Transfiguration is this image of the unification of the Old and New Testament laws and rejection of actions that are anti-Truth. We need to keep this image in our heads when we’re confronted with current issues. Are we following and promoting the laws and practices preached by the people present in the Transfiguration? Or are our “causes” running counter to the Truth?

I also like the Fourth Joyful Mystery when contemplating these topics. The fruit of the Presentation in the Temple is obedience to the law of God. Mary and Joseph faithfully followed Jewish laws and customs. Simeon and Anna, who were praying in the temple, also devoutly followed the law. We too must follow the laws of God even if they create challenges and inconveniences in our lives. Going to Mass, confession, adoration, and prayer services may not be fun compared to video games, movies, and parties. But being aware and obedient to God’s laws is what gives us that moral foundation that will lead to true happiness. It’s a happiness that can only be realized when we embrace God, not fight Him.

God: King of the Very Large and Small

Isn’t it amazing that God chose you to live at this particular time and place? Of all the billions of years the universe has existed, of all the years people have roamed the earth, of all the cultures, you happen to live now. You can read this web page, pray the Rosary, and appreciate the Real Presence of God in the Eucharist. Cosmically speaking, we are in a very small group of people who can do all that. God is the king of both the very big and very small. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He created all that there is and ever will be. But he also humbled himself to become one of us through His son, Jesus Christ.

The Vastness of Space

I once heard an astrophysicist say that when it comes to space and the universe, whatever large size and distance you think objects are, you’re probably 10,000 times off. For example, our Milky Way galaxy is slowly headed on a collision course with the Andromeda galaxy. Both galaxies are made up of billions of stars. And yet, when they collide billions of years from now, the chances of two stars colliding are infinitesimally small. And to think that our galaxy is one of the billions of galaxies. It boggles the mind how large our universe is.

In this great vastness are sets of rules and laws that govern everything. God engineered a universe where there are causes and reasons on how everything fits together from massive black holes, to the movement of waves in the sea, to the interaction of subatomic particles. As we discover more about how our universe works, it makes God all that more impressive. He is a creator of such a complex universe and yet everything works in harmony. Nothing happens arbitrarily. To compare, most software developers can’t write more than a few lines of code without introducing a bug or vulnerability. And yet God designed a universe of near-infinite complexity.

The Smallness of Humanity

But God is also the king of the very small, namely us. In this interstellar stew of galaxies, stars, black holes, and nebulas, we exist. And not only do we exist, but we have the gift of knowing God through His son, Jesus Christ. The universe is billions of years old. We hit the galactic bullseye that of all the time and places, we have the honor and privilege of knowing Jesus. For billions of years, the universe was just gasses and rocks in a vast emptiness. Generations of humans went through their existence without being able to experience Jesus.

The Awe of the Transfiguration

When we pray the Fourth Luminous Mystery, The Transfiguration, let’s thank God for giving us the gift of knowing Jesus and his Church. God’s design didn’t need to include Him taking human form. Imagine the great humility that the God who created this vast universe wanted to become human so that we may know him better. And not just “us” in that universal sense, but he wants a special relationship with each one of us individually. The Transfiguration should remind us of just how much of a gift Jesus is to humanity. Put yourself on that hill with Peter and John and marvel at God’s compassion for us.

When you go to Mass, just think of everything that God made happen to put you there in His presence. Of all the billions of years of the universe’s existence, of the trillions of stars spread out millions of light-years, of all the generations of humanity, you can sit in a Catholic church with Jesus through the Eucharist. And like how the laws of physics align to make the universe, God’s design aligns to put you into a church on a specific day celebrating Mass. Take advantage of this remarkable gift.

Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Fear of the Lord

As we continue meditating on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we turn our attention to a gift that is often misunderstood — Fear of the Lord. When we think of the word “fear” we often think of it as something negative. But in the context of the Holy Spirit’s gifts, we can replace the word “fear” with “awe” or “wonder.”

