Day 212: Eternal Exchange of Love - The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames)

Summary4 min read

The Rosary in a Year: Day 212 - “Eternal Exchange of Love”

Hosted by Ascension | Release Date: July 31, 2025

Introduction

In Day 212 of Ascension’s Rosary in a Year podcast, titled “Eternal Exchange of Love”, Father Mark Mary Ames, CFR, alongside his fellow friars, guides listeners through a profound exploration of the Holy Trinity and its intrinsic connection to love. This episode emphasizes building a deeper relationship with Jesus and Mary through the Rosary, fostering a transformative prayer practice regardless of one's spiritual journey stage.

Understanding the Holy Trinity as an Eternal Exchange of Love

Father Mark Mary opens the session by delving into the nature of the Holy Trinity, anchoring his discussion in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, specifically paragraph 221:

“[00:30] Father Mark Mary: God's very being is love. By sending his only Son in the spirit of love, in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret. God Himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And he has destined us to share in that exchange.”

He emphasizes that the Trinity should not be perceived as an abstract concept but as a personal and dynamic relationship. This relational aspect of the Trinity invites believers to engage in an “eternal exchange of love”, mirroring the divine communion between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

“[02:56] Father Joseph: He is an eternal exchange of love.”

Relational Prayer and Personal Connection

Father Mark Mary encourages listeners to move beyond seeing the Trinity as a distant entity. Instead, he advocates for relational prayer, where believers actively participate in the divine love exchange. He illustrates this by inviting listeners to visualize the Holy Family as an entryway to understanding the Trinity:

“[03:44] Father Francis: The mutual love shared, the exchange of love shared, the warmth.”

“[03:53] Father Mark Mary: And how moving and how safe, encouraging, peaceful it would be to be with the Most Holy Family. And how much even more perfect is being with the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in this eternal exchange of love that we are called to share in. So, coming to the Trinity, coming to this love. Let us pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

This visualization serves as a foundation for adoration and praise, allowing believers to experience the Trinity's love intimately and personally.

Practical Application: Engaging with the Rosary

The episode transitions into practical prayer, guiding listeners through the Rosary with a specific focus on the second luminous mystery, the wedding feast at Cana. Father Mark Mary emphasizes:

“[09:31] Father Mark Mary: We'll refocus on the most Holy Trinity, who is love. An eternal exchange of love. An exchange of love that we are destined to share in.”

This meditation reinforces the idea that through the Rosary, believers participate in and embrace the divine love shared within the Trinity, thereby deepening their spiritual relationships.

Communal Recitation of the Rosary

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to the communal recitation of the Rosary, involving multiple friars who chant the prayers together. This collective prayer practice underscores the sense of community and shared faith within the Ascension community. The prayers include:

Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
O My Jesus

Each prayer is recited in unison, creating a harmonious and reverent atmosphere conducive to deep meditation and connection with the divine.

Examples of Recitation:

“[04:36] Father Michael: Amen.”

“[05:02] Father Mark Mary: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

“[09:00] Father Mark Mary: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, Save us from the fires of hell and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.”

Conclusion and Continued Journey

As the episode concludes, Father Mark Mary expresses gratitude for joined prayers and anticipates continuing the spiritual journey together:

“[14:17] Father Mark Mary: 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'. *”

The closing remarks reinforce the ongoing commitment to fostering a daily prayer habit and deepening one's relationship with Jesus and Mary through the Rosary.

Key Takeaways

Holy Trinity as Love: Understanding the Trinity as an eternal exchange of love fosters a personal and dynamic relationship with God.
Relational Prayer: Moving beyond abstraction to engage in relational prayer enhances spiritual intimacy and connection.
Rosary as a Tool: The Rosary serves as a powerful Marian devotion that aids in building a daily prayer habit and deepening one’s faith journey.
Community and Support: Engaging in communal prayer strengthens the sense of community and shared spiritual growth among believers.

