The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 353: The Sorrowful Mysteries

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

Guiding us through the Sorrowful Mysteries, Fr. Mark-Mary ponders these mysteries through the lens of the Prodigal Son. In the Agony in the Garden, he highlights that just as the prodigal son demanded his inheritance, sinful humanity grasped at Christ, prompting us to consider the ways we, too, take matters into our own hands. During the Scourging and the Crowning with Thorns, he reveals both the cost of sin and the unshakable truth of our identity as beloved sons and daughters of the Father. As we arrive at the Carrying of the Cross and the Crucifixion, Fr. Mark-Mary emphasizes the Father’s relentless pursuit of us—running toward us in our weakness and answering every doubt with unwavering love. Today’s focus is the Sorrowful Mysteries, and we’ll be praying the full Rosary. For the complete prayer plan, visit https://ascensionpress.com/riy.

Hi, I'm Father Mark Mary with 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 a Year is brought to you by Ascension, and this is Day 353. 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 3-3. 7777. 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's 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 support 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 praying the sorrowful mysteries. Let us begin in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontchus Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to hell. On the third day, he rose again from the day. dead and he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from there he will come to judge the living and the dead I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and a life everlasting amen for our Holy Father's health and intentions our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on our 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. For an increase in the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. 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. 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. 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.

The first sorrowful mystery is the agony in the garden. Early on in our journey, we did five decades in a row with the sorrowful mysteries and the prodigal son. And we're going to kind of review that and go back to that again today. And if you recall in the parable of the prodigal son, what does the son do? He goes to his father and he demands his inheritance. He says, like, give it into my hands. And then he goes and squanders it. He wastes it.

And this is sin, right? To go to the Father and say, like, I demand what is mine now instead of remaining in the disposition of a son. And we see sinful humanity doing this towards Jesus, like give him into my hands. Like, Jesus is our inheritance, but sinful humanity takes him and says, give him to me, let me do with him what I want, ultimately arresting him, scourging him, leading him to death. So as we pray with the first sorrow from the mystery, the agony in the garden, we see sinful humanity coming to a rest, taken to their hands, Jesus, and we repent of all the ways we have likewise taken things into our own hands, instead of waiting on the Lord, surrendering to him, trusting in his timing to give us our share in the inheritance, in his beloved son.

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 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. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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. 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. O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.

The second sorrowful mystery is the scourging at the pillar. So after the prodigal son has asked for his inheritance, what happens? like he squanders it, there's famine, and he ends up poor and beat up, hungry, you know, fighting with pigs for their food. And here is on full display of the fruit of sin. We have the language of scripture that the fruit of sin is death. It poisons us, it kills us. Particularly it kills the life of God and our soul.

And we see this with this son, the prodigal son. We've seen him the picture of suffering humanity, isolated, away from the father, caught up in sin, like maybe even like addictions, like bent over, beat up. And this is what happens when we give ourselves over to the pursuit of passions, when we take all of our life into our own hands. And then we see this, right, not just in the parable, but in the scourging of Jesus. Jesus takes upon himself the consequences of sin, scourged, beat up, isolated, alone, mocked, bent over. and what is sort of taught in the parable about the fruit of sin

becomes, if you will, a reality in the life of Jesus. And so we behold him, scourged, beaten, mocked. And in so doing, like, we behold, like, the reality of sin, the fruit of our sin. May this unveiling of the reality of sin be in a moment of grace for us to a deeper contrition and repentance for our own sins. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallow 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 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 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 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 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 are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for God. 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. 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 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 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 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 glory be to the father and to the sun and to the holy spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen oh my jesus forgive us our sins save us from the fires of hell and lead all souls to heaven especially those in most need of thy mercy the third sorrowful mystery is the crowning with thorns So with the first two decades, we've sort of identified how Jesus takes upon himself the fate

of the prodigal son, like without sin, he takes upon himself the consequence of sin. But here we'll start to contrast the journeys of the prodigal son and our Lord. Because what happens in the life, the prodigal son? He sins and he feels like he's forfeited his dignity. I'm no longer worthy to be called a son. I can go back and become just a servant. And this is what temptation does, and this is what Satan does in his lives,

tries to identify us with sin. Now Jesus took upon himself, like the consequences of sin. But as he is mocked, he remains firm in his identity. He remains firm knowing that he is the beloved son of the Father. And while like physically he takes on all of the scourging, you know, the wounding that is the fruit of sin, he remains without sin and he remains rooted in the fullness of the truth. I am beloved son.