Fear of the Lord is the feeling of amazement before God, who is all-present, and whose friendship we do not want to lose. There are two kinds of fear: the fear of a servant and the fear of a child. Of the two, childlike fear of God is the more noble and beautiful. It urges the soul to avoid even the least sin in order not to displease God, our loving and caring Father. Fear of the Lord is that childlike fear which causes us to dread no misfortune so much as that of a displeasing God, making us flee from sin as the greatest evil. The Saints were animated by childlike fear and love for the Heavenly Father and were ready to die rather than break His holy law by willful sin.
https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/christianity/the-gifts-of-the-holy-spirit-and-how-to-use-them.aspx

Jesus said we all must be like children. Maybe He meant we must keep a sense of childlike wonder and awe.

A Motivation to Evangelize

Fear of the Lord inspires us to hunger for souls the same way Jesus does. We see how many people aren’t aware of the preciousness of our relationship with God. That makes us sad, and it motivates us to help them see the great gift. We are motivated to evangelize.
https://www.fromtheabbey.com/keys-chapel-christian-prayer/gifts-of-the-holy-spirit-empower-our-adventure-gift-of-fear-of-the-lord/

This is a great manifestation of this gift. However, while many of us want to help others, often we don’t know how. But this is where another gift from the Holy Spirit comes in, the gift of knowledge which we discussed previously. It’s that gift that tells us how to help others to appreciate God’s greatness. Understanding helps us show, either through words or example, why prayer and celebrating Mass is so important. We want others to fear NOT having that close relationship with God as much as they would fear not having their spouse or loved one.

It is easy in this time of pandemic to cast aside our need for God and lose that sense of childlike awe. After months of illness, restrictions, and lack of community, many of us might want to say, “forget it, I’m just going to party with reckless abandon since I’m doomed anyway.” But this is the time when we need this gift of awe the most. We need to fear that our current situation might allow Satan to pull us away from God. It’s not that we explicitly tell God to go away. It’s that in our fear and depression, we just lose that sense of awe, stop seeing God’s importance, and then stop fostering our relationship with Him. We need this gift, this motivation, to fear the Lord and fear His absence in our lives now more than ever.

Fearing the Lord in the Rosary

Think about the Fourth Luminous Mystery of the Rosary — The Transfiguration. Imagine the awe Saint Peter, James, and John must have felt when they saw Jesus transfigure into pure holiness before their eyes. This must have solidified their understanding that as apostles they were in God’s company when they were with Jesus. And yet, that sense of awe still faded, at least temporarily, during Jesus’ Passion when they abandoned Him. It shows why this sense of awe is a gift as it’s something we as humans can have a hard time maintaining on our own.

Now think about the Fifth Luminous Mystery — The Institution of the Eucharist. I wonder how many of the apostles truly understood the incredible miracle that was occurring before them at the Last Supper. Or did many of them eat and drink the Eucharist without a true sense of awe of what Jesus offered them? How many times have you received the Body and Blood of Jesus at Mass with a sense of awe over the miracle taking place? Or are you more on autopilot because Jesus isn’t bodily present getting your attention like the Transfiguration?

We really have two awe-inspiring events between the Transfiguration and the Last Supper. It’s easy to stand in awe at a miraculous event like the Transfiguration but harder to see the awe in the Eucharist. For many of us, the Eucharist is something we experience every week so that fear of the Lord’s awesomeness is lost. When you pray the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, remind yourself of the great gift God gives us through the Eucharist. Ask the Holy Spirit to increase your fear in God so that you can see God in all the big and small He manifests Himself in your life.

The Transfiguration and Selective Listening

Last Sunday, my parish priest gave a great homily on the Transfiguration. We pray and meditate on this event in the Fourth Luminous Mystery of the Holy Rosary. He focused on what God told the apostles, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” I’m going to focus on that last part about listening to Jesus. Or rather, all the ways we often don’t listen to Him. My priest classified people’s attention to Jesus’ message into three groups — those who are half deaf, half listening, and fully deaf.

