The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 361: The Joyful Mysteries

Episode Date: December 27, 2025

Today, Fr. Mark-Mary invites us to bring our worries, our smallness, and our longing into God’s presence with confidence that nothing is impossible for Him. He reflects on the way God is drawn to humility, lifting us where we cannot lift ourselves, and in the quiet peace that comes from beholding Christ with a childlike heart. Even moments of spiritual dryness, he notes, can lead us into deeper relationship as we seek the Lord anew. Today’s focus is the Joyful Mysteries, and we’ll be praying the full Rosary. For the complete prayer plan, visit https://ascensionpress.com/riy.

I'm Father Mark Mary with Franciscan friars with Renewal, and this is the Rosary in Year podcast. We're 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 the Year is brought to you by Ascension. This is Day 361. 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 do.

to pray each month and it's a great way to track your progress the best place to listen to the podcast 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 no matter what app you're listening in remember to tap follow or subscribe for your daily notifications today we will be praying that joyful mysteries let's 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, is conceived by the Holy Spirit, born 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 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 in 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 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 joyful mystery is the Annunciation. There is the exchange between the angel Gabriel and Mary. And Mary is troubled. She's troubled at the word's spoken. But there's a succinct line from the angel, which I would like to highlight here and focus on. This is Luke 137. For with God, nothing will be impossible.

Right? So Mary comes and she kind of has this question, like, how can this be? And the angel answers, right? For God, nothing will be impossible. Can these words of Scripture speak to you, to your trouble, to your worries, your questions? For with God, nothing will be impossible. Let us pray.

Our Father, who art in heaven, howlode be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, 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 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. 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 joyful mystery is a visitation in concluding we refer to the visitation

we have mary's magnificat her song of praise and in luke chapter one verse 48 we read in the context of mary's magnificat these words he has regarded the low estate of his hand handmaiden for behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed mary recognizes her low estate her limitation that she has limits i think this is good language that she has limits but also she recognizes that instead of this being an obstacle to God there's a way in which he is drawn to her to lift her up because of her lowly estate God provides right

where she has these real human limitations but actually instead of it being something like an obstacle to God it's something that like attracts him that brings him closer and then behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed that there's also this like really like magnanimous understanding of like what her future will be all generations will call her blessed because the way God regards her lowliness. And so I think we we can experience this. We can experience our limitations.

We can't do it all. We can't do it all perfectly. Even in the spiritual life. We want to see this as Mary saw it, not an obstacle, but something that draws Jesus close to us. and that him coming close him coming to our poverty is going to bring a fruitfulness and an abounding grace that's greater than we could ever have achieved on our own and we see this fulfilled as we pray here

calling Mary blessed among women 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 our sins. 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. O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fire. of hell, and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.

The third joyful mystery is the Nativity. Let's go in search of peace at the Nativity. And the peace that Jesus can give, right? So I'm going to ask you to imagine Mary holding the newly born Jesus. see his eyelids close tight as he sleeps in her arms hear his breathing notice the movements of his chest as he exhales and exhales see his little hand wrapped around one of Mary's little fingers. So small, fragile, innocence, beautiful. Behold your Savior. 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 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 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, a joyful mystery, is the presentation of Jesus in the temple. We can cry out to Jesus, to the Lord, in multiple ways. I think one is with volume, like in emotion, like a deep kind of heart-wrenching cry to the Lord. but I think there's also like a crying out to the Lord which is can even be done in silence

and it's this cry out to the Lord through perseverance like we just keep showing up we keep showing up we keep showing up and there's this way in which like we need him so much that we're going to show up again and again and again and again waiting waiting And this is kind of the, I think, the crying out to Jesus that we see in some of the Gospels in this keeping of vigilance. You don't know the day or the hour. So keep watch, right? And the grace to keep watch in those situations comes from, like, being really in touch with both God's promise and our need.

And I think we see this with both Simeon and Anna. Like, they just keep showing up. They keep showing up. They keep showing up. and they're not making a lot of noise, not a lot of commotion, but they need the Savior so much, like there is this silent cry of their persevering prayer. Come, Lord.

And we experience in the presentation the answer of this prayer for them. Beautifully put in the words of Holy Simeon, my eyes have seen your salvation. But as ask for this grace to just keep showing up, to persevere and crying out to the Lord because we know he is faithful, and we are in touch with our total need for him and his grace and his salvation and his light in our lives, in our hearts, in our world. 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 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. 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. those in most need of thy mercy. The fifth joyful mystery is the finding of Jesus in the temple. So Mary had found Jesus, or Jesus came to her, right? She carried him nine months in her womb and then was with him in Nazareth. And here, in this mystery, the finding of Jesus in temple, there's this mode of time where she loses him where he's lost for a couple of days she seeks him and she finds him and there's

in this moment like a deeper revelation of who he is and what the relationship will be as he talks about being in his father's house I think this is a good image for prayer we can have a particular experience like with God and in prayer and then there can be a felt experience of like a dryness or a distance. And there's a lot of discernment about like what's going on there. But one possibility is that he's inviting us, Jesus inviting us to seek him out anew, to bring us deeper and to bring us into a new experience of him,

to have a deeper intimacy, maybe even a deeper revelation of what his lordship looks in our life. As we pray, let us be open to Jesus' surprises. and let us be open to experiencing some of the felt distance of Jesus as an invitation to seek him to go deeper to experience him a new intimacy with him. 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 day. 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 you. 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. 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 God. 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.

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 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, a 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 has purchased for us the rewards 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. the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 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.