I might be rejected by all these people, but I am the beloved son of the best of fathers. And so what I offered is there's many ways in which we might feel beat up by sin. feel its consequences. And it makes us vulnerable to these lies against our identity and our dignity as baptized sons and daughter. And we can experience ourselves as vulnerable between these lies which attack our dignity and identity, which is ours through baptism. Let us remember that we are his beloved, his beloved children, that we can always return to him and he will always receive us. as beloved sons and beloved daughters, that he desires to heal us and to restore us.

May this truth be spoken to you again today, that you are beloved son, you are beloved daughter of the best of fathers, who always waits and longs to receive you, to heal you, to restore you, to forgive you. 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 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 end of the end of the end of God. And at the end of God, 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. 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 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 one. 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 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 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 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 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 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 glory be to the father and to the sun and to the holy spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen o my jesus forgive us our sins save us from the fires of hell and lead all souls to heaven especially those in most need of thy mercy.

The fourth star of mystery is the carrying of the cross. And here again we'll contrast the experience of Jesus who takes upon himself sin and the prodigal son. We'll look again at how he takes upon himself, like the consequences of sin, the journey of the sinner. And particularly this, as we see him making this journey, this journey of ascent up a hill, and where does it lead ultimately to death and this is the fate of sinful humanity we've taken

our inheritance into our hands we've beaten ourselves up we take upon ourselves the fruit and the consequences of sin and shame etc and we make this journey and even if we try and journey home we can't make it all the way back without a savior the consequence of sin I can't is death, and we can't save ourselves. We see Jesus taking upon himself this journey as he embraces the cross and carries it, not to his place of restoration, but his place of crucifixion. In contrast, the prodigal son shows us what actually happens in salvation history, what it looks like to have a Savior, he begins to make the journey home. But as he just sort of begins, while still at a distance, the father sees him and runs to him, descends to him, embraces him, and brings him home.

You and I, that we deserve the journey of the sinner, are offered the journey of the prodigal son. We just repent, we just turn back and say, Lord, come, save me, restore me. and with the fullness of love and passion and all of his resources, our Lord comes to us to embrace us, to restore us, and to save us. And this is ours. This is offered to us. Because the Son took upon himself,

the journey that, if you will, by sin we deserved. We get what we don't deserve. because he took upon himself what he did not deserve may our hearts be filled with gratitude and may our hearts if they are turned away from our father turn towards him and say come lord come and save me 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 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. 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 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 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 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 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 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 a woman. 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. 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. O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy. The fifth sorrowful mystery is the crucifixion. I believe the image of the father running to the prodigal son, to the son, embracing him, kissing him,

putting a ring on his finger, a robe on his back, sandals on his feet, having the fatted calf slaughtered and this joyful celebration. It's one of the most beautiful images of scripture filled with good news, right? And I think the best news of it is that this is real for you and for me, that Jesus himself, who reveals to us the Father, is the pursuit of the Father for us,

who descends to our level, who meets us, who embraces us, who brings us home. like how much do you and I desire to be pursued and to be pursued in our lowliness and our brokenness by unconditional love and you and I are pursued on our lowliness by unconditional love incarnate in the sun and we see this pursuit we see how much he enters into our misery on the cross there's a struggle that so many of us have this question of like, does God care? Is he invested in our lives? Or is he just sort of nonchalantly indifferently waiting for us to try and make it back? And we have this answer in Jesus on the cross.

He reveals to us the heart of the Father as he comes in pursuit of us, so invested in us, so concerned about us, so loving of us, that he pursues us unto crucifixion, unto death, so as we behold our crucified lord let us behold the love that god has for us to the question that we have for god like do you care jesus crucified is the most profound resounding like yes yes yes i love you this much Our Father who art in heaven Hallow 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 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 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 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 are thou among women, and blessed is that. 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. 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 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 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 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 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. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Mary, Mother of God. Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, amen. O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy. 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 thine eyes of mercy towards us. And after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, oh sweet Virgin Mary, pray for us, most holy mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Let us pray, O God, who's only begotten Son, by his life, death and resurrection, is purchased for us the reward of eternal life. Grant, we beseech thee that meditating upon these mysteries of the most holy rosary of the blessed virgin mary we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise through the same christ our lord amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit

amen all right thanks everyone 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