Half Deaf

The first group are those who are “half deaf” or spiritually hearing impaired. These people hear God’s message but only process the “easy” parts. They hear that God loves them and will forgive them. But they don’t hear how they must take up their cross and follow Jesus. They don’t hear that they need to lead a life of conversion and can’t just live according to their own conscience if it’s not well formed. The half deaf sort of hear Jesus’ teachings but not all of it. They hear that Jesus loves them and think that’s enough to live however they want.

Half listening

This group picks and chooses the teachings they like or agree with. These people are similar to the spiritually hearing impaired. They hear Jesus’ teachings and may even be passionate about a few of them. They will even put in the hard work and bear their crosses if they need to. But they may completely disregard certain Church teachings they don’t like. You usually see this in so-called “social justice” Catholics who work hard helping the poor or persecuted but then support pro-abortion politicians and policies. And just to be fair, many pro-life Catholics will march every January to end abortion but then close their wallets to support social programs to help those in need.

Fully deaf

This group doesn’t hear Jesus’ message at all because the world drowns it out. Instead, they are completely tuned into the world as presented by popular media, late night talk shows, TV, movies, and politicians. They hear about Jesus’ message through various mediums that filter and distort His teachings. They don’t hear the authentic message of the Catholic Church but a fictional, stereotypical account of it.

Are you listening to Jesus or are you too busy capturing Pokémon?

Where do you fit in? Most of us fall into these categories at different points in our life. I know I probably lived days where I fell into all three of these groups. Lent is a great time to think about how well we are listening to God. Are we making an effort to truly hear Jesus’ message or filtering and distorting it? Now is a good time to read the Bible, encyclicals, and the Catechism and listen to how Jesus truly wants us to live. Approach Jesus’ teachings with an open mind and heart so that the Holy Spirit may work wonders in you. Finally, pray for everyone who experiences some sort of spiritual hearing impairment.

Don’t Lose Your Moral Bearings in the Darkness

Imagine you’re a pilot flying alone on a completely dark night with no instrumentation. Envision how hard it would be to know your altitude, your level, and whether or not you’re about to crash into something. In total darkness, with no visibility and landmarks for reference, there is a good chance the airplane will crash and burn.

Keep that airplane analogy in mind as you read this article about the Glamor of Evil by Dr. Gregory Popcak. We all know about how we should avoid committing sin. That’s Catholicism 101; easy stuff. But you can also be seduced by sin without actively participating in it. He writes:

Evil is glamorous, not only in the sense that it can be hard to resist being drawn into it, but also in the sense that it can be hard to look away from it. If you aren’t careful, it’s tremendously easy to stare at it, and stare at it, and stare at it, until you can’t see anything else. Until everything good, and godly, and righteous, and beautiful has been drained from view, and all that is left is outrage, and anger, and indignation, and disgust.

Like the pilot alone in the dark, when we fixate on all the evil, darkness, and problems in this world we lose our moral bearings. We can become disoriented in the darkness and start to lose hope, joy, and our faith. We can no longer see the differences between good and evil because we’ve lost our spirital point of reference. Our actions no longer seem to matter because we don’t see any goal or point to them. Does it really matter what I do if everything is falling apart around me?

Being lost and aimless doesn’t usually end well.

Dr. Popcak tells us that we can’t let negative thinking completely envelop us. Our faith and relationship with Jesus Christ should act like a shining beacon, even in our darkest hours. The beauty and goodness of our faith can provide all the guidance we need to find strength, peace, and maybe even happiness, even when our world looks nonredeemable.

