Day 208: Mary is With Us

Hi, I'm Father Mark Mary with 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 Mary and becomes a source of grace for the whole world.

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This is day 208.

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Today we will be meditating upon and praying with the fifth glorious mystery, the coronation of Our Lady as Queen of Heaven and and earth.

Now, before we get into our time of prayer, just a review of some of what we have discussed and prayed with up to this point.

So, in our reflection on Revelation chapter 12, verses 1 through 5, where we see our lady depicted kind of in the heavens as queen, we were reminded that we have, like, if you will, the best of friends in the highest of places.

That in Mary, like we have access to the queen.

And the queen

is our mother.

And what she loves to do from this place of authority, this privileged place given to her by God, is to pour out grace upon grace upon grace upon her children.

Mary, who is the best of mothers, she desires to love her children.

and to take all of the treasure she has and put them at our service, put them at our disposal.

So we want to have like this freedom.

We want to have this confidence to come to Mary and to come to her often and come to her quickly and come to her with the highest of confidences.

But it's important for us to remember what are in fact heavenly treasures and what are not.

And the number one treasure that Mary wants to pour upon us is grace, is a share in God's own life at the service of our intimacy with her son and our fidelity to the Father's will.

And so, first and foremost, what we're asking for is grace for more of God's life alive and at work within us.

Secondly, for today, looking at a writing of St.

John Henry Newman, we looked at Mary again as the queen of angels.

And we were reminded that certainly Mary is mother to us,

but also she is a queen of angels.

And part of the maternal heart of a mother is one of consolation, of comfort, of care.

But also, there's like the whole mama bear thing is real.

Like, there's a way in which, for her children, a mother becomes a warrior.

And that Mary is this kind of perfection of a motherly heart,

which also means that like she deeply desires and is willing to like fight for her children and to put all of her resources at the service of the safety and the protection of her children.

And what is the number one danger that Mary is concerned about in our lives?

It is the danger of Satan.

It is the danger of sin.

And my invitation for our prayer today with this is just this reminder of who she is,

of how much she cares for us, of the resources at her disposal, and that when we are facing temptation, towards sin, when we are facing temptation towards discouragement or despair, like let us come to Mary and and let us with confidence and boldly ask her to send hosts and hosts of angels to come and fight for us and protect us and deliver us from all temptation and all torments of Satan and the fallen angels.

And then lastly for today, kind of a different direction, different way in which we can pray with Mary's coronation is prompted by Diego Velázquez's painting of the coronation of Mary, where we saw the coronation depicted as a work of the Trinity, a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And we see these identities of Mary, spouse of the Spirit, like daughter of the Father, mother of the Son.

Mary's coronation as Queen of Heaven and Earth, like it is glorious and it's powerful and it's theologically rich.

But what I propose is that at its core, it is a mystery of the most profound loves

and joys and intimacies as she's made queen of heaven and earth by the Father, by the Son, and by the Holy Spirit.

And a just response to a beautiful thing is simply to sit in awe and to wonder and to appreciate the beautiful thing.

And how beautiful is Our Lady, and how beautiful is this intimate moment, how beautiful is this expression of love

from the heart of the Trinity toward our Lady?

And that there's this invitation just to sit before this truth, this beauty, to receive it, to ponder it, and to rejoice in it.

So now let's just go ahead and take a moment of

prayerful lingering and resting here.

And then we'll move through our roadmap of prayer, our four hours.

So today, like, what is the grace being offered?

The truth being revealed that you are invited to receive.

How can you respond?

What is the grace that you would like to request, particularly at the service of this response?

And then rejoice.

Give thanks to the Lord for this time of prayer,

for the grace given,

and the divine life shared.

And now, together with Mary, 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 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 and of the holy spirit amen all right friends thanks so much for joining me and praying with me today i look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow.

Poco, Poco.

God bless y'all.