Supporting Quotes

“[00:30] Father Mark Mary: ...God Himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
“[03:53] Father Mark Mary: Let us pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
“[09:31] Father Mark Mary: We'll refocus on the most Holy Trinity, who is love. An eternal exchange of love.”
“[14:17] Father Mark Mary: Thanks so much for joining me and praying with me again today.”

Resources

For the complete prayer plan and to continue your Rosary in a Year journey, visit Ascension Press - Rosary in a Year.

This episode of The Rosary in a Year podcast serves as a profound guide for believers seeking to deepen their prayer life and relationship with the Holy Trinity through the devotional practice of the Rosary. By interweaving theological insights with practical prayer, Father Mark Mary Ames provides a pathway to transformative spiritual growth.

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Transcript147 lines

[00:00]
Father Mark Mary
Foreign.
[00:05]
Father Edward
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.
[00:16]
Father Mark Mary
The Rosary in a Year is brought.
[00:18]
Father Edward
To you by Ascension.
[00:20]
Father Mark Mary
This is day 212.
[00:23]
Father Edward
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 us@ascensionpress.com support.
[01:02]
Father Mark Mary
Hey everybody, welcome back. Today, as we practice praying and building up the decades, particularly practicing relational prayer in the context of our recitation of the Rosary, or more specifically, two decades of the Rosary, today we're going to be focusing on praying with the Holy Trinity. We've prayed with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now we're just going to practice coming to the Trinity as one, right? And to help us, I'm going to pull from the Catechism. This is paragraph 221. God's very being is love. By sending his only Son in the spirit of love, in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret. God Himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And he has destined us to share in that exchange. I do think there's something we can relate to of when somebody shares something with us, perhaps a secret, an insight into their lives, their heart. We feel honored by it. And God has entrusted to us. He has shared with us, as the Catechism says, like his innermost secret, who he is in Himself. And sort of, as I alluded to yesterday, there can be a temptation to coming to the most Holy Trinity as an abstraction. There can be a movement towards this depersonalization. The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, when we come to the Lord is Trinity. But who is God in Himself?
[02:56]
Father Joseph
He is an eternal exchange of love.
[02:59]
Father Mark Mary
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And he has destined us to share in that exchange. So I'm going to invite you to through the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit to come in adoration and praise and see this eternal exchange of love. I like to kind of use as an icon, an entryway into this kind of imagining what it would be like to be with the Holy Family, right? Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, icon of God the Father, Jesus himself, being the Son. Mary being like the spouse of the Spirit in some way the spouse of the Spirit, offering us some particular insight into the Holy Spirit. And just think of the love shared.
[03:45]
Father Francis
The mutual love shared, the exchange of love shared, the warmth.
[03:53]
Father Mark Mary
And how moving and how safe, encouraging, peaceful it would be to be with the Most Holy Family. And how much even more perfect is being with the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in this eternal exchange of love that we are called to share in. So, coming to the Trinity, coming to this love. Let us pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[04:36]
Father Michael
Amen.
[04:39]
Father Mark Mary
The second luminous mystery is the wedding feast at Kena. 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.
[05:12]
Father Joseph
Deliver us from evil.
[05:13]
Father Michael
Amen.
[05:16]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
[05:20]
Father Mark Mary
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed.
[05:24]
Father Thomas
Is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[05:28]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[05:31]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[05:35]
Father Michael
Amen.
[05:37]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord.
[05:40]
Father Mark Mary
Is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[05:49]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[05:52]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[05:56]
Father Michael
Amen.
[05:59]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord.
[06:02]
Father Mark Mary
Is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[06:11]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[06:15]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[06:19]
Father Michael
Amen.
[06:21]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace.
[06:23]
Father Mark Mary
The Lord is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.
[06:30]
Father Thomas
Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[06:34]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[06:37]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[06:41]
Father Michael
Amen.
[06:44]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
[06:48]
Father Mark Mary
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed.
[06:52]
Father Thomas
Is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[06:55]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[06:59]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[07:03]
Father Michael
Amen.
[07:06]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord.
[07:09]
Father Mark Mary
Is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[07:18]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[07:22]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[07:26]
Father Michael
Amen.
[07:28]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace.
[07:31]
Father Mark Mary
The Lord is with the blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.
[07:37]
