The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames) - Day 81: Behold Your King

Episode Date: March 22, 2025

Although the Roman soldiers mockingly hail Jesus as king, Fr. Mark-Mary explains that in this mystery we see the reality of Jesus’ true kingship and dignity. In our prayer of lectio divina, we meditate on Jesus’ incredible sacrifice for us, and we receive the good news that we worship the true king. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Crowning with Thorns and we will be praying one decade of the Rosary. For the complete prayer plan, visit https://ascensionpress.com/riy.

I'm Father Mark Murray with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and this is the Rosary in a Year podcast where through prayer and meditation, the rosary brings us deeper into relationship with Jesus and to marry him comes a source of grace for the whole world. The Rosary in a Year is brought to you by Ascension, this is day 81. 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 preach month and it's great way to track your progress, the best place to listen to podcasts 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. 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 compliment 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. For today's Lectio Divina, we'll be praying with the third sorrowful mystery, the crowning with thorns, Matthew chapter 27 verses 27

through 31. And our point of emphasis will be, behold your King. Starting with our Alexio. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium, and they gathered the whole battalion before him, and they stripped him and put a scarlet robe upon him. And plating a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spat upon him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on

him and led him away to crucify him." Let's go ahead and engage the scripture here for our meditation or meditatio. If you remember, so we have the whole battalion here gathered in the Praetorium. So that's a couple hundred soldiers. So it's this big audience and they've all come, presumably, to mock Jesus, to see this one who had been spoken of. Admittedly, maybe there's some souls there who weren't of the same mindset, but overall, they're there out of curiosity, they're there to mock.

And before this, this crowd of soldiers, they strip him and they mock him with a scarlet robe, crown of thorns, a reed, our meditation is just to stay here. To sit before the reality. Here's Jesus. The same Jesus born in Bethlehem, the same Jesus who went about healing, loving, teaching, saving, shepherding. And He's come to save each and every one of these soldiers who spit upon Him, who mock Him. All of it is for them.

The for you includes each of them. But He came to His own home in His own, knew Him not. Here He is rejected by the Roman soldiers, mocked by the Roman soldiers. But this is our King. They mockingly say, hail King of the Jews, but we with true worship and adoration behold the true nature, the true love, the true sacrifice, the true dignity and royalty of our King. So in your imagination as you see him stripped with mockery, truly say, Behold our King,

we worship you our King, we adore you our King. We'll return to our Alexio. And kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! Go ahead and take the time, again with your imagination, to see Jesus scourged, bloodied, beaten. Jesus scourged, bloodied, beaten. Notice the scarlet robe on his shoulders, the reed in his hand, and the crown of thorns on his head.

If you're comfortable, I encourage you just to really look into the details of what this crown of thorns looks like, how it rests upon his head, the new wounds it inflicts. Behold the true nature of sin and what sin does to the soul. But also behold your King. Again, behold the one who asks for your trust. Behold his goodness. In him, behold your dignity. Okay, we'll return with to our Alexio. A-kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews.

Hail, King of the Jews. Let us transition to our, our oratio, our prayer, following the template, receive, respond, request, rejoice. What is the good news here offered for us to receive? What is God revealing about Himself? Again, behold, behold your God, behold your Savior, behold your King, behold the cost of your salvation. Which again, I think it's so important to receive in the context of

Jesus does this for us freely. No one takes his life from him. He lays it down freely. Receive the good news of who it is that we worship and who it is that asks for your fidelity and obedience. Respond, we begin with adoration and praise. Lord, we adore you as King. Our victorious King, our crucified King. Our meek king, our conquering king. We adore you, we love you, we bless you, we worship you. Thank you for your heart revealed here.

We thank you for your fidelity to the Father. That even here, even now, you know who you are, His beloved Son. And you know who He is, His faithful Father. And go ahead and pay attention now to like, what's the movement in your heart? Is there an invitation for a type of action? Any form of repentance? Lord, in particular, I'm just feeling like a desire in my own heart. I'm going to offer this to you, the listener, to what I'd love my heart to be a safe place for you.

As we see here, like you came into the world and you're rejected. You came into the world and you're mocked. And how often you continue to be mocked and dismissed in the world. Jesus, I want to receive you. I want to see you. I want to worship you as the true King. May you always find a home, Jesus, in my heart. I see you, Lord, and I know that you are King.

That you are good, that you are good, that you are savior, that you are creator, that you are the light. I repent of any ways and I'm going to offer you an invitation of any ways in which we reject him. We don't trust him. Lord, we repent. Jesus, I just ask. I ask for a heart of praise and a heart of worship and a heart of adoration, a heart of obedience, a heart of gratitude. As I see you as you are, Lord, what type of King you are, what

time, the cost of your victory. May I be rooted in this reality, in this truth Lord, and may my heart overflow with gratitude to the power of your spirit Lord. We're going to ask for grateful hearts. And now we'll end with our rejoicing. We thank you Jesus for your love for us. We thank you for, in fact, being our King. And we thank you for this time of prayer and the grace that you have given us. Thank you Lord for this time. Okay, we'll conclude now with our time of contemplation, praying one decade of the rosary.

With that particular intention, I'm going to ask you to just really keep before you Jesus crowned with thorns and behold your King. Now with Our Lady, 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. 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. 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 Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. That's going to conclude our time of doing Lexo Divina. Certainly, if the Lord's in speaking to your heart and you'd like to continue to pray, you're very encouraged to do so. Get a little extra time of silence. But for us, that will be our time. Thank you so much for joining me and praying with me. Today, I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow. All right, poco a poco friends. God bless y'all.