The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 21: Show Unto Us

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

When we call upon Mary, what does she say to us? As we pray the Rosary and ask Mary to show Jesus unto us, we hear her response through the story of the Wedding Feast at Cana in the Gospel of John. If you feel like you’re at the wedding and out of wine, Fr. Mark-Mary says, turn to Mary in the Rosary, and she will advocate for you to Jesus. Today’s focus is “Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us,” and we will be praying one Our Father, three Hail Marys, one Glory Be, and the Hail Holy Queen. For the complete prayer plan, visit https://ascensionpress.com/riy.

Hi, I'm Father Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars of the Rundle, 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 21. To download the prayer plan for Rosary in a Year, visit ascensionpress.com forward slash rosaryinayear 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 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, St. Reflections, and beautiful full-page images

of the sacred art we'll be reflecting on. And after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O Clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. I like our reflection on these closing words of the Hail Holy Queen to be rooted in John chapter two, starting at verse three. in John chapter 2, starting at verse 3. My brothers and sisters, do whatever he tells you.

But brothers and sisters, this is what it means for the blessed mother to show unto us the blessed fruit of her womb, Jesus. She says to us, do whatever he tells you. She brings us into relationship, she puts him before us. whatever he tells you. She brings us into relationship, she puts him before us, and she says to us, do whatever he tells you. And I believe that in these words are found

what we call the highest expression of her clemency. The highest expression of her looking upon us with her eyes of mercy is to say to us, to bring us to Jesus, and to say to us, do whatever he tells you. The highest expression of her loving, maternal heart is to bring us to Jesus and say to us, do whatever he tells you. And it's all here. It's all here in the wedding feast of Cana. We have wine. We have the Blessed Mother. We have a miracle. We have Jesus.

As we started out our reflection on the Hail Holy Queen with me talking about the sweetness of Mary and the Most Holy Eucharist and the Eucharistic institution or narrative, you might have been thinking to yourself, Father Mark Mary, you're talking about the Blessed Mother and wine. Why aren't you talking about the wedding feast of Cana? My brothers and sisters, we got there. We got there. To be honest, it wasn't on my mind yet, but we finally got there and it made sense. So, if you got there before me, well done. The Lord took a little bit longer with me, but we're here, right? And I think it fits perfectly within the context of the themes we've been pulling out

of the Hail Holy Queen. There's been this theme, certainly of the sweetness of the Blessed Mother and her love and her mercy, et cetera, her clemency, her lovingness. But also there's been this experience that we have of being in the Valley of Tears. And in the wedding feast of Cana in the gospel,

they're out of wine. They don't know what to do. They have nowhere to go. And the Blessed Mother is a good mother. She's paying attention. How does she respond? She gets the attention of Jesus. She brings the workers to Jesus and says, right, do whatever.

He tells you. She advocates. She's moved by their poverty. She intercedes on their behalf. She brings them to Jesus. And what is the fruit of it? Not just more water. It's the wine. It's the sweetness.

It's the joy. A proper two, a wedding feast. Maybe life is going awesome, and we're growing in freedom, and we're growing in holiness, and we're growing in discipleship, and we're growing in prayer, and we're just being so abundantly blessed.

The Blessed Mother will bring us to Jesus and let Jesus teach you how to glorify the Father. And let Jesus teach you how to give from the abundance that you have received. Or maybe you feel like you're at the wedding and you're out of wine. And you're beat up and broken and you've used all your resources and they haven't gotten you where you want to be. Mary responds in the same way. She brings us to Jesus and says, do whatever he tells you.

I was in the context of a little bit of like a sort of like a coaching type of relationship with someone who's a business coach and was just helping me out with some of my responsibilities. And it was really funny because often there would be a difficulty with maybe a superior or a brother or a co-worker or somebody who's maybe a lay person working under me. And I'd maybe bring up some of their their faults or feelings of some of the ways they were making my life difficult and kind of complaining about it. And he'd always ask me the same questions. All right. So what did he or she say when he talked to them? His point was like, OK, here's the difficulties like Like the way to solve it, the first step to solving it is going to be communication. So there's this presumption, like, okay,

what did he or she say when you talk to them? And I think this is the same way with whatever's happening in our lives, we bring it to the blessed mother and she's not going to be cold about it, certainly. She's going to receive us. She's going to love us. She's going to experience what we need. And then she's going to ask.

Okay. So when you brought this to Jesus, when you told Jesus about it, what did He say to you? Another way of her saying, do whatever He tells you. So that's the invitation for us today as we pray with these words. And after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O Clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. If something is awesome, is going on in your life,

and you want to know how to celebrate it, how to give thanks for it, how to, if you will pay it forward, if we can use that language, all right, what did Jesus tell you? If you're beat up and broken and struggling and suffering and all of that. Okay, bring it to Jesus and then tell us like what did Jesus tell you? So that's what we're going to do here is we close with prayer. What's the thing?

The good thing, the pain thing, the hard thing, the big question? Bring it to Jesus, communicate it to him, tell him about it. Listen to him and then do whatever he tells you. 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. 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. Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then most gracious advocate, then eyes of mercy towards us. And after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O Clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary, pray for us, most holy mother of God, that we may be made worthy

of the promises of Christ. Amen. The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. All right. Thanks, everybody, for joining me and praying with me again today. We'll continue the journey tomorrow. Taking a look at the Apostles Creed. I look forward to continuing tomorrow with you. Poco a poco, friends.

God bless y'all.