The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 133: Respond with Grace

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

How would you react if you saw 12-year old Jesus preaching in the temple? Fr. Mark-Mary points out the varied reactions of onlookers in the mosaic of the Finding in the Temple in the Rosary Basilica at Lourdes. Those surrounding Jesus react with human admiration, amazement, curiosity, and even rejection. Yet Mary looks upon him filled with divine grace. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Finding in the Temple 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.

I'm Father Mark Mary 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 133. 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 33-777. 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 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. and remember to tap follow or subscribe for your daily notifications. Today we'll be meditating upon and praying with the fifth Joyful Mystery, the Finding of Jesus in the Temple with help from the Mosaic of Jesus Lost and Found in the Temple, which is a mosaic in the Rosary Basilica at Lourdes. Okay, brief introduction to the art we're going to be praying with today. The mosaic is one of 15 mosaics that decorate the side chapels at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary at Lourdes. It's a basilica that was built in the late 19th century

to commemorate the apparition of Our Lady to St. Bernadette at Lourdes. The basilica has 15 side chapels, one for each of the traditional mysteries of the rosary. The basilica uses a Byzantine architectural style, hence the use of mosaics instead of paintings. And these mosaics were completed around the year 1990. The specific artist is unknown. And now our description of the artwork.

We find at the center of the mosaic Jesus at the young age of 12, and he's there at the center of the scene. Seated on an elevated stone chair, radiant and white robes, he's surrounded by the temple scholars with his right hand raised in a gesture of teaching. His head is highlighted by a golden halo, his face is serene, yet full of wisdom, his right foot is perched upon a stool. And his gaze looks forward towards the onlooker. To the left, Mary and Joseph approach with expressions of relief and awe. Mary in flowing blue and pink garments reaches towards her son,

while Joseph, robed in earthly tone, stands attentively beside her. The temple elders, draped in rich, vibrant colors, gather in contemplation and discussion, their faces etched with curiosity and amazement and questioning at the boy's profound understanding. And above them, classical arches and columns of both the grandeur of the sacred space. So in many ways, what we encounter today, like in this mosaic in the temple is really the same dynamic that we encountered yesterday at the temple in events or at the presentation of Jesus, which happened about 12 years before this moment where we find Jesus in the temple.

And in short, it's just humanity being human, right? It's the fullness of human response, and it's all on display again here with our mosaic. Like we notice firstly again, Jesus is at the center. And surrounding Jesus are various Jewish elders and teachers and masters of the law. And all of them, again, sort of like yesterday, have varying reactions to Jesus. They're the same as yesterday in that they vary, but they're distinct in what they are communicating today. And this will be the last of our episodes being guided by the variety of eyes in the midst of these artwork and before the mystery of Jesus.

The evangelist Luke in his gospel, which tells us about this event in the life of Jesus and Mary, he tells us that the teachers were amazed at his teaching. And what I'd say we encounter here as we sit before this mosaic is the mosaic really beautifully and profoundly, it portrays a spectrum of what amazed could look like. First, there's those who are amazed at the knowledge and the mastery of the law of this young 12 year old Jesus,

but like amazed in a human way, right? Like with human respect, human admiration. Some I'd say if you kind of interpret their faces are amazed to maybe indignation. They're made uncomfortable, not just by like what this boy says, but the authority with which he says it. There's a response of amazement leading to like a human judgment and perhaps like a human rejection.

There's amazed to curiosity, like not sure what to do with this child master, but interested, like intrigued, but not moved to faith, not moved to belief. And perhaps some were amazed, and their amazement is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, not just a natural human amazement is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, not just a natural human amazement, but amazement as the fruit of grace already at work in them, preparing them and moving them even now to belief and to faith in the one in their midst. So we have again this huge spectrum, wide variety of human responses.

And yet in Mary, we see her with the exact same foundational disposition as yesterday. Eyes on Jesus. Eyes on Jesus. Adoring her son, loving her son, searching for her son, pondering her son, listening to her son. Mary loves her son with the fullness of a mother's love. But she knows him,

she worships him, she believes in him, she seeks him, she waits for him, she ponders him with the fullness of grace. Like, Mary has a fully human relationship with her son, but she doesn't just have a human relationship to her son. Meaning, again, like grace has penetrated and elevated all of her humanity. And so she loves Jesus through the grace of the Holy Spirit. She searches for Him with grace.

She listens to Him with grace. She sees Him with grace. And she receives His self-revelation. Today, His words, did you not know that I must be in my Father's house? She received these with grace at work in her heart and in her soul. And Mary, in these joyful mysteries, she teaches us what to do, but also she teaches us how to do it, like what to do, stay focused on Jesus anchored in love and worship and offering. And how do we do this? We do this through grace. Hail Mary, full of grace.

And Mary, she remains, right? She remains in this disposition, anchored in this disposition with Jesus always before her. Through grace, she looks, she ponders with grace, she listens with grace. It is the work of God in her and through her. And so as we pray today with the last of the Joyful Mysteries, if you've been moved at all like me, you're at a place where you want to worship Jesus and to love Jesus and be faithful to Jesus,

where you want to worship Jesus and love Jesus and be faithful to Jesus, just like Mary. But our response today. Can't just be to make like a new dedication to humanly say we're going to do better or to humanly just increase the intensity of our desire. Today, like Mary and with Mary, we're going to ask to be filled with grace. Heavenly Father, pour out upon us the gift of your Holy Spirit that we may worship your beloved son, that we may love your beloved son and that we may believe in your beloved son not with our own strength, but through your grace at work in 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. 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 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 so much for joining me and praying with me again today. I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow. Poco Poco. Alright, God bless y'all.