The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 149: Littleness Before the Lord

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

Henry Ossawa Tanner’s depiction of the Annunciation is distinctly unique. Fr. Mark-Mary directs our meditation to an observation of Mary’s youth and littleness before the Lord, contrasted with her complete trust and confidence. This, he says, can help us trust God despite our own littleness. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Annunciation 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.

Father Mark Murray with Franciscan Friars 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 149. 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 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. On behalf of myself and the whole team here at Ascension, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's helped support this podcast financially, your generosity is so appreciated and helps us to reach as many people as possible.

And if you haven't already, please consider supporting us at ascensionpress.com forward slash support. Today we will be meditating upon and praying with the first joyful mystery, the Annunciation, with help from a painting entitled The Annunciation by the artist Henry Osawa Tanner. And before getting into our reflection, a brief introduction to our artist and artwork. The artist, his name again is Henry Oswa Tanner, born in the year 1859,

died in the year 1937. And he was an American painter from Pittsburgh who spent most of his career in Philadelphia and Paris. He was one of the first African American painters to be recognized internationally. This painting that we'll be looking at the Annunciation was done in the year This painting that we'll be looking at the Annunciation was done in the year 1898 and its style. It is an oil on canvas and the style is realism. And now a visual description. Mary sits on an unmade bed covered in draped linens. She's in a simple stone room, decorated with striped textiles and folded in a red tapestry

with a blue wrinkled carpet. She leans off the bed in bewildered fixation as her brown eyes look up towards a pillar of light emerging on the far left side of her bedchamber. The moment is held in suspense as the luminous presence illuminates the enclosed room casting shadows among the linens and behind Our Lady in her flax-colored striped robe. Her hair is uncovered. A blue cloak hangs off a lone bench.

Now, I hesitate to say this, but in all honesty, I find this painting to be heartbreaking. That's kind of my interior response, but like in a good way. And so let me explain. In our first painting of the Annunciation that we looked at by Fra Angelico, we saw the angel appeared as a royal messenger, as bowing before his queen,

and before God, the one who sent him. And we saw Mary really depicted as a queen. And she's a queen receiving the message of the angel herself, responding by reverencing her head to the mystery of God and to her messenger. What I would say is that that painting of the Annunciation by Frangelco, it communicated the truth, it communicated the theological reality that Mary is a humble queen, but I'd say it was some emphasis on on her being in fact, a queen.

In Tanner's rendition of the Annunciation that we're praying with today, we see a complimentary, but maybe somewhat like opposite approach. The angel Gabriel is depicted as like a star, as a luminous, mysterious, heavenly figure. And we got to remember, right? Like angels are non-corporeal beings,

meaning they don't have a body. So this angel Gabriel, the angel of this brightest light reminds us of the otherness of the angel, that he is in fact already a heavenly being. But how stark is this contrast in Tanner's depiction here of Mary? And I believe, like what Tanner's doing, what he does is he beautifully depicts the humanity of Mary.

And as I look at her face and I just look at her disposition, my heart, it breaks, it wrenches as these words almost spontaneously come to my lips and leave kind of as like a whisper. She's just so little. Like, look at her. She's just so little. And she's so young. And she's so vulnerable.

And as the gospel tells us, Mary is troubled at the announcement of the angel, this heavenly, luminous being coming to her so expectedly and so intimately and with a mission and announcement of the highest gravity. And so we get why she's troubled. And humanly speaking, like she's so vulnerable. Here she is so young, so little, so innocent. And again, naturally speaking, like so unequipped for this moment.

This young little girl, she's betrothed, but like unwed. And notice her right shoulder, like how it's turned sort of towards the angel, but moving the rest of her body kind of away from the angel. It's a movement towards like, what almost seems to be like a movement of like self-protection or of hiding a certain degree of of humility and holy simplicity. Yet, notice her eyes, right? Like her eyes remain on the angel. Her ears attentive, her heart receptive.

Tomorrow, we'll begin a little journey within the journey as we look at God's answer to her littleness and her vulnerability before her mission and before the world. But today, today we'll just sit with Mary as she's so little and so vulnerable, but faithful. She's troubled yet trusting. And we see this all right in Mary's fiat. Yes, I am a lowly handmaid of the Lord.

Here I am a servant of the Lord, lowly. But be it done unto me according to your word. I may be troubled. I may be little, but I am trusting. And I imagine a lot of us can resonate, right, with Mary's awareness of her littleness, as we so often, this is our experience before maybe our marriages, just kind of before some of the behaviors we want to do or not do, before our children, before suffering, before whatever it is that God's inviting us to do, we can just so often feel so little and maybe inadequate and kind of vulnerable and perhaps overwhelmed. Today, allow God to see you in your littleness and to know that He sees you.

your littleness and to know that He sees you. And allow Mary to look at you, recognizing and remembering how it feels. But also like Mary, let's keep our eyes turned towards God, placing our trust, not in ourselves, right? Yes, Lord, we are little, but Lord, how marvelous are the works that You have done through us little ones. 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, 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 Amen. 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. and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. All right. Thanks 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 all.