Transcript
Mark (0:00)
Foreign.
Mary (0:04)
Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars of Renewal and this is the Rosary in the 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 96. 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 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. I encourage you to pick up a copy of the Rosary in the Year Prayer Guide, a book published by Ascension that was designed to complement this podcast. You'll find all the daily readings from Scripture, Saint reflections, and beautiful full page images of the sacred art we'll be reflecting on today. We'll be meditating upon and praying with the third luminous mystery, the proclamation of the Kingdom, and the call to conversion, with help from a reading from St. Augustine from his work on the Sermon on the Mount. And the point of emphasis of our meditation is going to be a new law for a new kingdom because of a new love. And now our reading from St. Augustine on the Sermon on the Mount, St. Augustine, who we've already introduced, known as.
Mark (1:30)
The Doctor of Grace.
Mary (1:33)
The beginning then of this sermon is introduced as follows. And when he saw the great multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them. If it is asked what the mountain means, it may well be understood as meaning the greater precepts of righteousness. For there were lesser ones which were given to the Jews. