Day 116: Continued Through You

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Rosary in a Year (Day 116: Continued Through You)

Host: Ascension’s Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, CFR
Release Date: April 26, 2025
Episode Title: Day 116: Continued Through You

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Introduction

In Day 116 of Ascension’s Rosary in a Year podcast, Fr. Mark-Mary Ames guides listeners through a profound exploration of the third luminous mystery: The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God and the Call to Conversion. The episode emphasizes deepening one's relationship with Jesus and Mary through prayer and meditation on the Rosary, aiming to transform listeners into sources of divine grace for the world.

Exploring St. John Eudes and His Legacy

Fr. Ames begins by introducing St. John Eudes, a pivotal figure born in 1601 who significantly influenced Catholic devotion and education. St. John Eudes is renowned for his extensive work in parish missions and his founding of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, now known as the Good Shepherd Sisters. These sisters are dedicated to aiding women in prostitution, embodying St. John Eudes' commitment to caring for society's marginalized.

Responding to the Council of Trent's call for better priestly formation, St. John Eudes established six seminaries in France, enhancing the training and formation of future priests. Additionally, he played a crucial role in popularizing devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, enriching Catholic spiritual life.

Main Reading and Analysis

The core of the episode features a deep meditation on a passage from St. John Yudes' "Life and the Kingdom of Jesus." Fr. Ames reads and reflects upon St. John Yudes' vision of Jesus' mission within believers:

"The Son of God plans to perfect and complete in you all his states and mysteries. He intends to fulfill in you the Divine life which has been his for all eternity in the bosom of His Father, imparting a participation in that life and making you live with Him a life entirely pure and holy."
(00:45)

Fr. Ames explains that Jesus desires to inhabit believers' souls through the sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Eucharist, fostering a spiritual and inward life aligned with divine purpose. This mystical union enables believers to participate in Christ's passions, death, and resurrection, leading to a glorious and immortal life post-mortem.

He emphasizes that Jesus' mission is ongoing and incomplete until the day of judgment, urging listeners to actively cooperate through good works, prayer, and contemplation. This cooperation aligns with the divine plan, allowing Jesus to accomplish His mission through and within each believer.

Insights and Reflections

Fr. Ames delves deeper into the implications of St. John Yudes' teachings:

• Divine Participation: Believers are not passive recipients but active participants in Jesus' divine plan. This participation requires a dedicated prayer life and continuous spiritual formation.

• Sacramental Life: The sacraments are presented as essential conduits for divine grace. Fr. Ames stresses the importance of regular participation in Baptism and the Eucharist to ground oneself in Christ's life.

• Devotion to Jesus' Life: A special devotion to the intricate details of Jesus' life fosters a deeper connection and transformation within believers. Fr. Ames highlights the phrase:

  "All the infinitely precious details and aspects of the life of Jesus."
  (07:15)

  This devotion ensures that believers mirror Christ's love and mission in their daily lives.

• Role of Mary: While the episode primarily focuses on Jesus' mission, Mary's role as an intercessor and model of discipleship is subtly underscored, aligning with the podcast’s Marian devotion focus.

Practical Application and Call to Action

Fr. Ames challenges listeners to embrace their vocation by:

• Proclaiming the Kingdom of God: Engaging in acts of servitude, evangelization, and compassion, reflecting the Kingdom of God in tangible ways.

• Responding to Conversion: Being first responders to Jesus' call for deeper conversion, ensuring that personal transformation radiates outward.

• Imitating Christ: By imitating the contemplative and active life of Jesus, believers can effectively participate in His mission, addressing global needs such as feeding the hungry, comforting the lonely, and bringing sinners to mercy.

Fr. Ames concludes with an uplifting affirmation:

"May we be moved to respond to this call, to this vocation wholeheartedly through the grace of God at work in us."
(08:30)

Conclusion

Day 116: Continued Through You serves as a profound reminder of the believer's role in continuing Christ's mission. Through the wisdom of St. John Eudes and the meditative guidance of Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, listeners are encouraged to deepen their prayer life, embrace sacramental grace, and actively participate in the divine plan for the Kingdom of God.

