The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 206: Promise of the Father

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

In Pentecost, the Church receives the promise of the Father: the Holy Spirit. Fr. Mark-Mary leads us in meditation with the Holy Spirit, focusing on Pentecost as a prayer event, the Apostle’s reception of the New Wine, and Mary’s confidence in the overshadowing of the Spirit. We drink deeply of this new wine as we pray our decade of the Rosary. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Descent of the Holy Spirit and we will be praying one decade of the Rosary. 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 206. To download the prayer plan for Rosary in a Year, visit AscensionPress.com forward slash rosaryinayear or text R-I-Y-2-3-3-777. 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 third glorious mystery, the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. And now before our time of prayer, a review of what we have discussed up to this point. First for today, when we were looking at Acts chapter 2, verses 1 through 13, we read from one of the audiences from Pope John Paul II's pontificate on the Holy Spirit, giver of life and love. And John Paul II, he invites us to see Pentecost as a prayer event.

Looking at the particular language, especially the original Greek in which Acts was written, John Paul II, he proposes that not only is Pentecost a prayer event, it's a prayer which is patient and assiduous. And he says, in a certain sense, even a stubbornness implying sacrifice in the overcoming of difficulty. He says, it was therefore a prayer

of the most complete dedication, not only of the heart, but also of the will. And there's this invitation and a reminder and hopefully a consolation and a source of hope because so much of the Christian life is a prayer of waiting. But can it be an assiduous, maybe even a stubborn, a sacrificial waiting?

A waiting that is a prayer of the most complete dedication of the heart and will, as we wait upon the Lord to come to us, to fill us, to strengthen us, to encourage us, to carry us. And so today there can be an invitation to go to the upper room with Mary and the disciples to bring our needs, to bring our hearts, to bring our our unfulfilled desires, our desire for sanctity, for healing, for knowledge, for understanding.

And we come and we wait with Mary and the Apostle saying, Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit. And then secondly, you know, we talked about how after Pentecost, some of the witnesses accused Peter and some of the disciples of being drunk, right? And they say, what do you mean? It's early in the morning, like this is not what's going on at all. But there's these fruits of the Holy Spirit, particularly this like boldness and these signs that confuse people. And we made the connection back to the second Luminous Mystery, the wedding feast of Cana, where Jesus reveals himself to be the new bridegroom who gives to us the new wine.

And we see the Holy Spirit as being this new wine. The Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father who comes at Pentecost, comes and He fills the disciples with the new wine. And so what is new wine and why is that important? It's a new joy, right? It's a new boldness. It's a new life. It's a new hope.

It comes with a new law and a new kingdom. But maybe for today we can focus on that cause of joy, right? Back at the wedding feast of Canaan, the good wine, the wine that came second, the wine that was the fruit of Jesus changing water to wine, right? It added a joy to the celebration. And for those who understood what was happening, it was a sign of Jesus' power, His goodness, His care, and a share in the joy here now of the wedding banquet to come.

So we give thanks for the gift of the Holy Spirit. We give thanks to Jesus, the new bridegroom, for the new wine. And we rejoice in the promise of the Father who has come to us. And finally, for today, as we looked at Jean Rousseau's painting of the Pentecost, we looked at the contrast between the response

of Mary and the rest of the disciples and the apostles. If you recall, in the room, there's a bunch of really, really kind of drastic responses. Whereas Mary was quite calm, quite still, very rooted, confident, you could say. And in part, I proposed that when someone is experiencing something for the first time, it can be quite scary, traumatic, even disorienting. But as one becomes a veteran of a particular situation, there's an invitation and opportunity to have a greater stability, boldness, confidence. And we recall to mind that this wasn't the first time that Mary had been overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, as happened to her back at the first of Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit, Mary is able to

just receive with confidence and to drink deeply of this new wine, to drink deeply of the Holy Spirit, to drink deeply of the answer to her assiduous and complete and sacrificial prayer. And I believe for us there's this invitation to just open our hands, to drink deeply of the new wine, the gift of the Holy Spirit. As we continue that prayer, come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit. So now today we'll just take a moment of rest, of stillness, of leisurely prayer as we enter into our roadmap of prayer, our four R's today. In this moment, as we meditate upon this mystery, what is the grace being offered? The truth being revealed that you are invited to receive. How can you respond? I'm sorry. What's the grace that you would like to request? And then rejoice. Give thanks to the Lord for this time of prayer for the grace given.

And the life shared, namely today, the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. 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.

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. Okay. Thanks so much for joining me and praying with me again today. I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow. Poco Poco friends. God bless y'all.