The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 11: Our Father in Heaven

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

How do you approach God when you pray the Rosary? Fr. Mark-Mary begins exploring the Biblical Roots of the Our Father by comparing the story of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 32 to Jesus’ words to his Father as he teaches us the Lord’s Prayer. Understanding how we can approach God will give us a strong foundation for praying the Rosary. Today’s focus is “Our Father who art in heaven” and we will be praying one Our Father, three Hail Marys, and one Glory Be.

Hi, I'm Father Mark Mary with Franciscan friars with the 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. It becomes a source of grace for the whole world. The Rosary in the Year is brought to you by Ascension. This, my friends, is Day 11. To download the prayer plan for Rosary in a Year, visit ascensionpress.com forward slash rosary in a year or text R-I-Y-Y to 33-7-7. 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 the podcast is 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. We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped support this podcast financially. Your support is so appreciated and helps us to reach as many people as possible. And if you haven't already, please consider supporting us at ascendingpress.com forward slash support. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Today we're going to be looking at our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. The scripture passage, I'm going to make it make sense. Every now and then I give homilies for the sisters of life or celebrate mass for them. And one of the sisters said, Father, I got to be honest, your homilies, sometimes I don't know where you're going. But then you always bring it in and it makes sense. So here's, I think, one of those. So stick with me here. We're going to Genesis chapter 32, starting at verse 13.

The context here is the story of Jacob and Esau. And as we remember, Jacob got the birthright. That was proper to Esau. And so Issa is mad at him. So here's what's going on. So he lodged there that night, referring to Jacob, and took from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau. 200 she goats and 20 he goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 milch camels,

goes on with the number of these animals. And then it says, Then he delivered into the hand of his servants every drove by itself. It said to his servants, pass on before me and put a space between drove and drove. He instructed the foremost when Issa my brother meets you and asks you to whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose are these before you? Then you shall say, they belong to your servant Jacob. They are present sent to my Lord Issa, and moreover, he is behind us. He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves. You shall say the same thing

to Esau when you meet him. And you shall say, moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us, for he thought, I may appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterwards I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me. All right, Father Mark, Mary, make it make sense. My proposal is what is happening in the opening words of the Our Father and what's happening in the passage I read from the book of Genesis is the same thing just in a totally different way. Both scripture passages depict essentially one person approaching another or instruction on how one person approaches. another. Like, the approach is modified and customized and quite different depending on who I'm meeting and my relationship to that person. For example, like when I meet an old friend, like a buddy,

I greet him one way, which is going to be quite different than when I approach a boss, how I approach my parents is going to be, you know, one way or how somebody might go to a job interview is going to be quite different as well. And somebody who, you know, maybe I've hurt. like if I've hurt somebody and they have a grievance against me like again I'm going to go to that person I'm going to change and modify appropriately so how I approach that person Jacob and Esau we have Jacob approaching Esau who's mad at him he approaches through this very very kind of big caravan of gist all night why because his brother's mad at him and Jacob is afraid it's very fear driven

Now let's contrast that with how Jesus teaches us to approach God when He gives us The Our Father. When you pray, he doesn't say approach God like somebody who's really mad at you, to whom you owe a great debt. He doesn't say, like, come with great fear. At the same time, you don't come to God just the way you would, like your bro. Or like a wish-granting genie. when you come to God, when you pray, say our father. And as when you come to like a father, you come with reverence, you come with adoration,

but also you come with the freedom and the confidence of a child coming to his father or her father who loves you. When you come, come quite simply. Bring your intentions, bring your needs, bring your whole heart, bring your whole person, but just come simply and say our father. One of my favorite childhood memories is when I'd go with my dad, I was like six, seven, eight. I'd go with my dad on Saturdays to his office. My dad is a very, very successful attorney. He's got all the different attorney awards and he's got his name, you know, on the wall when we come in. He's the managing partner of this firm and he is the boss. But he's my dad. And I would just go, right, as a little son, into the office, quite different than the way in which other people who work there are going to be approaching him, whether it's

clerks, secretaries, clients, partners, etc. I would approach him just as a son approached him with confidence and knowing I'm loved. And I would just hang out in his office, totally free. And later on, I would work there as like a file clerk. By the way, I was very bad at it. And all I had to do is put stuff in files in alphabetical order, which I was able to screw up. Nonetheless, when other people, the clerks, the other partners, the secretaries, the clients, like when they were in my dad's office, they're on, you know? And there's very much, okay, here's what, like, you need from me or here's what I need from you. There's a lack of freedom. And there's a particular nature to, if you will, that transactional sort of professional relationship. Like, he had the authority,

he had the power. He was the boss. But my primary approach to him, relationship to him, was one of a son to his father who loved him. And so I think there's something to this, right? like, yeah, God is mighty. God is all-powerful. God has the authority. His name is hallowed. Amen to that. But also, Jesus wants us to come quite simply, quite humbly, quite freely. Let's come as, you know, sons and daughters to our Heavenly Father. And so what we'll pray about today is just think about your relationship with God and how do you approach Him? Do you approach Him as a loving Father? As the best of fathers, as someone who loves you? or do you approach him as somebody who's mad at you, to whom you owe a debt?

Do you approach him as like, you know, a genie? But just go ahead and reflect on that and ask it to be purified. And so when we, you know, as the liturgy says, when we dared to pray our father, let us come simply, totally, completely, humbly, confidently as a child comes to his father. So 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, how lo 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 are it 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, it 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.