The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 201: Thorns for Love

Episode Date: July 20, 2025

Mocked and spat upon, Christ crowned with thorns fulfills the image of the suffering servant—humble in agony, yet still the King, still victorious. Fr. Mark-Mary invites us to behold Him, as Pilate once did, and examine our own heart. Are we offering our worship and loyalty to the Lord or to the world? Are we burdened by sins of indifference or misplaced priorities? Let us respond with renewed fidelity, offering our whole selves to the King. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Crowning with Thorns and we will be praying one decade of the Rosary. For the complete prayer plan, visit https://ascensionpress.com/riy.

I'm 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 201. 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 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. 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 will be meditating upon and praying with the third sorrowful mystery,

our Lord being crowned with thorns. And now, as a review and to aid us in our ongoing prayer and reflection as we pray a mystery of the rosary, let's just kind of go back and remember some of what we've discussed pertaining to this mystery. First and foremost, I'm simply just going to invite you to call to mind in your imagination. Jesus, our Lord, crowned with thorns, mocked, spat upon. We looked at Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophesied suffering servant from the book of Isaiah. What we want to do is just behold our King. Behold your King.

Behold his suffering, his humility, while yet he is the King. He is the victorious one. Secondly, if you recall, aided by a reflection from Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, we looked at Pilate who had Jesus crowned with thorns, and then Pilate who brought him out and said, Etjehomo, behold the man. And what we discussed about was Pilate and all of his energy trying to manipulate his freely compromising of the truth.

Just trying to make everybody happy, trying to appease everybody, but without any conviction, without any moral core, moral grounding, right? Without any concern for truth or justice. But how he was simply driven by self-preservation. And this leads to this mockery, this great suffering of our Lord. And we behold again Jesus,

our King crowned. And we're reminded of the truth about what compromise looks like. Particularly compromise towards our Lord in all the ways in which we can try and serve so many masters, except the one master, the one king of the new kingdom, Jesus. And here's what compromise accomplished through Pilate. And here as well, you can say what compromise of the truth and integrity and goodness looks like in our world. This ongoing sort of crowning of thorns, this violence done to the world, to the body, and to our own dignity as Christians. So we bring any temptation to compromise before our Lord here. And ask that his witness speaks to us truth and light and conviction and the grace of conversion.

And then somewhat related, we looked at Titian's rendition of Christ crowned with thorns. And in his painting, if you recall, there was the bust of Tiberius Caesar, and then Jesus crowned with thorns. All of this sort of communicating and echoing these words of scripture, render to Caesar what is Caesar's,

and to God what is God's. And the question that comes is, where are you offering your worship and where are you offering your loyalty? To God or to Caesar? To the Lord or to the world? Similarly, there's this invitation to a deeper repentance. Especially a repentance from our sins of indifference, sins of the ways in which we've prioritized, like things of the world over things of the Lord, particularly the esteem of men, and the ways in which we have compromised our fidelity and loyalty to the will of God out of fear or self-preservation,

all these ways in which it could be said that we have rendered to Caesar what is proper to God. it could be said that we have rendered to Caesar what is proper to God. And again, I'm going to really invite you and your imagination to either call to mind Titian's painting, perhaps, or another image that you have of our Lord standing crowned with thorns. Behold your King. Behold your King and listen and receive this invitation to a greater worship, a greater loyalty, a greater conversion. So now we'll just take a moment here to go through our four hours, our guide of prayer. What is the grace being offered? The truth being revealed

that you are being invited to receive. How How can you respond? What is the grace you'd like to request at the service of this response? And then rejoice. We give thanks to the Lord for this time of prayer and the grace bestowed and the divine life shared. And 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, 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 are 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. 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 grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed are

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. 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 y'all.