The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 177: Earthen Vessels

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Fr. Mark-Mary introduces us to the spiritual background of icons as we pray with an icon of the Transfiguration. We consider how our transformation in Christ takes a lifetime, revealed through Peter��s journey from the mountain, through shadows and valleys, and back to Jesus’ mercy and love. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Transfiguration and we will be praying one decade of the Rosary. All of the Sacred Art we’ll be meditating with can be found in the Rosary in a Year Prayer Guide, for free linked in the complete prayer plan, or in the Ascension App. For the complete prayer plan, visit https://ascensionpress.com/riy.

Hi, I'm Father Mark Mary with the Franciscan Friars of Renewal and this is the Rosary in a Year podcast. We're 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 177. 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 recording to the full Rosary with myself and other friars. I encourage you to pick up a copy of the Rosary in the Year Prayer Guide, a book published by Ascension that was designed to complement this podcast.

You'll find all the daily readings from scripture, Saint reflections, and beautiful images of the sacred art we'll be reflecting on. Today we will be meditating upon and praying with the fourth with the fourth Luminous Mystery, the Transfiguration, with help from an icon entitled The Savior's Transfiguration, written by Theophanes the Greek. Okay, now brief introduction to our artist and the icon. Today we have a Byzantine style icon

that has traditionally been attributed to Theophanes the Greek. And it exemplifies late 14th to early 15th century Russian iconography, blending spiritual intensity with dramatic composition. So Theophanes the Greek was a Byzantine master who reshaped Russian medieval art and he was one of the most influential iconographers of the 14th century. He was born in Constantinople. While at one point

this icon was confidently attributed to Theophanes. There is some debate now due to some stylistic inconsistencies with his other works. So the timeline of the writing of this icon, right in the 14th to 15th century, was a time of a final flowering of Byzantine art before the fall of Constantinople. This particular icon was written around the year 1403. And now a description of our icon. So this icon-style depiction of the transfiguration is rendered on a flat vertical plane. At the top, Christ stands radiant and pure white with a textured golden halo. Behind Him, His glory is revealed with layered geometric shapes and concentric circles and

pale blues intersected by sharp white rays that convey His divine radiance. On either side of Christ stand the prophets, Moses and Elijah, each positioned on their own red mountain peak. On either side is a small scene of Jesus leading three disciples up and then down the mountain, their posture demonstrating the experience changed them. In the top left and right corners, small blue angels hover. Below, three disciples are shown recoiling down the mountain in fear. Two turn their faces away, shielding their eyes, while one looks directly at Jesus. Their dark robes are struck by beams of pale blue light emanating from Jesus,

highlighting the moment of divine revelation as it physically and spiritually touches them. All right, so before diving into some of the specifics of our icon today, let's just have a quick general introduction to icons and spirituality of icons with a little caveat that these are a deep part of many people's spiritualities, particularly within Eastern Christianity, such as Byzantine Catholics, which I didn't grow up in. So I am speaking into it as a bit of an outsider. And I think that's just an important note. So the key theological foundation for icons is the incarnation, right?

That the invisible God was incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary and took flesh, became visible. The invisible God became visible in Jesus in the incarnation. And icons give witness to the fact that spiritual realities can be communicated and even made present through the material world. So icons are not simply seen as art, but as windows to heaven.

An expression that I'm taking from the Orthodox Bishop Callisto Swear. And their end isn't just simply like admiration of beauty. They are intended to lead us into contemplation and communion with the thrice holy one, the thrice holy God. So for example, the flatness or having the perspective reversed or intentionally distorted. It's all intentional. And its intention is to draw the viewer in and keep the focus on spiritual realities rather than like earthly realism to draw us to prayer rather than just saying, oh, that's so pretty, right? Lastly, we say that icons are written and not painted as they are viewed more as visual

theology than just like artistic creation. And the iconographer, he writes the icon generally while praying and fasting and following strict theological guidelines. And I'll say this, if anyone's interest by this brief introduction has been piqued, I'd really encourage you to do some more like reading on the subject, as I do believe that like some formation and knowing what's happening with icons, like really can open up a whole new avenue and space of prayer. It was important to me that we included at least one icon for our Rosary in a Year pilgrimage that we're on here.

And I do think, though, that it is quite appropriate that the mystery we have for our icon is the transfiguration, right? As it is the mystery where the invisible glory of Jesus is momentarily manifest, and it even transfigures the material world. Not only His flesh, but even His garment becomes white as light. And we see in our icon, Jesus on the mountain, and Moses and Elijah also on their mountains, alluding to some of their own mountaintop experiences, but also this consistent theme of the mountain being the place of theophany, of divine revelation, manifestation.

As we mentioned a little callback to our description, we see kind of on the left and the right, Jesus leaning up and then down the mountain, Peter, James and John. And that's where I want us to, if you will, like rest and to dig in. This communicates that there is this before and after in the lives, minds, and hearts of Peter, James, and John, and their witnessing of Jesus being transfigured. This draws me particularly

into a dialogue with Peter, because obviously this is an unforgettable moment. And we do have Peter's own words attesting to this, to the Transfiguration in the second letter of Peter, and this is chapter 1, he writes, For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to the power and coming of our Lord Jesus, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was born to Him by the majestic glory, This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, we heard this voice born from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain."

Peter saw Jesus transfigured, and he heard the voice of God, who he refers to here as the majestic glory, and yet he still denied him three times during his passion. And I'm just like, Peter, how did this happen? And the answer that came to me at least, and that we see Peter honestly giving a witness to through his life, is simply the fragility of man. We truly do carry this treasure in earth and vessels. And this is just true. Sincerely believing does not automatically

mean faithfully doing. There's a difference between wanting to do the good and trying to do the good and actually doing the good. And this is true about you and me and everybody else. And hopefully this truth can move us to compassion towards ourselves and others when we do fail. This reminder as well, that one of the three witnesses of the transfiguration still sinned against Jesus during his passion. We really do carry this treasure in earthen vessels.

But also, if we acknowledge our weakness, we need to be extra vigilant about keeping close to Jesus. About coming to Jesus in prayer and sacrament because we need Him. And not just once, but every day. Because without His grace, we will quickly abandon Him. Honestly, we have to kind of like aggressively avoid temptation.

If we recognize our weakness, like yeah, it can move us to compassion, but it also has to move us to stay close to Jesus every day. And my friends, in following Jesus, right, we are signing up for a lifelong journey. The transfiguration, it happened in a moment on a mountain, but transformation, like our transformation in Christ, it doesn't just happen in a moment on a mountain, but it takes a lifetime. And in that journey, yeah, there's going to be some mountain experiences, hopefully, but also there's going to be a whole lot of time spent in the shadows and valleys.

And in closing here, it's good to know what Peter did get. And I think in some ways, maybe the most important lesson that we can take away from Peter is that he knew that even after sinning, he could still throw himself into Jesus' mercy with abandon, receive forgiveness, and begin again. So today we contemplate the glory of Jesus in the transfiguration, and may a holy desire to share in this glory be inflamed in our hearts, in our minds, and may our recognition of our frail humanity not be a source of discouragement, but may it lead us to an ever total abandonment to divine grace and commitment to remaining

in the radical closeness to Jesus that we call union with God. Asking for this grace with Mary, let us now 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. 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. 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. Hail Mary, full 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 ever shall be, world without end. Amen. In the

name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Alright friends, thanks for joining me and praying with me today. And I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow. Poco Poco, friends. God bless y'all.