The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 46: Come Holy Spirit

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

The Descent of the Holy Spirit makes all things new, including our way of participating in God’s life. Fr. Mark-Mary looks at Pentecost as a prayer event, the fulfilment of the promise of the Father, and as a fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Pentecost, drawing on audiences from Pope John Paul II. As we pray the Rosary, we meditate on this new life of God at work in us through the Holy Spirit. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and we will be praying one Our Father, three Hail Marys, and one Glory Be. For the complete prayer plan, visit https://ascensionpress.com/riy.

I'm Father Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and this is the Rosary in a Year podcast where it's through prayer and meditation. The Rosary brings us deeper into a 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 46. To download the prayer plan for Rosary in a Year, visit ascensionpress.com forward slash rosary in a year or text RIOI to 33777. 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 podcasts 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. No matter what app you're listening in, remember to tap follow or subscribe for your daily notifications. The third glorious mystery is the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Acts chapter 2, verses 1 through 13.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered because each one had heard them speaking in his own language.

And they were amazed and wondered, saying, Are not all of these who are speaking Galileeans? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belong to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytites. Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed saying to one another,

what does this mean? But others mocking said, they are filled with new wine. In today's meditation on Pentecost, the third glorious mystery, we're gonna look at it in three parts. We're gonna look at it first as a prayer event, second as the fulfillment, as the promise of the Father, specifically the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, and thirdly as the new Pentecost, fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Pentecost, I'm going to be working with a collection of audiences from Pope John Paul II. It's called the Spirit Giver of Life and Love. It's a catechesis on the Creed. It's excellent. If you want to go

deeper with the Holy Spirit, there's these collection, again, of audiences from Pope John Paul II on the Holy Spirit, and they are great. Let's look at Pentecost's prayer event. Acts chapter 1 verse 14 says, All of these, with one accord, devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren. Okay, so our lady is there and the disciples are gathered in prayer. We know after our Lord's resurrection, He spent 40 days revealing Himself.

Then He ascends to the Father. And then there's about nine days between the ascension and Pentecost, which means 50 days. And this time was a time of prayer. These nine days of prayer. This is the first novena, this time of prayer with Mary and the disciples between the ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Pope John Paul II says this, "'It was not a prayer of momentary exultation. The Greek word suggests a patient assiduousness, in a certain sense, even a stubbornness, implying sacrifice in the overcoming of difficulty. It was therefore a prayer of the most complete dedication, not only of the heart, but also of the will. And then on the feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes. will. And then on the feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes. Jesus, before his ascension, he tells the disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait, right, to wait for the promise of the Father. One of the names for the Holy Spirit is the promise of the

Father. And Pope John Paul II understands the promise of the Father to point to, in part, at least to the coming of the Holy Spirit being the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. And he gives us a couple of Old Testament prophecies or promises that are being fulfilled in Pentecost, the descent of the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit. First, we have the prophecy of the prophet Joel in chapter three, verses one and two, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions. Even upon the men servants and maid servants in those days,

I will pour out my spirit. Ezekiel chapter 36, verses 26 and 28. You shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God and the prophet Jeremiah. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, says the Lord, I will put my law within them. I will write it upon their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be my people.

In the sense of the Holy Spirit, we have the Lord's fulfillment of his prophecy, of his promise of a new covenant. Of the outpouring of his spirit, a new sharing in his life, and a new law. And ultimately it's this, this new covenant, it's not just a collection of promises, of commitments, and the new law, again, it's not just new rules. They're all glorified in so far as now, the new covenant, the new law, the new sharing in God's life are the fruits of receiving of the Spirit of God within us.

The new law within our hearts is the Holy Spirit at work in us, the new covenant, the new mode of participating in the life of God. It's the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is sharing, participating in God's own life by the power of the Holy Spirit, which we have received and we now participate in. New covenant, new heart, new spirit, new law are all fulfilled, they're all glorified through the descent of the Holy Spirit, who makes all things new, including our way of participating in God's own life.

And now we see the descent of the Holy Spirit, which we call Pentecost, right, as the fulfillment, this newness, specifically the glorification of the Old Testament, the Feast of Pentecost, which was also called the Feast of Weeks. It comes 50 days after the Feast of the Old Testament, the Feast of Pentecost, which was also called the Feast of Weeks. It comes 50 days after the Feast of Passover or seven weeks after the Passover. Exodus 23 verse 16, it says this, In short, Pentecost was a feast of gratitude of the harvest, in which some of the first fruits of the harvest were brought to the God and sacrificed and offered in gratitude and remembrance of who these gifts come from.

What Pope John Paul II says is, the feast of harvest becomes the feast of the new harvest for which the Holy Spirit is responsible. Now through God's life at work in us, there's a new harvest, a new fruitfulness, a new way in which we, the church, are able to bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit. And we see this new harvest immediately, immediately after Peter receives the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he stands up, he proclaims the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

In chapter two, verse 41 says this, So those who received his word were baptized and they were added that day about 3000 souls and they held steadfastly to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. There was an immediate harvest of three thousand souls coming to know Christ. And so, my brothers and sisters, let us who desire to share in this newness again, the fullness

of the newness of the life of God at work in us, the fullness of the newness of the gift of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, the fullness of a new harvest, a new fruitfulness, a new access to the Father made possible through the Holy Spirit. Let us learn from Mary and the apostles and the disciples of the right disposition of how they prayed before receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and how we who want more of the Holy Spirit, may we too join with them in prayer. A prayer which perseveres. A prayer which can even be described as stubborn.

A prayer which is sacrificial. Let us as a church be men and women of prayer, so that we may be men and women of this new abundant harvest. With Mary our mother 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. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy end. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. All right, everybody, thanks for joining me and praying with me again today. I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow. All right, Poco Poco, friends. God bless y'all.