Transcript
Father Mike Schmitz (0:00)
Foreign.
Father Josh Johnson (0:04)
Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars with.
Father Mike Schmitz (0:06)
Renewal and this is the Rosary in 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. This is day 151. 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 going to pray each month and it's a great way to track your progress. The best place to listen to the Podcast 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. No matter what app you're listening in, remember to tap, follow or subscribe for your daily notifications. Today we will be meditating upon and praying with the third joyful mystery, the Nativity, with help from a painting entitled Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerard van Honthorst. Now a brief introduction to our artist and the artwork. Gerard van Honthorst was born in the year 1592. He died in the year 1656, and he was a Dutch painter who studied in Rome. He was influenced by Carvaggio's style early in his career and enjoyed success as a portrait painter later in his career. This particular painting was done in the year 1622. Now our description of the painting Luminescent and bright, the Christ Child laying on a manger covered in pure white cloth and straw, radiates a gleaming shine into the face of his mother Mary, who.
Father Patrick (1:48)
Is wearing a red dress and blue.
Father Mike Schmitz (1:50)
Hood and places her arms on either side of the manger and beams herself a look of peaceful contentment, of sweetness and delight to her child as her face shines with a warm smile as she tenderly gazes at the baby in her arms. Her right hand holds up the cloth he lies on. Around them, in varying degrees of shadow, six men gather round, including St. Joseph, also with joy and expectation as they appreciate the holy sight of the tiny newborn child. So today we have this beautiful painting of the Adoration of the Shepherds. And who else do we find there? Good Saint Joseph? Today I'd like to pray with Saint Joseph and his presence at the Nativity. And we're going to look at it as what I'll call, I guess, like a very human reality. And basically what I'm proposing is that the Adoration of the Shepherds, right in the future Adoration of the Magi. It probably doesn't happen at all without the presence of St. Joseph. Help me explain. So we have this beautiful scene today depicted where the shepherds come to Bethlehem, right? And they see the Christ child in the arms of the Blessed Mother and they fall to their knees in adoration and wonder and praise of God. But for this to happen, St. Joseph has to be there. At least that's my hypothesis. Okay, so now, now why? Well, we have Mary, right? And who is Mary at this point? Mary is a young and a vulnerable woman. And that's just kind of like the state of her and her femininity before the world, right? She's this young, vulnerable woman who has just given birth to her son. So now we have a young mother and her young newborn, tiny little son in a manger, like in a town where she doesn't know anyone. And while I guess the gospel don't explicitly say she doesn't know anyone in Bethlehem, I do think we can infer this based on the fact that, that she's there in the manger. There was no one to take her in in her time of need. Like there must not have been anyone she knew there. So now if a woman is in this state, just like, let's just think about it like it's human realities, you think she's just going to freely and peacefully welcome into her sort of inner sanctum this group of unknown men, like in today's case, the shepherds. She can say, come on in. I just don't think so. I think prudently she's going to. Right. In the name of a wise self preservation and also protection for her child, like remain to herself, almost in hiding. And so it's St. Joseph who creates a safe place for Mary and child. And the safety that Mary experiences in his presence that allows her to receive the shepherds and to join them and to join St. Joseph in adoring the newborn babe of Bethlehem in the manger. As we contemplate today's painting, notice the intimacy, notice the peace, notice the glow on the faces of Mary and St. Joseph and the shepherds and these hearts.