Day 201: Thorns for Love
Mocked and spat upon, Christ crowned with thorns fulfills the image of the suffering servant—humble in agony, yet still the King, still victorious. Fr. Mark-Mary invites us to behold Him, as Pilate once did, and examine our own heart. Are we offering our worship and loyalty to the Lord or to the world? Are we burdened by sins of indifference or misplaced priorities? Let us respond with renewed fidelity, offering our whole selves to the 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.
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Transcript
Speaker 4 I am 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.
Speaker 4 The Rosary in a Year is brought to you by Ascension.
Speaker 5 This is day
Speaker 6 201.
Speaker 2 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 2 You'll get an outline of how we're going to preach month and it's a great way to track your progress. The best place to listen to the podcast is in the Ascension app.
Speaker 2 There are special features built just for this podcast and also recordings of the full Rosary with myself and other friars.
Speaker 2 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 complement this podcast.
Speaker 2 You'll find all the daily readings from scripture, Saint Reflections, and beautiful images of the sacred art we'll be reflecting on.
Speaker 10 Today we will be meditating upon and praying with the third sorrowful mystery,
Speaker 14 our Lord being crowned with thorns.
Speaker 19 And now, as a review and to aid us in our ongoing prayer and reflection as we pray a mystery of the rosary, let's just kind of go back and remember some of what we've discussed pertaining to this mystery.
Speaker 1 First and foremost, I'm simply just going to invite you to call to mind in your imagination Jesus, our Lord,
Speaker 18 crowned with thorns,
Speaker 7 mocked, spat upon.
Speaker 12 We looked at Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophesied suffering servant
Speaker 20 from the book of Isaiah.
Speaker 11 And what we want to do is just behold our King.
Speaker 19 Behold your king.
Speaker 15 Behold
Speaker 12 his suffering, his humility.
Speaker 22 While yet
Speaker 23 he is the king.
Speaker 15 He is
Speaker 23 the victorious one.
Speaker 1 Secondly, if you recall, aided by a reflection from Venerable Fulton J.
Speaker 1 Sheen, we looked at Pilate who had Jesus crowned with thorns, and then Pilate, who brought him out and said, Echehomo, like, behold the man.
Speaker 1 And what we discussed about was Pilate and all of his energy trying to manipulate his freely compromising of the truth,
Speaker 11 just trying to make everybody happy, trying to appease everybody, but without any conviction, without any moral core, moral grounding, right?
Speaker 1 Without any concern for truth
Speaker 9 or justice,
Speaker 1 but how he was simply driven by self-preservation.
Speaker 20 And this leads to this mockery, this great suffering of our Lord.
Speaker 23 And we behold again Jesus,
Speaker 20 our king crowned.
Speaker 18 And they're reminded of the truth
Speaker 18 about what compromise looks like.
Speaker 1 Particularly, compromise towards our Lord and all the ways in which we can try and serve so many masters, except the one master, the one king of the new kingdom, Jesus.
Speaker 1 And here's what compromise accomplished through Pilate.
Speaker 1 And here as well, you can say, like, what compromise of the truth and integrity and goodness looks like in our world.
Speaker 1 This ongoing sort of crowning of thorns, this violence done to the world, to the body, and to our own dignity as Christians.
Speaker 24 So we bring any temptation to compromise before our Lord here
Speaker 20 and ask that his witness speaks to us truth and light and conviction
Speaker 24 and the grace of conversion.
Speaker 24 And then, somewhat related,
Speaker 24 we looked at Titian's rendition of Christ crowned with thorns.
Speaker 3 And in his painting, if you recall, there was the bust of Tiberius Caesar,
Speaker 7 and then Jesus crowned with thorns.
Speaker 1 All this sort of communicating and echoing these words of scripture: render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.
Speaker 19 And the question that comes is: where are you offering your worship, and where are you offering your loyalty
Speaker 5 to God or to Caesar?
Speaker 15 To the Lord or to the world?
Speaker 24 Similarly, there's this invitation to a deeper repentance,
Speaker 1 especially a repentance from our sins of indifference,
Speaker 11 sins of the ways in which we've prioritized, like things of the world over things of the Lord,
Speaker 3 particularly the esteem of men,
Speaker 11 and the ways in which we have compromised our fidelity and loyalty to the will of God
Speaker 1 out of fear or self-preservation.
Speaker 9 All these ways in which it could be said that we have rendered to Caesar what is proper to God.
Speaker 10 And again, I'm going to really invite you in your imagination to either call to mind Titian's painting, perhaps,
Speaker 1 or another image that you have of our Lord standing crowned with thorns.
Speaker 19 Behold your king,
Speaker 1 and listen and receive
Speaker 11 this invitation to a greater worship, a greater loyalty,
Speaker 11 a greater conversion.
Speaker 15 So now we'll just take a moment here to go through our four R's, our guide of prayer.
Speaker 1 What is the grace being offered?
Speaker 19 The truth being revealed
Speaker 1 that you are being invited to receive.
Speaker 6 How can you respond?
Speaker 5 What is the grace
Speaker 17 you'd like to request at the service of this response?
Speaker 15 And then rejoice.
Speaker 24 We give thanks to the Lord for this time of prayer
Speaker 24 and the grace bestowed
Speaker 26 and the divine life shared.
Speaker 24 And now, together with Mary,
Speaker 15 let us pray
Speaker 1 In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
Speaker 15 and of the Holy Spirit, amen.
Speaker 15 Our Father,
Speaker 15 who art in heaven,
Speaker 16 hallowed be thy name.
Speaker 23 Thy kingdom come,
Speaker 16 thy will be done,
Speaker 7 on earth as it is in heaven.
Speaker 17 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses,
Speaker 9 as we forgive those who trespass against us,
Speaker 24 and lead us not into temptation,
Speaker 18 but deliver us from evil.
Speaker 25 Amen.
Speaker 15 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Speaker 3 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Speaker 22 Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Speaker 6 pray for us sinners,
Speaker 16 now and at the hour of our death.
Speaker 25 Amen.
Speaker 15 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Speaker 3 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Speaker 22 Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Speaker 6 pray for us sinners,
Speaker 16 now and at the hour of our death, amen.
Speaker 15 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Speaker 8 Blessed art thou among women,
Speaker 3 and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Speaker 22 Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Speaker 6 pray for us sinners,
Speaker 16 now and at the hour of our death, amen.
Speaker 13 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Speaker 3 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Speaker 22 Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Speaker 16 pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Speaker 25 Amen.
Speaker 13 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Speaker 3 Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.
Speaker 22 Holy Mary Mother of God
Speaker 6 pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
Speaker 26 Amen.
Speaker 13 Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee.
Speaker 3 Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.
Speaker 22 Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Speaker 26 pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.
Speaker 13 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Speaker 3 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Speaker 6 Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.
Speaker 13 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Speaker 3 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Speaker 22 Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Speaker 26 pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.
Speaker 13 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Speaker 3 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Speaker 22 Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Speaker 6 pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Speaker 26 Amen.
Speaker 13 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Speaker 3 Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Speaker 8 Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners
Speaker 16 now and at the hour of our death.
Speaker 26 Amen.
Speaker 17 Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3 As it was in the beginning, is now,
Speaker 11 and ever shall be, world without end.
Speaker 14 Amen.
Speaker 24 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 25 Amen.
Speaker 24 All right, thanks so much for joining me and praying with me today. I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow.
Speaker 15 Poco Poke, friends.
Speaker 17 God bless all.