By fostering a strong relationship with Jesus and Mary, the episode underscores the transformative power of the Rosary in nurturing a life of holiness, service, and divine communion. This journey not only enhances personal spirituality but also enables believers to be conduits of grace for the wider world.

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Notable Quotes:

• "The Son of God plans to perfect and complete in you all his states and mysteries."
  (00:45)

• "All the infinitely precious details and aspects of the life of Jesus."
  (07:15)

• "May we be moved to respond to this call, to this vocation wholeheartedly through the grace of God at work in us."
  (08:30)

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Additional Resources:

For the complete prayer plan and to track your progress through the Rosary in a Year, visit Ascension Press or text RIY to 33777. Access special podcast features and complete Rosary recordings via the Ascension app.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign McMurray with Franciscan friars of the Rule and this is the Rosary in a Year podcast where through prayer and meditation, the rosary brings us deeper into relationship with Jesus and Miriam comes a source of grace for the whole world. The Rosary in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. This is day 116. To download the prayer plan for Rosary in a year, visit ascensionpress.com rosary in a year or text RIY to 33777. You'll get an outline of how we're gonna pray each month. It's a 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. On behalf of myself, the whole team here at Ascension, we wanna take this opportunity to thank everyone who helps support this podcast financially. Your generosity is so appreciated and helps us to reach as many people as possible. If you haven't already, please consider supporting [e-mail] support today we will be meditating on and praying with the third luminous mystery, the proclamation of the Kingdom of God and the call to conversion, with help from a writing by St. John Yudes and his work, the Life and the Kingdom of Jesus. All right, an introduction to our author. Born in the year 1601, he died in 1680. St. John Eudes was a priest who had spent a large amount of his early priesthood traveling and doing what are called parish missions. He would later go on to found a religious order. The original name of this order was the Sisters of Our lady of Charity of the Refuge, which was a group of sisters who had a special ministry of caring for women forced into prostitution. These sisters continue to exist today. They are now known as the Good Shepherd Sisters and they have a special commitment to going after the lost sheep. So the Council of Trent, which took place relatively close about 50 years before the birth of St. John Eudes, it called for the establishment of seminaries. Seminaries are schools equipped and focused on training future priests and giving them the necessary formation. There's something that had been lacking up to this time. And so in response to the Council of Trent and the needs of the Church, St. John Eudes would found a total of six seminaries in France. He also helped popularize devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The point of emphasis of our prayer today is going to be Jesus continues his mission in you. Now we're writing from St. John Yud. So the Son of God plans to perfect and complete in you all his states and mysteries. He intends to fulfill in you the Divine life which has been his for all eternity in the bosom of His Father, imparting a participation in that life and making you live with Him a life entirely pure and holy. It is his design to complete in you the mystery of his incarnation, birth and hidden life by taking flesh in you and being born in your souls, as it were, through the sacraments of holy baptism and the blessed Eucharist, causing you to live by a spiritual and inward life, a life hidden within him in God. It is his design to perfect in you the mystery of his passion, death and resurrection by causing you to suffer, to die and to rise again with him and in Him. It is his design to fulfill his glorious immortal life in heaven by causing you to live in him and with Him a glorious and immortal life after death. He likewise intends to perfect and accomplish in you and in His Church all the other mysteries of his life by the communication and participation granted you by his holy will, through the continuation and extension of these mysteries operating in you, the universal plan of the Son of God will not be completed until the day of judgment. The ranks of the saints will not be filled up until the consummation of the time God has allotted to men for their sanctification. Therefore, the mysteries of Jesus will not be complete until the end of time, determined by Jesus Christ Himself for their consummation in you and in His Church, that is, until the end of the world. Now, the life you have here on earth was given you only for the accomplishment of the infinite designs of Jesus Christ for mankind. Hence, you should employ all your time, your days, your years in cooperating with Jesus Christ in the Divine task of consummating his mysteries in yourself. You must cooperate in this by good works, in prayer, by frequent application of mind and heart to the contemplation, adoration, and veneration of the sacred mysteries of his life according to the different seasons of the year, so that by these very mysteries he may work in you all he desires to accomplish for his pure glory. This is the first reason why you must have a special devotion to all the infinitely precious details and aspects of the life of Jesus. The End of the Reading thanks be to God Again, we're going to be focusing on Jesus wants to continue his work, his mission in you. It's a great reading, so thanks for allowing me to have a little bit of a longer reading. And I I really, really like it. So here's some of the