When Good Things Turn Us Bad

I’m going to go one step further. It’s not just evil that can completely block us from whatever is good and godly. Neutral activities can also do the same. Consider social media and the 24/7 cable news cycle. On their own, there’s nothing sinful about them. They allow us to stay updated on recent events and connect with each other. But for many of us, these seemingly harmless pastimes can consume 100% of our attention leaving room for nothing else. And when your world is completely consumed by Twitter, Facebook, Fox News, and MSNBC, you can stop seeing the genuine good in the world. You will either see a carefully curated goodness that isn’t real or you will just see everything as bad and hopeless and fall into despair.

As we enter the season of Advent and Christmas, it’s important to not allow ouselves to fixate on what is ultimately unimportant. I know we want to buy presents, decorate our homes, and participate in all the other traditions associated with Christmas. But we can’t let the commercial side of Christmas blind us to the true meaning behind it. Because when you obsess over what to buy and what you want to receive, you leave yourself open to the sins of greed, envy, and even wrath. Want an example? Look no further than the annual chaos around Black Friday and how people lose their moral bearings fighting over TVs and toasters.

The Rosary Connection

Look at the Fourth Luminous Mystery, The Transfiguration. I’m talking about darkness and the light in this article. Well, in this mystery you see Jesus’ clothes literally become dazzling white (Mark 9:3). And that, of course, got the apostles’ attention. When you meditate on this Rosary mystery, ask yourself, is Jesus a dazzling beacon of love, hope, and goodness in your life? Does He shine brighter through the darkness keeping you morally oriented toward His teachings? If not, maybe you need to turn around or take off your blindfold. Jesus is always present in our lives. If you don’t see that “light” in the darkness, ask Mary for guidance when you pray the Fourth Glorious Mystery, Her Assumption. She wants nothing more than to guide you through the darkness to Her son.

Also, when you pray the Third Joyful Mystery, think of the wise men traveling through the desert to pay homage to Jesus. They would have been wondering around aimlessly and hopelessly if it weren’t for a star to guide them. Again, you have a point of light, a referrence point, which guided the three wise men to Jesus. Are you following the signs in your life which lead you to Jesus?

The Transfiguration and the Awe of Catholicism

Monday, August 6th, is the Feast of Jesus’ Transfiguration which we meditate on in the Fourth Luminous Mystery of the Rosary. One question I’ve always had about the Transfiguration is why Jesus felt it was necessary. After all, He had traveled throughout the region preaching God’s Word and healing people. The apostles, for the most part, already believed He was the Messiah. Why this extra revelation? And what meaning does it have for the Catholic faithful today?

The Transfiguration was necessary, in part, because Jesus’ ministry had become routine to the apostles. I bet they must have lost some of their sense of wonder and awe while ministering with Jesus. They traveled from village to village listening to Jesus tell the same (or similar) parables, heal the sick, and occasionally admonish them for not understanding Him. While Jesus’ miracles probably amazed them initially, they probably lost some of the awe over time.

Wait, what? How could being witness to Jesus’ miracles lose their awe? Well, let’s look at how many of us treat the amazing miracle of Mass. How often do you fall into the Go to Mass, receive communion, repeat cycle? At Mass, we are in the presence of Jesus, the same Jesus the apostles served with, and yet we’re probably already thinking about what donut we’ll get afterward or how we’ll spend the rest of the day. The miracle that occurs during the consecration comes and goes for us without much thought similar to maybe how the apostles started seeing Jesus’ healings.

“Haven’t we, like, seen this show a hundred times already?”

And it’s not just Mass either. Even if you have a more regular prayer life, it can also descend into a routine and lose its awe. While I try to pray the Rosary every day, I admit that some days are better than others. I can often pray an entire decade of the Rosary only to realize that I didn’t even consciously know what mystery I was praying. I’m having a conversation with God and I’m thinking more about what I’ll have for dinner!

