Day 170: Grit and Grace

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames)

Episode: Day 170: Grit and Grace
Date: June 19, 2026
Host: Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, CFR (Ascension)
Theme: Persevering in Prayer—Mary’s Grit and Grace in the Visitation

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, Fr. Mark-Mary Ames invites listeners to meditate on the second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary: the Visitation. Drawing inspiration from a mosaic at the Church of the Visitation by Antonio Barluzzi, he reflects on the grit demonstrated by Mary as she journeys to support her cousin Elizabeth. The theme centers on how perseverance, fueled by grace and love, is essential to a fruitful spiritual life. Listeners are encouraged to examine their own sources of motivation and draw strength from Mary’s example.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Introduction to the Artwork (01:01–02:09)

• Antonio Barluzzi:
  • Italian architect (1884–1960), known as the “Architect of the Holy Land.”
  • Designed and restored 24 religious buildings, integrating Byzantine and Romanesque styles with modern techniques.
• The Mosaic:
  • Completed in 1955, it adorns the Church of the Visitation’s facade.
  • Visual Elements: Mary on a donkey, angels accompanying but not carrying her, journeying between Nazareth and Ein Kerem, Elizabeth awaiting in anticipation.

2. Meditation on Mary’s Journey and Virtue (02:12–08:18)

• Mary’s Grit:

  • Unlike depictions of her Assumption, where she’s carried by angels, here Mary is escorted but undertakes the hard journey herself.
  • Quote (Fr. Mark-Mary, 03:30):

    “Mary is traversing this arduous path on the back of a saddleless donkey... the virtue of Mary that I believe this speaks to is her grit.”

• Vulnerability vs. Fragility:

  • Emphasis that Mary’s vulnerability does not equate to fragility.
  • Fr. Mark-Mary is careful not to overstate her as helpless, wanting to highlight inner strength and decisive love.

• Catechism on Virtue (Read at 04:17):

  • Quote (Catechism paragraph 1804):

    “Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions and guide our conduct according to reason and faith... The virtuous life requires human effort to possess ourselves through self mastery and to give ourselves in sacrificial love. It requires hard work, self-denial, discipline, and perseverance. It requires grit.”

  • Moral and spiritual growth requires ongoing, persevering effort, not just short bursts—“an ultra marathon of grit.”

• Mary’s Motivation: Love, Obedience, and Grace

  • Quote (06:37):

    “She was driven by charity, and she was driven by obedience. And she was driven by the grace of God. And these fuel sources—like love, especially divine love, obedience and duty and trust and the grace of God—are the most powerful, powerful of motivators and fuel sources.”

  • Contrasted with modern motivations (ego, proving oneself). Mary acts not from pride but from pure, divinely-fueled love.

• A Call to Heroic Love and Perseverance

  • Quote (08:10):

    “My brothers and sisters, we have not signed up for an easy pilgrimage that’s not meant to be a casual walk in the park. We’re meant for heroic charity and to lay down our very lives, just as Jesus did.”

  • Listeners are invited to recommit to their own “ultra marathon” of faith.

3. The Praying of the Rosary (08:38–12:05)

• Fr. Mark-Mary leads listeners in the recitation of the Our Father, ten Hail Marys, the Glory Be, and prayers invoking Mary’s intercession.
• These prayers are set within the context of the meditation on Mary’s journey, reinforcing the episode’s theme of perseverance through grit and grace.
• Ending blessing and encouragement to continue in prayer.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Mary’s Grit and Motivation:
  (Fr. Mark-Mary, 06:37)

  “The why and the how are the same—they are love. She was driven by charity, driven by obedience, and driven by the grace of God.”

• From the Catechism:
  (Read by Fr. Mark-Mary, 04:17)

  “The virtuous life requires human effort to possess ourselves through self-mastery and to give ourselves in sacrificial love. It requires hard work, self-denial, discipline, and perseverance. It requires grit.”

• Applying the Insight to Daily Life:
  (Fr. Mark-Mary, 08:06)

  “We have not signed up for an easy pilgrimage... we’re meant for heroic charity and to lay down our very lives, just as Jesus did.”

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:01–02:09 — Introduction to mosaic and artist, visualization of the Visitation scene.
• 02:12–04:17 — Mary’s journey, reflection on why she is escorted, not carried, by angels.
• 04:17–06:37 — Catechism quote on virtue, comparison to modern ultra-marathons, and explanation of grit in the context of Mary’s journey.
• 06:37–08:18 — Discussion of Mary’s motivation (love, obedience, grace), and the call for listeners to embrace “heroic charity.”
• 08:38–12:05 — Guided prayer: recitation of the Our Father, Hail Marys, Glory Be; applying the meditation to prayer.
• 12:05–End — Closing encouragement and blessing.

