Day 93: Look Like You Love Him

Speaker 3 I am Father Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars of 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 Mary and becomes a source of grace for the whole world.

Speaker 3 The Rosary in a Year is brought to you by Ascension.

Speaker 5 This is day 93.

Speaker 3 To download the prayer plan for Rosary in a Year, visit AscensionPress.com forward slash Rosary in a Year or text RIY to 33777.

Speaker 9 You'll get an outline of how we're going to pray each month and it's a great way to track your progress.

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Speaker 9 You'll find all the daily readings from scripture, Saint Reflections, and beautiful full-page images of the sacred art we'll be reflecting on.

Speaker 16 Today we'll be meditating upon and praying with the fifth joyful mystery, the finding of Jesus in the temple, enriched with an excerpt from a writing from Saint Augustine from the work Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon 1.

Speaker 17 The emphasis for our prayer and reflection is going to be,

Speaker 14 look for him like you love him.

Speaker 9 A little background on Saint Augustine.

Speaker 14 Saint Augustine was born in the year 354 and he died in the year 430.

Speaker 16 Saint Augustine, without a doubt, is one of the most important saints, philosophers, and theologians of the Church's history.

Speaker 20 To be honest, his intellectual contribution and significance is really too vast, even to begin to expound upon in this brief introduction.

Speaker 16 What I'd like to focus on for our particular context is this.

Speaker 20 Saint Augustine attributes his conversion

Speaker 20 and the reception of the grace of salvation to the insistent prayers and tears of his mother, Saint Monica.

Speaker 1 In his work, Confessions, he wrote, For by the light of faith and spirit which she received from you, she saw that I was dead.

Speaker 12 And you did hear her, O Lord.

Speaker 5 You did hear her and despised not her tears when, pouring down, they watered the earth under her eyes in every place where she prayed.

Speaker 21 You did truly hear her.

Speaker 7 Saint Augustine is also a doctor of the church, and he is known as the doctor of grace.

Speaker 19 And now, our reading from our great saint.

Speaker 13 His parents, who were returning from Jerusalem,

Speaker 9 sought him among their company, among those, that is, who were journeying with them.

Speaker 9 And when they found him not, they returned in trouble to Jerusalem and found him disputing in the temple with the elders, when he was, as I said, twelve years old.

Speaker 5 But what wonder?

Speaker 15 The word of God is never silent, though it is not always heard.

Speaker 9 He is found then in the temple, and his mother says to him,

Speaker 7 Why have you thus dealt with us?

Speaker 4 Your father and I have sought you sorrowing.

Speaker 9 And he said, Did you not know that I must be about my father's service?

Speaker 16 This he said, for that the Son of God was in the temple of God, for that temple was not Joseph's, but God's.

Speaker 23 The end of the reading.

Speaker 17 Thanks be to God.

Speaker 4 So let's take a look at the events of the mystery of the finding of Jesus in the temple, as outlined by St.

Speaker 1 Augustine.

Speaker 13 His parents, who were returning from Jerusalem, sought him among their company.

Speaker 17 among those, that is, who were journeying with them.

Speaker 1 Right?

Speaker 9 So they're looking for Jesus where they normally find him.

Speaker 9 When When they didn't find him,

Speaker 15 what

Speaker 4 did Mary and Joseph do?

Speaker 4 Mary and Joseph did the most predictable thing in the world.

Speaker 20 They went in search of him, right?

Speaker 25 Like, why is this obvious? This is obvious because they loved him.

Speaker 9 The most unreasonable and sad of events would have been for Mary and Joseph to look for Jesus a bit amongst their companions, not find him and throw up their hands and say, oh, well, we give up.

Speaker 25 No, what they do, what they do, which is so predictable and obvious because they love him, is they go back to Jerusalem in search of Jesus, right?

Speaker 9 And they find him in the temple.

Speaker 1 It's here in this study, in this context, that Jesus reveals something even more deep about his identity and his mission to them.

Speaker 4 I must be in my father's house, right?

Speaker 4 There's a deeper revelation of Jesus.

Speaker 6 So, what I'd like to propose is this: that Jesus's absence and his accompanying silence

Speaker 15 was no real silence at all, but an invitation.

Speaker 11 Come in search of me.

Speaker 26 Saint Augustine writes these beautiful words, which I've already quoted.

Speaker 15 The word of God is never silent,

Speaker 9 though it is not always heard.

Speaker 7 Jesus is always speaking.

