The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 196: Invited to the Kingdom

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

We review our meditations focused on the Proclamation of the Kingdom, recalling Jesus’ call to us, asking us to become residents of the kingdom of heaven. Revisiting Rembrant’s Storm of the Sea of Galilee and St. Augustine’s writing, Fr. Mark-Mary leads us in prayer of a decade of the rosary. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Proclamation of the Kingdom and Call to Conversion and we will be praying one decade of the Rosary. For the complete prayer plan, visit https://ascensionpress.com/riy.

Hi, I'm Fr. Mark Mary with the 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 196. 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 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'll be meditating upon and praying

with the Third Luminous Mystery, the Proclamation of the Kingdom, and the Call to Conversion. Now a quick review of some of what we have brought to the table in our discussion about the third Luminous Mystery in the episodes up to this point. Back at day 36, when we are looking at Mark chapter 1, verses 14 through 15, based on the writings and the explanation of the Kingdom of God,

particularly through Pope Benedict XVI's writing, we came to look at the Kingdom of God as this, right? The Kingdom of God is Jesus. And the proclamation of the Kingdom of God is not just establishing some sort of worldly reign or worldly territory, but proclaiming Jesus himself as the new kingdom. The proclamation of the kingdom God takes place by, as we talked about, like God being God or God godding, if you will, the shepherd shepherding, the teacher teaching, the savior saving. Through all of this, we see the King reigning.

And so, the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, right? We see this throughout the Gospels, and it's a beautiful lens to come to a variety of the healings of Jesus. The teaching of Jesus, the various works of Jesus. Jesus is ultimately calling us to faith in himself. He's calling us to become residents of the kingdom of heaven, to be united to him, to be under his lordship, under his care, under his law, to experience his freedom. And so we see this in salvation history, and we're invited to experience this in our own lives in a variety of ways.

This proclamation of the kingdom, the call to conversion as we experience God-godding, the shepherd-shepherding, the teacher-teaching, the healer-healing, etc. In the world and in our own lives. lives. And one particular focus of this new kingdom is the new law and the new love and the new kingdom being proclaimed by Jesus. As we looked at a writing of St. Augustine, St. Augustine wrote, It was God who through His holy prophets and servants, according to a thoroughly arranged distribution of times, gave the lesser precepts to a people as yet required to be bound by fear,

and through His Son gave the greater ones to a people whom it had now become suitable to set free by love." And so that's us, my brothers and sisters, those who are invited to receive the new law with a new love and a new freedom. If you pay attention to the words of Jesus, often you'll hear him say like, you heard X, but I tell you why. He's talking about some sort of law, particularly of the Mosaic covenant. And then he's proclaiming its fulfillment, its fulfillment, which is possible, but I tell you why. He's talking about some sort of law, particularly of the Mosaic Covenant.

And then he's proclaiming its fulfillment, its fulfillment which is possible with the coming of Jesus. And I think that's something that's so important. We have the grace, the capacity to live this new law, because we have access to a new love in Jesus and a new strength, a new grace, particularly through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so we can experience these calls to a different way of life. We can experience a call to a type of living, a following of a type of law, which can feel quite lofty and even difficult.

There can be a particular temptation to discouragement if we think that we're going to fulfill it and live it and persevere in it all by our own strength and our own accord. When in fact, we're able to live this through God living his own life in us, we can fulfill the new law because we have access to this new grace, the very life of God, the Holy Spirit alive and well and in us. And so we can receive this invitation, if you will, this high call of the gospel, but with confidence by turning to the Lord, by asking for more of His life to be lived in us.

And he became inflamed more and more with his own love, alive and burning in our own hearts. And then lastly for our review and reflection today, one of the paintings we looked at for the third Luminous Mystery was Rembrandt's painting of Christ in the storm on the Sea of Galilee. And you recall there was a small boat filled with Jesus and some of the apostles and a huge storm with waves already crashing over into the boat and filling up the boat. And we noted that the fear of the apostles was not an overreaction. They weren't just being dramatic, they were in fact experiencing a life-threatening storm and a potentially catastrophic situation.

potentially catastrophic situation. So that's not like unreasonable, but where they fall short is two parts. First of all, lacking confidence or faith in who is in the boat with them. The Lord is in the boat with them, right? The one who has dominion and authority over the winds and the water and the waves. When they come to Jesus, they say,

do you not care if we perish? So first of all, they either doubt or neglect His power, but then even worse, they doubt his goodness. Like, do you even care? And Jesus wouldn't be there in the boat with them if he didn't care. The incarnation would not have happened if he didn't care. And I do believe that when the Lord rebukes them for the lack of faith, it's not just the lack of faith in His power and His authority,

but even more so, their lack of faith in His goodness and His concern. I believe the invitation today, perhaps for you, is to come to Jesus in the midst of your own storms, but to come with confidence, absolute confidence, that He is invested, He does care, He does have the authority and the power. And so we come to Him, right, with confidence in who He is, the power He has, and the love that He has for each of us.

So now as we enter into our time of prayer and slowly transition, perhaps the invitation today is to pray with the nature of the Kingdom of God and the proclamation, as the shepherd shepherding, the teacher teaching, the savior saving, etc. Perhaps there's this invitation to reorient ourselves as we feel challenged by the invitation of Jesus, the law of God. Instead of focusing on our own strength, our own capacity to fulfill the law and to persevere in it, we turn instead our attention to the Lord, asking for more of His life to be lived in us and more of His love to animate us.

We're in the storms of our own lives. Again we're invited to put our focus on Jesus. To come to Him with confidence in His power, His dominion, but also confidence in His goodness. That He does care, He is concerned. And already here now, He's responding to our situation, to our need of salvation in the best way possible. For He is God and He is good. And of course, there's always openness for you to bring to this time of prayer,

any other movements of the heart, inspirations of your mind, where you feel God's promptings. So at this moment, what is the grace? What is the truth being revealed that you are invited to receive? How can you respond? What is the grace that you would like to request? request. And now rejoice, give praise and thanks to the Lord. For this time of prayer, this time of stillness and rest in Him and for all of the graces that He has bestowed upon you. Now together 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, 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. 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, 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. All right, friends, 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. Que passio.