---

Tone and Language

Father Mark-Mary blends gentle encouragement with pastoral insight, using vivid imagery from sacred art and accessible analogies (ultra-marathon, walking vs. being carried) to make spiritual lessons concrete. He is reflective yet practical, intent on inspiring listeners to both contemplation and action in their spiritual lives.

---

Summary Takeaway

This episode inspires listeners to reflect on Mary’s journey to Elizabeth as a model of perseverance, “grit,” and grace in the spiritual life. By meditating on sacred art and Church teaching, Fr. Mark-Mary encourages all to embrace the often-difficult journey of faith—relying not on ego or self-assertion, but on love, obedience, and the sustaining grace of God.

Listeners are left with a challenge to “recommit ourselves to the human effort necessary to lay that natural foundation that grace desires to perfect” (08:18), following Mary’s example on their own path of discipleship.

Transcript

[Host/Leader]

Foreign.

[Podcast Announcer]

Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars, the 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.

[Main Speaker/Teacher]

The Rosary in a Year is brought

[Podcast Announcer]

to you by Ascension.

[Prayer Leader]

This is day 170.

[Podcast Announcer]

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. On behalf of myself and the whole team here at Ascension, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's helped support this podcast financially. Your generosity is so appreciated and helps us to reach as many people as possible. And if you haven't already, please consider supporting [e-mail] support

[Main Speaker/Teacher]

today we will be meditating upon and praying with the second joyful mystery, the Visitation, with help from a mosaic, which we will call the Mosaic adorning the front of the Church of the Visitation, depicting the scene of Mary's visit to Elizabeth at the Church of the Visitation by the artist Antonio Barluzzi. Now, brief introduction to our artist and artwork. Barluzzi was born in the year 1884. He died in the year 1960, and he was an Italian architect renowned for his sacred architecture in the Holy Land, earning him the title Architect of the Holy Land. His work reflects deep religious devotion and a unique ability to translate Christian mysteries into architectural forms. Barlucci combined Byzantine and Romanesque elements with modern techniques over his career, he built and restored 24 churches, hospitals and schools between the years 1912 and 1955. The mosaic that we are looking at today was completed in the year 1955

[Host/Leader]

and now our description.

[Main Speaker/Teacher]

At the center of this mosaic, Mary is depicted seated on a donkey cloaked in white, traveling through a dry, rocky landscape. She journeys between two distant towns labeled in embedded tiles as Nazareth and Ein Kerem. Positioned around her are three winged angels dressed in tunics and sandals, walking in accompaniment, who in solemn procession. Their posture and presence suggests a prayerful guardianship as they accompany Mary and her unborn son. Above, in the deep cobalt sky, three more winged angels fly above her horizontally, traveling in the same direction as Mary. In the distance, near Ein Caram, a solitary woman stands outside to Elizabeth, her posture one of eager anticipation as she awaits the arrival of her cousin with attentive expectation. Okay, so the particular detail that I want to use at the jumping off point for our meditation today is that Mary is being accompanied by the angels, but not carried by the angels.

[Prayer Participant 1]

Right.

[Main Speaker/Teacher]

Angels have certainly shown themselves to be a very consistent theme in the artwork we spent time with up to this point. And as has been noted in the artwork depicting Mary's assumption to heaven, Mary's often shown as being carried more than escorted by angels to heaven. But today, right in this mosaic of the visitation, Mary is traversing this arduous path on the back of a saddle less donkey. And the characteristic or the virtue of Mary that I believe this speaks to is her grit. To be honest, during our episodes on the Joyful Mysteries where I was highlighting the role of Joseph in accompanying and providing for Mary, I was a little self conscious, still am, about overplaying Mary as being perhaps like helpless or fragile. Because there's a big difference between being vulnerable and being fragile. The young virgin that the angel appeared to and that Joseph would accompany, like she was vulnerable. Like there's just a truth about a single woman traversing a country trail into a distant city in which she is vulnerable to the elements, to robbers, etc. But also this is a manifestation of her grit, like of her interior toughness that allowed her to freely enter that space and to persevere on the journey because her cousin was in need. I want to pause here for a second to have an extended quote from the Catechism, and This is paragraph 1804. Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self mastery and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who practices the good. The moral virtues are acquired by human effort. Like moral virtues, the virtuous life requires human effort to possess ourselves through self mastery and to give ourselves in sacrificial love. It requires hard work, self denial, discipline and perseverance. It requires grit. In the Christian life, it's not just a passing grit, it's not like a grit sprint. It's an ultra marathon of grit, the giving of oneself throughout one's entire life. And I use ultramarathon here because the journey that Mary makes in the visitation from Nazareth to Judea, it's not just a marathon, right? It's a 70 mile plus journey which in modern times is considered an ultra marathon.

