The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 130: Joy in the Darkness

Episode Date: May 10, 2025

So often, our futures are shrouded in mystery and darkness. It can be hard to see where God’s plan is leading. Fr. Mark-Mary highlights the dynamics of light and darkness in Rembrandt’s painting, The Visitation, revealing two women who may not see every step of God’s plan, but trust in him regardless. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Visitation 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 for free in the Ascension App. For the complete prayer plan, visit https://ascensionpress.com/riy.

Hi, I'm Fr. Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars of 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 and becomes a source of grace for the whole world. The Rosary in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. This is Day 130. 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 a month and it's a great way to track

your progress. The best place to listen to this 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. No matter what app you're listening in, remember to tap follow or subscribe for your daily notifications. Today we will be meditating upon and praying with the second joyful mystery, the Visitation,

with help from the artist Rembrandt and his painting entitled The Visitation. A little background to our artist Rembrandt lived from about the year 1606 to 1669 and he is a very famous Dutch painter who created hundreds of paintings and thousands of drawings during his lifetime. He gained fame initially as a portrait painter, and gradually began to paint biblical scenes and self-portraits as well. He taught many well-known Dutch painters, and his career marked the beginning of the Dutch Golden Age.

His mother was a Catholic, and his father belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church. This domestic division was a microcosm of the religious division of the time, and certainly influenced Rembrandt's biblical paintings. Now a visual description of the painting, The Visitation. In Rembrandt's painting, a group gathers in front of an impressive stone house at night. There's a city in the distance, a peacock and fowls in the foreground, and a donkey led away in the background. The action centers on a newcomer, Mary,

depicted as a young woman whose blue cape is being removed by a servant. She is greeted with a warm embrace as her cousin Elizabeth, a dignified older woman, draped in layers of garments, wraps her arms around Mary and raises her eyes up towards hers. An old man of a state, Zachariah, falls behind, still on the steps of the house, with his hand on the shoulder of a young boy. The painting is lit by a light of an out-of-frame moon. Its radiance illuminates the sky at the top of the painting as well as the profile of Mary and strikes the countenance of Elizabeth most fully. Mary's peaceful and downcast gaze rests

on that of Elizabeth. I'm gonna be picking up on a bit of a theme from yesterday's artwork, yesterday's reflection, that's gonna weave through our first pass here of all of the joyful mysteries. What struck me yesterday was the meeting between Mary and an angel. Right? The Annunciation has this profound meeting of an angel, of an angel being, of a heavenly being, and Mary, like the lowly handmaid. As we talked about, this meeting is marked by this mutual

reverence and respect, gestures of bows, of genuflection, of solemnity. And remember if both of their eyes and their bows and the reverence were downcast. Today's mystery brings us before a very different type of meeting. Today's the meeting between members of the same family. Of course, the visitation itself, it's so rich with meaning,

but what we're gonna focus on is specifically this, this meeting between Elizabeth and Mary. Elizabeth, right, who conceived the son in her old age. The son in her womb is a living reminder of the mysterious plan of God unfolding in her life. Mary, still a young woman, the ever-virgin, who carries the Word incarnate in her womb. Mary, like Elizabeth, is aware of the direct action of God in their lives, that God is doing something unique and special. And their internal experiences, I would propose, are very well reflected by the chiaroscuro

used by Rembrandt in this painting. Chiaroscuro, sorry if I'm not pronouncing that perfectly, like it's the technique of highlighting the central drama of a scene while much of the rest of the painting is cast into heavy shadow. For Mary and Elizabeth, what God is doing, what their life is going to look like, how it's all going to unfold, It remains cast in heavy shadow. Their only light, but also their shared light is this, that God is at work. And this is the light that they are offered. And this is the light in which they meet at the visitation. And this

is the light, the light of the world, which radiates from their encounter. God is here. Emmanuel, God is with us. God is at work. This is our light. And in this light, we rejoice. And notice how Rembrandt has, has Elizabeth and Mary locking eyes. Again, yesterday we had the angel Gabriel and Mary with eyes downcast. Today we have Elizabeth and Mary with locking

eyes. Elizabeth, her face already smiling with joy. And Mary with what I would see as described as maybe a more stoic disposition, not from a lack of emotion, but communicating her interior disposition of profound receptivity. Still, she's profoundly receiving as the mystery of God's plan continues to slowly but surely unfold before her. And here in the Visitation Game, like we have, it's a meeting between loved ones. It's a meeting between family members. It's a meeting between expectant mothers with that shared joy. But also it's a meeting of two women who have found themselves in profoundly mysterious

situations, situations not well understood by those without. But this is a common ground for them. And as they encounter one another, they're truly seen by someone else who gets it from within. So in this, in the visitation, Elizabeth and Mary, they share a human consolation of being able to share their experience with the loved one, with one who gets it. But also there's the supernatural consolation. Right, as their unborn children move and dance, sanctify and are sanctified in their wombs. And Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,

like shouts with joy, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. These words, these words of the prayer, like these words, these words we have in the Hail Mary, right? Proclaimed with joy, proclaimed with love, proclaimed in the light of God's work in the present moment, and proclaimed with hope, even though, like what the future holds for both Elizabeth and Mary

and their unborn children remains clouded in mystery and shadow. I'm sure many of us today listening resonate with Elizabeth's situation. Having an experience of being alone, of much of what is going to happen in the world, like what's going to happen in the world, like what's going to happen in our lives being in shadow. And perhaps not having much more consolation than the light of God being with us and God being good. And as we pray today, can we just experience Mary coming

into this light? And Mary herself, just understanding our situation from within, understanding what it means, what it feels like to not know what's going to happen, to not know what the future is going to hold, but finding rest and even joy and hope in the light of God and His goodness, him being with us. Emmanuel, God is with us. As we pray today, especially as we focus on the words of Elizabeth, can we experience Mary being with us?

And can we, like Elizabeth, have joy even here, even now, in the mystery, perhaps the darkness of our lives, that Mary is with us, and the blessed fruit of her womb, Jesus, is with us? And 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 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 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 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 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, thanks everybody. Thanks 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.