The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 168: Our Shared Inheritance

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

The Coronation of Mary is portrayed in Giuseppe Mattia Borgnis’s fresco, where the Trinity crowns her Queen of Heaven as saints, angels, and loved ones gaze on with joy. The presence of St. Joseph, St. Anne, and St. John the Baptist emphasizes that those who suffer with Christ also share in His glory. We are reminded that while the road of discipleship includes pain, it ultimately leads to the fulfillment of God’s promises of eternal victory and our shared inheritance in Christ. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Coronation of Mary 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 am Father 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 168. 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 pray each month and it's a great way to

track your progress. The best place to listen to the 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. 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 images of the sacred art we'll be reflecting on.

Today we'll be meditating upon and praying with the fifth glorious mystery, the coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth, with help from a painting entitled, Glory of Mary in Heaven, by the artist Giuseppe Mattia Borgianus. Now a little word on our artist and artwork. Giuseppe Mattia Borgianus was born in the year 1701. He died in the year 1761. He was an Italian painter and architect. He was born to a family of limited means, but he would become an apprentice with a painter from the year 1710 to 1716. He was then sent to Bologna, then Venice, and from 1752 to 1755, he searched for work in Paris and London.

Soon after, in 1761, he died in London of unknown causes. This particular piece of art, which is a fresco, was probably done around the year 1725. This fresco is located in the parish church of Santa Maria Assunta, and it's situated in the central dome of the church making it a focal point of the interior decoration. Now a description of our painting. Among blue and silver clouds with thick clusters and rows of angels. The Virgin Mary beams a wide smile to God,

depicted as the Holy Trinity, with Jesus as youthful man, in God the Father's an older man and a dove of the Holy Spirit, who together lower a crown onto the joyful mother of God. In semi-circles around her are heavenly attendees, eagerly watching, including her spouse, St. Joseph holding lilies, St. John the Baptist, her nephew, St. Anne, her mother, who look

back to others to point them to the coronation. The family of saints rejoices among the luminous clouds of heaven. With the symmetry of the Godhead, the ordered rows of angels, and the placement of the saintly family, the harmonious composition conveys a sense of divine order and holiness as the spiritual and earthly realms beautifully intertwine. So I am quite excited about our painting today. We're not going to spend a ton of time here, but first we do have to note Mary's smile. Just take it in.

And I do love the idea that she is smiling as she's being crowned. But now let's go ahead and like look around the edges of the painting. And who do we see there? We see John the Baptist, we see a woman presumed to be St. Anne, her mother, and then we see St. Joseph. And I'd like us to begin by spending some extra time with St. Joseph here, and in a sense bring our meditation that we did with St. Joseph through the joyful mysteries to completion. Now, I really do believe that St. Joseph was there present at the visitation, and therefore,

I do believe that St. Joseph both witnessed Mary's Magnificat, right, a song full of promises that will be fulfilled, as well as, as we noted, Simeon's prophecy, the harsh reality about the road that would be traversed. And in particular, what struck me during that time of meditation was how St. Joseph suffered hearing Simeon's words, like how much the idea of Mary's soul being pierced by a sword really did pierce his own heart. And I imagine like how often was he at work

in his workshop in Nazareth. And he remember this, right? He remember the words of prophecy and he'd feel the pain anew. And I like the idea that he quickly combat that by calling to mind like Mary's Magnificat, right? The reminder of how the story would end, of how God would take care of Mary, would bless

Mary. And that that is how it would all come to a conclusion. And so after this, right, he'd again surrender and he would be faithful and he placed always his ultimate hope in God And while so much was out of his control He gave himself wholeheartedly to that which was within his influence namely loving And honoring Mary as best he could right and being the best of fathers to Jesus And to all of this right he was faithful until he received the grace of a happy death. Now today, like we see St. Joseph seeing his beloved Mary

being made the queen of heaven and earth, in a sense, like he sees that his job was fulfilled. She made it to heaven, to this place where protection is no longer needed because threats no longer exist. She is home. She's with the most Holy Trinity forever. And how much he delights in this moment and what joy and like holy pride he experiences and seeing her so loved, so honored.

Joseph's journey on earth, it was a tough one for many reasons, but he was faithful. And so he too, right, is victorious. And in many ways, I think a similar story could be told about the life of St. Anne and St. John the Baptist, who as we know was faithful to the truth before Herod, even though it led to his martyrdom. In all of their lives, there was deep suffering, but also deep faith. And now they share in the victory of Jesus. They have all received their reward.

And this is true for all of us. It's a reason I think the Beatitudes are so important and so central to Jesus' preaching. Pope Benedict XVI, in his commentary on the Beatitudes, he points out that they are all in the form of promises. The meek will inherit the earth. Those who are hunger and thirst for righteousness, for holiness, they will be satisfied. Those who mourn will be comforted. The merciful will receive mercy. The poor in spirit.

To them the kingdom of heaven is theirs." Right? And because of this, even though they're not fulfilled yet, those who experience them are already blessed. Those who have received the promises of God, although they are not perfectly fulfilled yet, they are already blessed. We are already now sharing in this blessing by sharing in the life of Christ that we receive in baptism. So even now we are blessed. But yes, right, like the road we will travel, like the road traveled by Jesus and Mary and

St. John the Baptist and St. Anne and St. Joseph, like it won't be free of suffering. It won't be easy, but it all ends here. It ends in heaven. Right, so often though, because of the immediacy and the tangibility of the sufferings that we are enduring now, like the privations we are experiencing, it's so easy to get stuck there and to be discouraged and to be tempted to doubt, to doubt God's promises and to doubt God's goodness. But we can't stay there, right?

We can't get stuck there. Where I'll say, like, you have to see the comma after the sufferings. Like, if you look at the Beatitudes, the period doesn't come until after the promises. The comma after the prophecy of Simeon. And the comma after the sufferings of all of the great saints. And those we just mentioned here above recently. Like the period, right? The end, the period doesn't come until after the promises of fulfillment.

And I will, like if we can stick with this, like you can almost see the comma after each of the mysteries. But now it's at the coronation of Mary when we see the victory that she shares in and that we are already blessed by, like now that there can be a period. Like this is where it ends. Joy, victory, glory, heaven, where every tear is wiped away and every promise is fulfilled, period. We can't miss this.

We can't give too much important to the glorious mysteries in general. I think like humanly, the other mysteries, the joyful mysteries, the sorrowful mysteries, the luminous mysteries, like they're so accessible, even like emotionally accessible. It's so easy to be moved by there being no room in the end or the prophecy of Simeon or the passion of our Lord.

But remember where the story ends, where it all is moving to resurrection, victory, glory. And I'd encourage all of us to make it a practice of doing what I propose St. Joseph would do, like when he experiences the sufferings found in the Valley of Tears. Call to mind the promises of God. We can do this too, like let us call to mind the promises fulfilled in the life of Mary. These real reminders of the fulfillment of God's promises to her. She who experienced the fullness of the suffering mentioned in the Beatitudes also experiences the fullness of their fulfillment.

And that young vulnerable girl that we saw in Nazareth, she is now the Queen of Heaven and Earth and all generations call her blessed. My brothers and sisters, we too are blessed here and now for we have the same inheritance as Mary. Our inheritance is the promise of God, the promise of the Father. And so as we pray today, let's take our place around the painting and let's look at the joy on the face of Mary as she receives her crown. Let us ask for the grace to experience joy even now and to receive the grace of hope

that one day we too will receive our crown, our reward and our share in the fulfilled promises of God. 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. Thanks so much for joining me and praying with me today. I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow. Poco a Poco, friends. God bless y'all.