[Prayer Participant 2]

And.

[Main Speaker/Teacher]

And Mary did it. And Here, I believe, like why she did it and how she did it are a bit the same. She did it for love. The why and the how are the same. They are love. She was driven by charity and she was driven by obedience. And she was driven by the grace of God. And these fuel sources like love, especially divine love, obedience and duty and trust and the grace of God are the most powerful, powerful of motivators and fuel sources. Mary wasn't driven by a need to prove herself, which is a fuel source

[Prayer Leader]

that drives a lot of us, right?

[Main Speaker/Teacher]

She wasn't driven by that, she wasn't pushed on by some need for self flagellation and she wasn't being refueled by a high calorie like performance gels, right? In the visitation to her cousin Elizabeth, the Blessed Mother, this young, vulnerable teenage girl, she made an arduous journey, a literal modern day ultramarathon, escorted by angels built upon grit, driven by love, directed by obedience and nourished by heavenly grace. My brothers and sisters, we have not signed up for an easy pilgrimage that's not meant to be a casual walk

[Host/Leader]

in the park like we're meant for

[Main Speaker/Teacher]

heroic charity and to lay down our

[Prayer Leader]

very lives, just as Jesus did.

[Main Speaker/Teacher]

Through our prayer today, let us be inspired by Mary's grit and let's recommit ourselves to the human effort necessary to lay that natural foundation that grace desires to perfect. And now with Mary, let us pray

[Prayer Participant 3]

in the name of the Father and

[Host/Leader]

of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[Main Speaker/Teacher]

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done

[Host/Leader]

on earth as it is in heaven.

[Prayer Leader]

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

[Main Speaker/Teacher]

And lead us not into temptation, but

[Prayer Leader]

deliver us from evil.

[Host/Leader]

Amen.

[Prayer Participant 2]

Hail Mary, full of grace.

[Prayer Leader]

The Lord is with the. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed

[Prayer Participant 1]

is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[Prayer Participant 3]

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for

[Host/Leader]

us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

[Prayer Participant 2]

Hail Mary, full of grace.

[Prayer Leader]

The Lord is with the. Blessed art thou among women and blessed

[Prayer Participant 1]

is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[Prayer Participant 3]

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for

[Host/Leader]

us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

[Prayer Participant 2]

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the.

[Prayer Leader]

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed

[Prayer Participant 1]

is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[Prayer Participant 3]

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for

[Host/Leader]

us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

[Prayer Participant 2]

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord

[Prayer Leader]

is with the Blessed art thou among Women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[Prayer Participant 3]

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for

[Host/Leader]

us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

[Prayer Participant 1]

Amen.

[Prayer Participant 2]

Hail Mary, full of grace.

[Prayer Leader]

The Lord is with the blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the

[Prayer Participant 1]

fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[Prayer Participant 3]

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for

[Host/Leader]

us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

[Prayer Participant 2]

Hail Mary, full of grace.

[Prayer Leader]

The Lord is with the blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the

[Prayer Participant 1]

fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[Prayer Participant 3]

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for

[Host/Leader]

us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

[Prayer Participant 2]

Hail Mary, full of grace.

[Prayer Leader]

The Lord is with the blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the

[Prayer Participant 1]

fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[Prayer Participant 3]

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for

[Host/Leader]

us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

[Prayer Participant 2]

Hail Mary, full of grace.

[Prayer Leader]

The Lord is with the blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the

[Prayer Participant 1]

fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[Prayer Participant 3]

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for

[Host/Leader]

us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

[Prayer Participant 2]

Hail Mary, full of grace.

[Prayer Leader]

The Lord is with the blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the

[Prayer Participant 1]

fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[Prayer Participant 3]

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for

[Host/Leader]

us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

[Prayer Participant 2]

Hail Mary, full of grace.

[Prayer Leader]

The Lord is with the blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the

[Prayer Participant 1]

fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

[Prayer Participant 3]

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for

[Host/Leader]

us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

[Prayer Leader]

Glory be to the Father and to

[Host/Leader]

the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

[Prayer Leader]

As it was in the beginning, is

[Host/Leader]

now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

[Prayer Participant 3]

In the name of the Father and

[Host/Leader]

of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[Prayer Participant 3]

All right.

[Main Speaker/Teacher]

Thanks so much for joining me and praying with me today. I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow.

[Prayer Participant 2]

Poco.

[Podcast Announcer]

Poco.

[Main Speaker/Teacher]

Friends. God bless you all.