When Peter, James, and John witnessed the Transfiguration, it must have been a real wakeup call for them. Maybe it snapped them out of any complacency they were feeling about their calling. It took a great event to give them a needed kick and boost of energy

We don’t have Jesus physically transfiguring before us today. Most of us will never have a direct apparition of Jesus, Mary, or the saints telling us what to do. So how do we re-energize our spiritual zeal? First, we need to admit when the miraculous blessings of our faith have become routine and resolve to re-ignite our passion. Taking a cue from the Transfiguration, maybe we have to do something out of the ordinary. Some ideas include:

Going to Mass on a weekday
Attending Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
Receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation
Joining a parish prayer group or organization
Finding new prayers to say
Reading a book or article either on a saint or written by a saint

It would be nice if Jesus personally invited us to something as wonderful as the Transfiguration. And in a way, He does through prayer. He offers Himself to us all the time but we have to be listening to Him in the silence of prayer and meditation (ehem… the Rosary!). When we do listen, amazing things can happen whether it be a physical miracle or just a renewed zeal for living our faith.

What the Rosary Teaches Us about Spiritual Complacency

Last Sunday’s Gospel was the Transfiguration of Christ which is also the theme of the Fourth Luminous Mystery of the rosary. This mystery has always been one of the more difficult ones for me to meditate on. I think I have a hard time relating to it because I have a tendency to reduce it to just another one of Jesus’ miracles.

The impact of the Transfiguration is softened partly because it sits in the shadow of the even more miraculous events of Jesus’ death and resurrection as well as nearly 2000 years of Church teaching. In a way, modern day Christians are like people watching a movie they’ve already seen a dozen times and already know the ending. We read about Jesus in the Bible and his disciples and we know who will betray him, who will deny him, who will convert, who will become saints, etc. Because we already start from the understanding that Jesus is God made man, all the events of the Bible come across almost normal or at least expected.

“Ugh, another rerun of that ‘Jesus Show.'”

When we meditate on the Transfiguration in the Fourth Luminous Mystery, we have to put ourselves into the role of St. Peter as he witnessed these events for the first time. It is then that we truly start to appreciate the revolutionary nature of the Transfiguration. I think we have to assume that the apostles still didn’t fully understand and appreciate Jesus’ truly divine nature as they traveled with Him. Sure, they said they believed Jesus was the Messiah, but as their actions during Jesus’ death showed, they didn’t truly internalize it.

The Old Testament prophets did many miraculous deeds. In a way, Jesus’ actions seemed to fall in line with earlier prophets. In fact, many people believed that Jesus was one of the older prophets reborn. The Transfiguration showed that Jesus was no mere prophet of human origin but was God’s own son. Imagine the shock Peter, John, and James must have felt realizing that they had been in God’s presence the entire time they were with Jesus.

It’s not surprising then that Peter wants to erect tents to honor Jesus. Like a star-struck fan, Peter probably couldn’t think of anything else to say or do. I would imagine he might even have felt embarrassed knowing all the times he had acted foolishly in front of God’s son.

“Just be cool, don’t think about that dopey pun you made about ’12 Monkeys.'”

Now, Peter and the apostles could plead ignorance for not truly understanding Jesus’ true nature. But what’s our excuse? We’ve read and have been told the history of Jesus’ teachings dozens of times. We have the benefit of thousands of years of theologians and the Magisterium interpreting and explaining Jesus to us in utmost detail. And yet, we all so often casually ignore Jesus and take His teachings for granted. Much like the disciples thousands of years ago, we sometimes think of Jesus more as a philosopher with some good advice and not as God. Lent is our time to change that lackadaisical attitude.

When you meditate on the Fourth Luminous Mystery of the rosary this Lent, try to capture that sense of awe the three apostles must have felt at the Transfiguration. Try to look at your faith with fresh eyes, ears, and heart to truly take in the majesty and power of God’s grace. Ask God to renew your conviction in following God’s command to listen to His son. In other words, try to throw out any complacency you may have developed with your faith. This will make the miracle and celebration of Jesus’ resurrection at Easter grander and more meaningful.