Day 62: He Meets Us

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. The Rosary in a Year is brought to you by Ascension.
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The fourth sorrowful mystery, Jesus takes up his cross.

Matthew chapter 27, verse 32.

As they were marching out, they came upon a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. This man they compelled to carry his cross.
Okay, my brothers and sisters, with this fourth sorrowful mystery, again, we're going to be introduced to the state of the world at this time because of our sin. And Jesus, while remaining innocent, again, he's going to take upon himself that which is ours, that which is the state of the sinner.
And here's the state of the sinner. You've taken your inheritance.
You've received everything that God has given you. You've squandered it.
You've wasted it. And now here you are, beat up, broken, mocked, crowned with your own cross to carry.
Like here is the burden. Here's the problem that you have created.
Now you deal with it. Now you carry it.
Now you fix it.

And we have introduced here in the gospel of Matthew, Simon,

to help at least for part of the way to carry the cross.

But here's the reality.

Without mercy, without God, without salvation,

Jesus and Simon, they can carry this cross

and it will be a long and arduous and painful journey. But to what end? To Golgotha, to Calvary, to death.
Man left to his own devices. He cannot fix the problem that he has created.
He cannot ascend out of the hole, out of the tomb, if you will, that he has dug for himself.

We can do all we can to try and fix the problem we have made, but we will never be able to fix it.

And now let's juxtapose this with the journey of the sinner and the father in mercy in the parable of the prodigal son. This is Luke chapter 15, starting at verse 20.
And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
But the father said to his servants, Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring the fatted calf and kill it. And let us eat and make merry.
For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.
Notice that the prodigal son essentially was communicating here is that he turned back to the father. And this is all the father needed.
While he was yet at a distance, it is the father who descends. The father of his own goodness and his own mercy, meets the son still on the road, and from his merciful and generous gratuitous lavish love, pours forth on him the fullness of the dignity that he had lost and restores him to the fullness of sonship, not because of what he has done, but because of his own goodness, his own love.
What we create through our sin, you could say almost what we deserve by our sin, is to have our burden, to have our cross and our journey, which doesn't lead to life. It only leads to death.
And we can't bring ourselves back to life. We can't restore ourselves to the fullness of sonship, but He does it for us.
My brothers and sisters, this is where we see this fourth sorrowful mystery. Again, it reveals to us the state and the result of our sin, but also its contrast reveals to us the truth of what's happening as Jesus is ascending the mountain with the cross.
What's really happening is our good God is descending to us to come and embrace us and to save us. And so my brothers and sisters, what does it look like to actually live this way? To live knowing that we have a God who desires to save us, that he loves to save us, that we don't have to fix ourselves, get it all together before we come to him.
We're not condemned to this long, isolated journey back to him, but we can cry out to him while still in our need, while still in the mess, and he will come to save us because as he has revealed in the parable of the prodigal son, and as Jesus revealed, he has come not for the well and the healthy, but for the sick and not the righteous, but the sinner. I think a great way to understand this is going back to this understanding of the kingdom of God belongs to children and becoming childlike.
And how naturally a child, when they're

scared, when they're hurt, or when they've broken something, they turn to mom and dad and say,

like, help me. Like, I've spilt.
I knocked the milk off the table. I need you to solve it, right?

How naturally they do that. I am in need.
I'm broken. I've hurt myself.
I've hurt other people.

And we turn to him and say, Lord, fix it. Save me.
Save us, Lord. And we do it with the

Thank you. need.
I'm broken. I've hurt myself.
I've hurt other people. And we turn to him and say, Lord, fix it.
Save me. Save us, Lord.
And we do it with the freedom and the confidence of a child that comes from knowing our Father's goodness and that he delights in coming to us and saving us. I think back to when I was seven or eight playing catch with my dad in the front yard of our house and I threw it over his head and it went straight into one of our neighbor's windows.
And my dad's a good dad. He didn't say, okay, go fix the problem.
Go talk to the neighbor, go find out how much it costs, start doing some work, get some allowance, pay him back. And then, you know, what my dad did is he looked out for me and he protected me and he judged, you know, the right thing in the moment was, Hey, it's okay.
It's okay. It was an accident.
And my dad himself went to the neighbor, apologized, talked to them, you know, offered to pay for the window. It was my mistake, but my dad, you know, read in my eyes and my glance, my sorrow, my contrition, the silent cry of like, help, help, help.

And so my father took care of it.

And that's what we do when we hurt ourselves,

when we break our neighbor's window through our sin,

not even by accident.

We look to him and say, hey, father, help, father, help.

And so my brothers and sisters, as we prepare to pray with this mystery today,

let's just reflect on this good news

that we have a Father who delights in saving us.

And all He asks of us is to turn to Him.

And so we bring to Him those places of shame.

And we bring it to Him with both childlike poverty and dependence,

but also childlike confidence. Say, Lord, here we are, Lord.
Save us. 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.
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.
Alright friends, thanks for joining me and praying with me again today.

I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow.

Poco Poco.