Immaculaye Heart of Mary - Abbottstown recently issued the following announcement.

Reflection Thursday: 18th WOT Matthew 17:1-9

In the presence of the transfigured Jesus, Peter, always ready to speak up, seems to panic. As so often happens when he is faced with what is challenging and unsettling, he falls back onto what is familiar and less threatening. His suggestion to make three tents, and thereby capture this moment forever, shows how little he understands Jesus. He has yet to grasp that Jesus is the very presence of God in the world – an understanding that will come after the Resurrection, as Peter recounts in his letter, our second reading.

But from the cloud comes the voice of the Father: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him. Here is the true meaning of this event: Jesus is revealed as not just a great teacher and prophet, but the anointed of God – his beloved Son. Every generation, every assembly that hears this Gospel, must listen anew to the words of the Father and the life- changing truth that, in Christ, we, too, are transformed.

In one of the Peanuts cartoons, it shows Schroeder holding a record of Brahm’s Fourth Symphony. Lucy asks, “What are you going to do with it?” Schroeder says, “Listen to it”. Lucy asks, “You mean dance to it”? “No, says Schroeder, just dance to it”. “You mean sing along with it?” asks Lucy. “No, says Schroeder, just listen to it”. “That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard of,” says Lucy. We often find it hard to listen to something, even the word of God. We feel we have to be doing something. But the voice from the cloud didn’t say, “This is my Son, love him” or “This is my Son, reach out to him” or This is my Son, bow down and worship him.” It said, “This is my Son, listen to him!” And so, we don’t just put our Bible’s on the bookshelf, we read and listen to Him.

Original source can be found here.