words again of St. John Yudes. So the Son of God plans perfect and complete in you all his states and mysteries. He intends to fulfill in you the Divine life which has been his for all eternity, in the bosom of the Father, imparting our participation in that life and making you live with Him a life entirely pure and holy. My brothers and sisters, Jesus desires to live his life in you, and he desires to continue his mission in you. Remember our definition of the Kingdom of God we took from Pope Benedict xvi. This is paraphrasing, but the Kingdom of God is. It's the Lord being the Lord, the King, reigning the teacher, teaching the healer, healing, right? And the Kingdom of God it continues first and foremost by allowing God to do his work in you. And this will naturally overflow into him doing his work through you. How many hungry people in the world does the Lord want to feed? How many lonely souls does the Lord want to visit? How many sinners does he want to bring to his mercy? And how does he desire to do this, my friends, to the ends of the earth and until the end of the world, through you and through me. Such is the height of our dignity and such is the dignity of our call. Nothing less than to allow Jesus to continue his mission in us, with us and through us. And how does this happen? St. John continues, it is his design to complete in you the mystery of his incarnation, birth and hidden life by taking flesh in you and being born in your souls, as it were, through the sacrament of Holy Baptism and the blessed Eucharist, causing you to live by a spiritual and inward life, a life hidden with him and God. In other words, Jesus wants to be born in our souls through our own personal sanctification, which takes place first and foremost through the sacraments, particularly baptism, the most holy Eucharist. We can't give right what we don't have. We can't love and live like Jesus if we haven't first loved Jesus, been loved by Jesus, and allowed his life to be born in our souls and transform our lives. One last line I want to key in on just because I think it's particularly beautiful. These are St. John's words again. This is the first reason why you must have a special devotion to all the infinitely precious details and aspects of the life of Jesus. I just really like that phase. All the infinitely precious details and aspects of the life of Jesus. Saint John Yudes. He's a man who clearly loved Jesus and loved his most sacred heart and allowed Jesus's love to really be born and to transform, to take root in his own heart. And like St. John. Youth's my brothers and sisters, you and I are called to imitate what we contemplate, to make known him whom we have first come to know through all of the infinitely precious details of his heart and his life. As you know, this third luminous mystery is the proclamation of the Kingdom of God and the call to conversion. May we who want to proclaim the Kingdom of God also be the first to respond to his call to a deeper conversion. To putting knowing Jesus and loving Jesus and proclaiming Jesus back at the very center of our lives. So as we pray and as we contemplate Jesus and the heights and the dignity of our call, may we be moved to respond to this call, to this vocation wholeheartedly through the grace of God at work in us. And now with Mary, let us pray. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

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Amen.

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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.

[B]

Amen.

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Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.

[C]

Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

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

[B]

Amen.

[A]

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.

[C]

Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[A]

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

[B]

Amen.

[A]

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.

[C]

Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[A]

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

[B]

Amen.

[A]

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed.

[C]

Is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[A]

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

[B]

Amen.

[A]

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed.

[C]

Is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[A]

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

[B]

Amen.

[A]

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.

[C]

Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[A]

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

[B]

Amen.

[A]

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed.

[C]

Is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[A]

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

[B]

Amen.

[A]

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with the. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed.

[C]

Is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[A]

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

[B]

Amen.

[A]

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed.

[C]

Is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[A]

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

[B]

Amen.

[A]

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with the. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed.

[C]

Is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[A]

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

[B]

Amen.

[A]

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.

[B]

Amen.

[A]

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[B]

Amen.

[A]

All right. Thanks so much for joining me and praying with me again today. I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow. Poco. Poco. Friends, God bless y'all.