Day 8: Full of Grace - The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames)

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

Episode: Day 8 – Full of Grace
Date: January 8, 2026
Host: Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, CFR
Produced by: Ascension

Main Theme and Purpose

In Day 8 of "The Rosary in a Year," Fr. Mark-Mary introduces listeners to Phase Two: The Biblical Roots of the Rosary. This episode focuses on the opening words of the Hail Mary—“full of grace, the Lord is with thee”—exploring their scriptural origin, theological meaning, and how these words can deepen one’s relationship with Mary and Jesus through the Rosary.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Launching Phase Two: Rooting the Rosary in Scripture

Fr. Mark-Mary explains that the next phase will examine the scriptural foundations of each prayer in the Rosary, beginning with the Hail Mary.
- “We’ll root them in Scripture and then go on to the particular scripture passages appropriate to the different mysteries and spend time working through these and reflecting on them.” (01:42)
Each episode will read part of a prayer, offer a related Scripture lens, and conclude with prayer:
- “At the end of each episode... we’ll say the Sign of the Cross and then we’ll pray an Our Father, three Hail Marys, and a Glory Be and close the episode for the day.” (03:00)

2. Focusing on ‘Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord Is with Thee’

These words originate from the Annunciation—the angel Gabriel’s greeting to Mary (Luke 1:28).
- “An angel is a messenger of God. And the message that the angel carries isn't their own message, it's the message that God gave them to carry. And Hail Mary, full of grace... It's not just Gabriel's greeting, it's God's greeting.” (04:00)
Fr. Mark-Mary emphasizes that just as Jesus gave us the words for the Our Father, God gives us the words to greet Mary through the angel:
- “Jesus teaches us the Our Father... how to approach the Father. The Hail Mary... God teaches us how to approach Mary.” (05:14)
- “We are greeting the Blessed Mother and we’re greeting her with God's own words in the Hail Mary.” (05:33)

3. Encouragement for Deeper Theological Study

He recommends Pope John Paul II’s Redemptoris Mater for a deeper theological unpacking of “full of grace, the Lord is with thee.”
- “He offers a really rich theological discussion on what these words mean.” (06:16)

4. The Heart of Rosary Repetition—Ever New Love

Drawing from John Paul II’s apostolic letter on the Rosary (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, para. 26), Fr. Mark-Mary reframes the repetition of the Hail Mary as an “outpouring of love”:
- “If this repetition is considered superficially, there could be a temptation to see the Rosary as a dry and boring exercise. It is quite another thing, however, when the Rosary is thought of as an outpouring of that love which tirelessly returns to the person loved with expressions similar in their content but ever fresh in terms of the feeling pervading them.” [Quote from John Paul II, 07:07]
He encourages listeners to approach each Hail Mary as a new, loving greeting to Mary, letting the words be “ever new in affection and love.”
- “The content, the form, the words, they don't change. But the affection is ever new, the love is ever new.” (08:10)
- “Approach her again and again with an outpouring of love which tirelessly returns to the person loved.” (08:25)

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

On God’s greeting to Mary:
- “It is God himself who, through his angel as intermediary, greets Mary. And in praying... I thought it was pretty neat. And so I’m going to share it with you.” (04:45)
On the purpose of repetition in the Rosary:
- “We are greeting her with ever new love, ever new affection, ever new confidence, ever new joy... Hail Mary, I love you, Mother. You are beautiful, Mother, full of grace. You are full of grace, Mother. And where I am lacking, pour upon me your grace.” (07:50)

Important Segments & Timestamps

Introduction to Phase Two: Biblical Roots of the Rosary (01:42)
Context of ‘Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee’ from the Annunciation (04:00)
Connection to the Our Father: God Gives Us Words to Approach Mary (05:14)
Recommend Deeper Study: Pope John Paul II’s Redemptoris Mater (06:16)
Reflection on Rosary Repetition as Love, Not Routine (07:07)
Invitation to Personal Prayer and Reflection (08:10–08:25)
Guided Prayer (Our Father, Hail Marys, Glory Be) (09:00)

Episode Tone and Closing Thoughts

The episode is gentle, contemplative, and warmly pastoral. Fr. Mark-Mary’s tone is encouraging and personal, inviting listeners to slow down and to pray the Rosary with intentional, renewed love for Mary.
He closes, “We just greet the Blessed Mother with great love, the love that she deserves. And I look forward to continuing this journey again with you tomorrow. Poco a poco.” (12:25)

Takeaway for Listeners

Begin to see each Hail Mary as a fresh act of love, repeating God’s own greeting to Mary, not out of habit, but with sincere, ever-renewed affection.
Root your daily prayer in the words of Scripture—let them deepen your relationship with Jesus and Mary.
Consider digging deeper into the theology of Marian devotion, especially through the writings of Pope John Paul II.