Father Thomas
Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[07:40]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[07:44]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[07:48]
Father Michael
Amen.
[07:50]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace.
[07:53]
Father Mark Mary
The Lord is with the blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.
[07:59]
Father Thomas
Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[08:02]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[08:06]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[08:10]
Father Michael
Amen.
[08:12]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace.
[08:14]
Father Mark Mary
The Lord is with the blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.
[08:21]
Father Thomas
Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[08:24]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[08:28]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[08:32]
Father Michael
Amen.
[08:35]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace.
[08:37]
Father Mark Mary
The Lord is with the blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.
[08:44]
Father Thomas
Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[08:48]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[08:52]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[08:56]
Father Michael
Amen.
[08:59]
Father Francis
Glory be to the Father and to.
[09:01]
Father Mark Mary
The Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.
[09:09]
Father Michael
Amen.
[09:11]
Father Mark Mary
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, Save us from the fires of hell and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy. The third luminous mystery is the proclamation of the kingdom and the call to conversion.
[09:31]
Father Michael
All right.
[09:32]
Father Mark Mary
We'll refocus on the most Holy Trinity, who is love. An eternal exchange of love. An exchange of love that we are destined to share in. 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.
[10:11]
Father Joseph
Deliver us from evil.
[10:13]
Father Michael
Amen.
[10:15]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
[10:20]
Father Mark Mary
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed.
[10:24]
Father Thomas
Is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[10:27]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[10:31]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[10:35]
Father Michael
Amen.
[10:37]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace.
[10:39]
Father Mark Mary
The Lord is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.
[10:46]
Father Thomas
Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[10:49]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[10:53]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[10:56]
Father Michael
Amen.
[10:58]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace.
[11:00]
Father Mark Mary
The Lord is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.
[11:06]
Father Thomas
Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[11:09]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[11:13]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[11:16]
Father Michael
Amen.
[11:18]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace.
[11:20]
Father Mark Mary
The Lord is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.
[11:27]
Father Thomas
Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[11:30]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[11:34]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[11:38]
Father Michael
Amen.
[11:40]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace.
[11:42]
Father Mark Mary
The Lord is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.
[11:49]
Father Thomas
Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[11:52]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[11:56]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[12:00]
Father Michael
Amen.
[12:03]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
[12:07]
Father Mark Mary
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed.
[12:11]
Father Thomas
Is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[12:14]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[12:18]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[12:22]
Father Michael
Amen.
[12:25]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace.
[12:27]
Father Mark Mary
The Lord is with the blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.
[12:34]
Father Thomas
Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[12:37]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[12:41]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[12:45]
Father Michael
Amen.
[12:47]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace.
[12:49]
Father Mark Mary
The Lord is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.
[12:55]
Father Thomas
Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[12:58]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[13:02]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[13:06]
Father Michael
Amen.
[13:08]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace.
[13:10]
Father Mark Mary
The Lord is with the Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the.
[13:16]
Father Thomas
Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[13:19]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[13:23]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[13:26]
Father Michael
Amen.
[13:28]
Father Joseph
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
[13:32]
Father Michael
Holy.
[13:33]
Father Mark Mary
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed.
[13:37]
Father Thomas
Is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
[13:40]
Father Francis
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for.
[13:44]
Father Mark Mary
Us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
[13:48]
Father Michael
Amen.
[13:50]
Father Mark Mary
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.
[14:00]
Father Michael
Amen.
[14:01]
Father Mark Mary
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[14:16]
Father Michael
Amen.
[14:18]
Father Mark Mary
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'.
[14:27]
Father Michael
All.