The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 359: The Luminous Mysteries

Episode Date: December 25, 2025

We reflect on the moments in Jesus’ ministry that reveal his identity and invite our response of faith as we pray the Luminous mysteries. We revisit several of our Saint reflections as Fr. Mark-Mary highlights St. Ambrose’s teaching on the Father’s voice proclaiming Jesus as the beloved Son, and St. Alphonsus Liguori’s reflection on Mary’s unique intercessory role. As we continue through the mysteries, Fr. Mark-Mary reflects on James Tissot’s depiction of the grateful leper as a symbol of the Proclamation of the Kingdom, the disciples’ mountaintop experience in the Transfiguration, and Jesus washing the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper. Today's focus is the Luminous 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. This is day 359. 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. 777. 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. Their 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 luminous 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 is conceived by the Holy Spirit. Born in the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, die, and was buried.

He descended to hell. On the third day, he rose again from the dead. 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 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 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 are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy 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 Luminous Mystery is the baptism of Jesus and the Jordan. I really appreciated the reading we took from St. Ambrose about the baptism. And he says, is there any room left for doubt when the father clearly calls from heaven and says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased? It's such a beautiful statement of faith and also truth. We know who Jesus is by the very authority of God. God himself has revealed himself.

And our response is one of theological faith, of a sure faith, of a confident faith, of a faith that takes hold of and transforms our whole lives. As we pray this decade, let us hear the Father speak again. beloved son let us recognize the authority of this voice god himself let's ask for the grace of faith that touches all of our heart all of our life our wills our intellects 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 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 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. 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 luminous mystery is the wedding feast at Cana. St. Alfonso Ligori wrote, From eternity, God has established by another general decree that nothing the divine mother could ask should be denied her. I love this language, and I love a couple things about it. One of all, like, it makes clear where Mary's role authority, like power come from, from God, right?

Like, this is not, like, existentially absolutely necessary. It doesn't, like, necessarily flow from her nature. She remains a creature. But through God's perfect plan, here put in the words of a general decree, Mary has this power, this intercession. And so I just love this for some of the nuance it has, but also, like, kind of the power and the confidence that it bestows upon you and I, the reader of this. Again, from eternity is really powerful.

This is a work of God has established by another general decree, that nothing the divine mother, like not that she is divine, but she is mother of God, of Jesus, could ask, should be denied her. So let's go ahead and bring to her whatever our needs and her intention. are with total and complete confidence. 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. 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 at 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. 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 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 lemus mystery is the proclamation of the kingdom and the call to conversion we're going to return to james tisot's painting healing of the lepers at copernum right where there's the one leperneper kneeling with his hands raised in gratitude and worship and surrender, the one leper who, remember there was the 10 lepers healed, but one returned giving thanks. And again, a reminder of why this is here is that Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom, he proclaims the kingdom both in word and deed. His teaching is the proclamation of the kingdom, his giving the new law as the proclamation of the kingdom, his parables are part of the proclamation in the kingdom, and his works, including his miracles

and its healings. Here we see the healer healing. And so this is part of the work of God. And our invitation is to return to have this conversion, this return to Jesus, where we come to him, like our Lord, to reorient our lives, our hearts, like everything, back to him. So as we pray today, let us make another step in turning and reorienting our whole lives to Jesus. particularly here we'll focus on giving thanks so let's go ahead and enter this time of praise and of gratitude and of worship of Jesus for all of the blessings all of the good he has done in our world and saving us and all of the ways that he has blessed us 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 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 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 woman's mystery is the transfiguration. In the transfiguration we see Peter James and John, right, having the mountaintop experience par excellence. They're on the mountain and the Lord is transfigured before them and what is Peter's response? Like he wants to build the tent, he wants to stay there. But what happens?

Jesus takes them down the mountain, right? and you'll notice this in the life of the disciples is it wasn't one big mountain top experience the mountaintop experience and by this i mean like where you're kind of away and it's really really consoling and encouraging and there's all this sort of like joy and positivity and it feels really really good right this the language of mountaintop experience it's the anomaly in the life of the disciples not the ordinary and that's something i think just to notice and kind of kind of make a movement towards acceptance in our lives, certainly in our relationship with Jesus.

Many of us have gone in retreats or had really beautiful, profound moments with the Lord in prayer, on pilgrimage, etc. And we can kind of get frustrated when those aren't part of our ordinary relationship. But I think it is important to see the experience of Peter and James and John, right? That's not one big transfiguration.

And I think this is true, right, for vocations, for marriage. there's the honeymoon phase but most of life is the honeymoon and having kids there's some really really peak moments but also there's some valleys there's some struggle there's some difficulty wrestling with our vocations etc but let us take heart have confidence in the good shepherd who is with you and that he is at work in these valleys but the valley is transitory he's leading you towards green pastures and still waters. 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 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 children.

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 fifth luminous mystery is the institution of the Eucharist Jesus himself

links the washing of the feet to the institution of the Eucharist It's in the same room in close proximity. Again, it's not by accident. And I think it's beautiful, right? Like, Jesus comes and he's going to wash Peter's feet. Peter is this. Jesus basically says, like, it's not optional. And then Peter says, okay, well, then don't even just wash my feet.

Like, wash all of me. I want to receive all of it. I want all that you have to offer. And this is a really beautiful, profound, worthy of imitation. disposition for ourselves to have as we come to Jesus who desires, in a sense, to serve us, to wash us, to renew us, to make us clean, and to give himself, like, totally to us. And as we receive the Most Holy Eucharist, we take this posture of receptivity and of humility. And like Peter, we say, Jesus, I want all of you. I want all of you. I want you to come into, to touch, to heal.

to wash all of me, all of my life, all of my heart. And so we come in adoration and worship of Jesus. The Most Holy Eucharist, we prepare ourselves in prayer now for the next time we receive Holy Communion by saying, Jesus, like more of you, more of you. I give to you all of me, and I want all of you. 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 third 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 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. 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, forget. give 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 and 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. Let us pray. O God, who's only begotten Son, by his life, death, and resurrection, is purchased for us the rewards of eternal life. Grant, we beseech thee that meditating upon these mysteries are the most holy rosary, the blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise to 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, poca, poca, friends. God bless you.