For further resources and the full prayer plan, visit:
https://ascensionpress.com/riy

Transcript

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Foreign. Mark May 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. This is Day eight. To download the prayer plan for Rosary in a year, visit ascensionpress.com forward/rosary in a year or text R I YES 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 is 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 team here at Ascension, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's helped support this podcast financially. Your support 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 Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. So we're entering into Day one of Phase two of Rosary in the Year podcast called the Biblical Roots of the Rosary. And so what we'll be doing is taking for example, the different prayers that we say when we're praying the Rosary and slowly work through them. Either they are scripture or we'll root them in Scripture and then we'll go on to the particular scripture passages appropriate to to the different mysteries and just spend some time working through these and reflecting on them. So the approach that we'll be taking is I'm going to begin each episode, read part of the prayer or the article of the Creed, et cetera, that we're going to be reflecting on for that day. And then I'll propose a scripture passage that is going to be sort of the lens to begin the conversation. At the end of each episode, we're going to be building up our prayer muscle. So at the end of each episode for this phase, we'll say the Son of the Cross and then we'll pray in our Father, three Hail Marys and a Glory Be and close the episode for the day. We'll cover the Hail Mary over the next three episodes, beginning today with Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. And these words, of course, come from the mystery that we know of as the Annunciation. These are the words spoken in greeting by the angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. An angel is a messenger of God. And the message that the angel carries isn't their own message, it's the message that God gave them to carry. And Hail Mary, full of grace. It's a greeting, right? But it's not just Gabriel's greeting, it's God's greeting. And this is how God wants to greet Mary. And I would propose this is how he wants us to come to Mary. And this is confirmed by the Catechism, paragraph 2676. The greeting of the angel Gabriel opens this prayer. It is God himself who, through his angel as intermediary, greets Mary. And in praying, reflecting with this, in preparation for this episode, a light bulb went on and I thought it was pretty neat. And so I'm going to share it with you. Where does the Our Father come from? God teaches us. Jesus teaches us the Our Father. He teaches us what words to say. He teaches us how to approach the Father, the Hail Mary. These opening words also are words that God gave us. And as Jesus, as the Our Father, the Lord's Prayer teaches us how to come to the Father, how to approach the Father. God teaches us how to approach Mary. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. And I just found this really beautiful. What we're doing here is we are greeting the Blessed Mother and we're greeting her with God's own words and the Hail Mary. And all of these prayers are so rich and there's no way we can do them justice in just one episode or a couple of days, etc. If you want to really unpack the theological meaning of the words full of grace, the Lord is with thee, I'd really recommend you check out Pope John Paul II's encyclical letter Redemptoris Mater. There's a couple of paragraphs there. It's free, you can find on the Vatican website. And he offers a really rich theological discussion on what these words mean. And for our purposes, I'm going to lead us to approach these words and to reflect upon them in a way which I think is going to best serve us in our praying of the rosary. And so I'm going to pull from Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter on the Most Holy Rosary. This is paragraph 26, referring to the method of the rosary. He says this. It is a method based on repetition. This applies above all to the hail Mary, repeated 10 times in each mystery. If this repetition is considered superficially, there could be a temptation to see the rosary as a dry and boring exercise. It is quite another thing, however, when the rosary is thought of as an outpouring of that love which tirelessly returns to the person loved with expressions similar in their content, but ever fresh in terms of the feeling pervading them. And I think this is so beautiful and offers us such a really particular focus of prayer, particularly this day, as we're approaching the Blessed Mother in prayer and we're speaking these words, Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. We're going to be continuing these words again and again, and we are greeting her with ever new love, ever new affection, ever new confidence, ever new joy. Hail Mary, I love you, Mother. You are beautiful, Mother, full of grace. You are full of grace, Mother. And where I am lacking, pour upon me your grace. The Lord is with thee. Give me again your son. Give me a greater love of your son. Give me more of your son. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. The content, the form, the words, they don't change. But the affection is ever new, the love is ever new. And so, my friends, this is the invitation for you this day. Let us slow down, let us focus just on this part of the Hail Mary, just these words of greeting that God has given to us. And let us approach her again and again with an outpouring of love which tirelessly returns to the person loved. And so let us pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 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, 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 the. 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 the. 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. All right, friends, thanks for joining me again today. I was just. Yeah, really moved, praying, and hopefully you were as well as. We just greet the blessed Mother with great love, the love that she deserves. And I look forward to continuing this journey again with you tomorrow. Poco. Ah, Poco. All right. Bye, friends.