Speaker 18 God is always speaking.

Speaker 7 But sometimes we're going to have to search for it. Sometimes we're going to have to hunt.

Speaker 26 Sometimes we're going to have to work, but there's going to involve patience, stillness, perseverance

Speaker 17 to receive the word, to hear the word.

Speaker 2 Praying with the fifth joyful mystery, the finding of the child Jesus in the temple, and reflecting on St.

Speaker 12 Augustine's words, come to me thinking about this truth.

Speaker 9 Modern man, for the most part, we have forgotten the art of hunting.

Speaker 16 Most of us, if we want food, what do we do?

Speaker 4 Like we go to the grocery store.

Speaker 19 Maybe you go to a restaurant.

Speaker 5 Maybe you get out your phone and place an order and, you know, they go to pick it up and they bring it to your house.

Speaker 12 Like there's a certain degree of gathering, but not like hunting, not working for it.

Speaker 20 Because hunting, it requires knowledge.

Speaker 25 It takes skill. It takes work.
It takes sacrifice. It takes patience.

Speaker 17 There's stillness. There's waiting, right?

Speaker 12 All of this you need to do if you want to receive, to obtain the food that you need.

Speaker 17 And I think that what we can pull and gleam from this reflection from St.

Speaker 7 Augustine is a reminder that sometimes we're going to have to, if you will, hunt. for the Lord.

Speaker 24 Sometimes we're going to have to work for our daily bread.

Speaker 18 And it's going to require patience and sacrifice and hard work.

Speaker 7 The word of God is never silent,

Speaker 21 though it is not always heard.

Speaker 21 How often

Speaker 9 do we come to prayer and feel like nothing's happening?

Speaker 3 Maybe we're doing the normal prayers. We're looking amongst where we normally find the Lord, hear his voice.

Speaker 9 And we can feel like he's not there and that he's being silent.

Speaker 12 And at this moment, right, it's so easy to quickly give into discouragement.

Speaker 6 We've looked for him a little bit, we didn't find him, we didn't experience his presence, we didn't hear his voice, so we throw up our hands and say, Well, this is hard, so I give up.

Speaker 2 And we can leave it at that.

Speaker 4 But, my brothers and sisters, I encourage you to listen deeper.

Speaker 1 Though you may have the subjective experience of an absence or a silence from God, my proposal is this:

Speaker 17 that the Lord is speaking to you in the the silence.

Speaker 4 And what he is saying is this.

Speaker 17 He asks you,

Speaker 14 do you love me?

Speaker 21 Do you love me?

Speaker 1 Are you willing to search for the Lord?

Speaker 7 Are you willing to sacrifice for the Lord?

Speaker 20 Are you willing to wait, allow time to pass to remain in stillness and to persevere in longing

Speaker 17 until we find him?

Speaker 18 And our response is, yes, Lord,

Speaker 13 you know I love you.

Speaker 18 And Jesus says,

Speaker 17 Then come and seek me like you love me.

Speaker 17 It's time to go deeper.

Speaker 17 I'm doing something new.

Speaker 17 Now, as we conclude praying one decade of the most holy rosary, I'm going to ask you to prayerfully look at your heart

Speaker 4 and to have this conversation with the Lord.

Speaker 14 Like, do you love me?

Speaker 7 Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

Speaker 17 And hear the Lord say to you, then seek me

Speaker 4 like you love me.

Speaker 17 And now together with Mary, let us pray.

Speaker 4 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 23 Amen.

Speaker 2 Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Speaker 12 Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Speaker 26 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Speaker 17 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Speaker 23 Amen.

Speaker 26 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Speaker 18 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Speaker 10 Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Speaker 8 Amen.

Speaker 26 Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Speaker 18 Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Speaker 10 Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.

Speaker 26 Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Speaker 18 Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Speaker 29 Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.

Speaker 28 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

Speaker 28 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.

Speaker 26 Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Speaker 18 Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Speaker 10 Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.

Speaker 26 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Speaker 18 Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Speaker 10 Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.

Speaker 26 Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Speaker 18 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Speaker 10 Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.

Speaker 26 Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Speaker 18 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Speaker 10 Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

Speaker 26 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Speaker 18 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Speaker 29 Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Speaker 8 Amen.

Speaker 2 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.

Speaker 23 Amen.

Speaker 2 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 18 Amen.

Speaker 17 Thanks so much for joining me in praying with me today. I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow.

Speaker 21 Poca Poca, friends.

Speaker 21 God bless all.