The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 108: Heights of Holiness

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

A Queen is set apart, but Mary, as Queen of Heaven and Earth is set apart so that as our mother she can draw us up to her son. When we are too little to reach the heights of holiness, she lifts us up, says Fr. Mark-Mary, reading from St. John Damascene. We ask Our Lady to help us echo her fiat and do the Father’s will. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Coronation of Mary and we will be praying one decade of the Rosary. For the complete prayer plan, visit https://ascensionpress.com/riy.

Hey, I'm Father Mark May with Franciscan Friars with 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 108. To download the prayer plan for Rosary in a Year, visit AscensionPress.com forward slash rosaryinayear or text R.I.Y. to 33777. You'll get an outline of how we're going to pray each month and it's a great way to track your progress. The best place to listen to podcasts 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. I encourage you to pick up a copy of the Rosary in a 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 full-page images of the sacred art we'll be reflecting on. Today we will be meditating upon and praying with the fifth Glorious Mystery, the coordination of Mary as Queen in Heaven and Earth with help from a writing from Saint John Damascene and his work Sermon 1 on the Assumption. All right, first a little introduction

to our author Saint John Damascene, born in the year 676, died in the year 749. Some items of notes about Saint John Damascene. He did a lot of work fighting what are called the iconoclasts. Iconoclasts are those who are posed to the veneration of images. And the iconoclasts were up in high places. One of the iconoclasts that he was up against was the Byzantine Emperor Leo III, and they have that name because they would literally go into churches and try and destroy the sacred images,

which they thought were idols. St. John Damson's defense was really twofold. One, that we're not actually worshipping the images, but they help us ultimately to worship God, and also they honor the memory of the saints. And secondly, he argued that because of the incarnation of Jesus, like Jesus taking flesh, all Christians had permission to also depict our Lord, to depict Jesus in images. He is a doctor of the church, particularly because of his works in defense of sacred art and fighting against the iconoclast.

I've seen him referred to as the doctor of Christian Art and the Doctor of the Assumption. The focus of our prayer meditation today is going to be Mary and God's will. And now our reading from St. John Tammysen, We too approach thee today, O Queen. And again I say, O Queen, O Virgin Mother of God, Stain our souls with our trust in Thee, As with a strong anchor, Lifting up mind, soul, and body, And all ourselves to Thee, Rejoicing in Psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles,

We reach through one who is beyond our reach On account of His majesty. If, as the divine Word made flesh taught us, Honor shown to servants is honor shown to our common Lord, how can honor shown to thee, his mother, be slighted? How is it not most desirable? Are thou not honored as the very breath of life? Thus shall we best show our service to our Lord Himself.

What do I say to our Lord? It is sufficient that those who think of thee should recall the memory of Thy most precious gift as the cause of our lasting joy. How it fills us with gladness, how the mind that dwells on this holy treasury of Thy grace enriches itself. This is our thank offering to Thee, the first fruits of our discourses, the best homage of my poor mind, whilst I am moved by desire of thee and full of my own misery. But do thou graciously receive my desire, knowing that it exceeds my power. Watch over us, O Queen, the dwelling place of our Lord. Lead and govern all our ways as thou wilt.

Save us from our sins. Lead us into the calm harbor of the divine will. Make us worthy of future happiness through the sweet and face-to-face vision of the Word made flesh through Thee. With Him, glory, praise, power, and majesty be to the Father and to the Holy and life-giving Spirit, now and forever. Amen. The end of the reading. Thanks be to God. Again, our focus here is going to be on Mary and God's will. If we could call it like, what was Mary's great boast?

What was her great accomplishment? Mary's great boast was this. That she was preserved in grace through God's will, and that she persevered in grace through doing God's will. Her great achievement, if we can call it that, is simply this, doing the Father's will. As Queen of Heaven and Earth, her greatest desire, and where her great intercession is directed, is first and foremost here in helping us do the Father's will. The greatest aid she can be to us is that simple.

She helps us say yes to God. She helps us to echo her fiat. In other words, she helps us persevere in doing the Father's will. We often think of a queen as someone who is set apart or distant. And Mary, in a certain sense, is set apart, both in her immaculate conception and in her role as Queen of Heaven and Earth. However, we know that Mary is of Heaven and Earth. However, we know that Mary is both Queen and Mother. And while Queen is set apart, a Mother draws close.

St. John Damascene is approaching Mary as a Queen with the respect to her, but equally imploring her as a Mother with the confidence that she will respond and assist him. Mary is set apart as Queen so that she can draw us closer to her in holiness and closer to her son like the best of mothers. Saint John Damson, he writes this beautiful prayer to the queen, lead us into the calm harbor of the divine will. In other words, like help us, Oh Queen, like you,

to abide in, to remain in doing the Father's will. This, my friends, this is what we are aiming for. But also we recognize our limitations, which I guess is why we come to Mary as our Queen and our mother and say, help us, right? Help us, O Queen, help us to do the Father's will. What we don't do is, hey, Mom, watch. Watch us do the Father's will.

We're about to be doing it perfectly. No, like it's help us. It's help us. Why? Because we need help. St. John Damacy puts this in his own words. But do thou graciously receive my desire, knowing that it exceeds my power and what is our desire, persevering in God's will, in good times and in bad and sickness and in health, right?

But we recognize our limitations and our needs, that this desire to be perfect in doing the Father's will, it actually just exceeds our power. We encounter and we are faced with our frailty, but we just don't get discouraged and we don't give up. When we encounter our frailty, when we encounter a limit in our power and our capacity before our desire to do God's will, what do we do? We come to our Queen, we come to our Mother with confidence and we say, Mary, help us. We say, Mary, when I am too little to reach the heights of holiness, may you, mother, lift me up.

As we pray today, let's ask for that grace to reorder and refocus our priorities, like let's focus on the main thing, the main thing being doing God's will. And so this includes avoiding sin, worshipping the triune God, loving our neighbor. There's so many things we can bring to our lady and ask for her. But first and foremost, let's bring this to her. Help us to do God's will in our lives. And now in prayer, we come to our Queen Mother with confidence, asking for the grace that

our power may match our desire to persevere in saying yes, to echoing her Fiat, and to doing and persevering in doing the Father's will. Now with Mary 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, Amen. 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. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and 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. Well, thank you so much for joining me and praying with me today.

I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow. Poco Poco, friends. God bless you.