The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 2: The King Knows You

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

Jesus, the eternal king, knows your name. Fr. Mark-Mary leads us in a meditation on the presence of Jesus to assist us in our prayer of the Rosary, expressing the truth that the king of the universe personally knows and loves you. Today’s focus is “Jesus, King and center of all hearts” and we will be praying one Our Father, three Hail Marys, and one Glory Be. For the complete prayer plan, visit https://ascensionpress.com/riy.

Hi, I'm Father Mark Mary with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and this is the Rosary in the 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 the Year is brought to you by Ascension. This is day two. 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. 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. Today and for the following three days, we're going to be practicing encountering another in prayer. This aspect of prayer fits under the larger umbrella of what is classically referred to as practicing the presence of God or to use the language of the catechism, raising our minds and our hearts to God. These first two days, we'll practice encountering Jesus in prayer. And then the following two days, we'll look at what praying with Our Lady looks like. And to help enrich and guide our prayer today and tomorrow, we'll be turning to the litany of the sacred heart.

My friends, to be honest, I've never really been a litany guy, but I'm quickly, really quickly, and really recently becoming a litany guy. The reason I've historically struggled with this form of prayer is that there's this recitation of all of these titles of our Lord or our lady, et cetera. And to be honest, I just don't really know what most of them mean. So it really does feel like this repetition of these empty phrases. I just don't really know what any of it means. So it's hard for me to value it. But quite recently, in particularly in preparing these next four episodes, I've been able to do a deep dive into what these various titles mean. And to be honest, like I've really had like a total 180, a change of heart. I think I've struggled because a lot

of these titles are a bit poetic. So like what they mean isn't immediately evident to me at least, but as I've done some studying and some reflecting on them and I've come to understand them, I've come to encounter them, experience them as profoundly rich and beautiful. And to back up for a second, a litany, if you're not familiar with it, a litany, it's a type of vocal prayer and each of the litanies is going to have a particular emphasis like the sacred heart of Jesus. prayer. And each of the litanies is going to have a particular emphasis like the sacred heart of Jesus. The litany then has a series of invocations that mention other titles of the mystery being prayed with and about the characteristics of whatever the subject is. For example, with the litany of the sacred heart, heart of Jesus, infinite in majesty, heart of Jesus,

holy temple of God, heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High. Well, today's episode isn't focused on praying the litany of the Sacred Heart. That's not what we're specifically doing today. The litany of the Sacred Heart, it is a profound source of inspiration and direction for praying with the person of Jesus, as it offers us a series of beautiful reminders of who Jesus is. Today, we're going to be using one of the invocations for our prayer, but if you'd like to continue to practice encountering Jesus, like who he is in prayer, this litany is going to be a really helpful complement to your ongoing prayer with

scripture, particularly the gospels, and your time of prayer in adoration of the blessed sacrament. The invocation for our prayer this moment is heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts. Jesus is the king. He is the king who sits upon the throne. And I'll invite you for a moment in your imagination to create your own throne room. Where Christ the king is seated on the throne. Now scripture tells us that he is surrounded by a host of angels. He's clothed in majesty. And he holds the whole world in his hand. Jesus the king is almighty.

He is the lawgiver, the ruler, and the victorious one. And yet this King, he knows your name. To step outside of this throne room for a moment. I'm going to share a bit of an embarrassing story real quick. I've been doing videos next to Father Mike on Ascension Presents for nearly six years now. And every week we've been showing up next to each other on YouTube, but the whole time, he's been in Minnesota and I've been in New York. Until somewhat recently, we didn't really connect directly. We both had our team at Ascension that we somewhat recently, we didn't really connect directly. Like we both had our team at Ascension that we worked with,

but didn't have a reason to work directly with one another. And after having done Ascension Presents for nearly three years, again, having a video next to his every week for those three years, as we do in a particular event, like a question and answer, a live question and answer for Presents.

And to help promote it, I heard Father Mike on one of his videos mentioned something along the lines of, okay, and next week tune in because Father Mark Mary is going to be coming on for a live Q&A. I'm kind of embarrassed to say it, but you know what? The fact that he knew my name, it meant a lot to me. And maybe it meant more to me than it should have, but I was like, oh, Father Mike, he knows who I am. Like he knows my name. Okay. That's pretty cool. And you know, like Father Mike is awesome. And some could say he is the Catholic

media king, but my friends, he is not the king, like the literal king of the universe. And so, even more important than Father Mike knowing my name, although that's cool, is that Jesus, the eternal king, he knows my name. And he's always known my name. He knit me together in my mother's womb. He knows the numbers of hairs on my head. The King, Christ the King, he knows me, and the King, he knows you. Now, let's go back to this throne room that we've created in our imaginations, this place of prayer for a moment. As the invocation from the litany of the sacred heart says, Jesus, the King is also the center of our hearts. But how often is this actually a reality? We've been granted an audience with the King. We are there in the palace. We are there in the

throne room. In fact, the King was basically begging for us to come. He's done everything to get us to come visit him. And we're there. We're in the room. We're in his presence. And he can't take his eyes off of us, but our eyes never meet his. Maybe we're looking in the figurative mirror and picking apart our personality or emotional lives. Potentially we could be distracted with our phones, the success or faults of others, like everything going on in the world, etc, etc. And what comes to mind is the scripture verse. Martha, Martha, you are worried and anxious about so many things. One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part.

So my friends, as we've gone about this world, and sometimes even our prayer, like so fixated and focused on so many things that are not him, causing us to experience anxiety and worry about so many things. causing us to experience anxiety and worry about so many things. Let us now at this moment choose the better part. And so in prayer, I want you to go to imagine yourself approaching the king as he sits on his throne, this king of love as he looks upon you. And approach him, draw close to him.

You can sit or kneel before him. Now look Jesus in the eyes. Behold your king. In this moment, make him the center and the focus of your attention. Raise your mind to him. And recognize that he recognizes you. He sees you. He sees you.

He knows you. Now hear him say your name. And pay attention to the movement in your heart. And respond to him. Share with him your love, your needs, your desires. The King, Jesus, he knows you. And he loves to hear your voice. Look at him.

Speak to him. And we'll close today's episode the way that we're going to close all of the episodes of Phase 1. Praying in our Father, three Hail Marys and a Glory Be. And I really want the focus of your prayer to be continuing to look at Him while we are saying these prayers. Continue to keep Him before you. Keep Him at the center of your heart, your attention, your very, very life. As we pray in this moment, remember,

the king sees you. The king sees you. The King knows you. The King loves to hear your voice. And the King of the universe knows your name. 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, 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 Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. All right, well, thank you for joining me and praying with me today. I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow. All right, Poco a Poco friends.

God bless y'all.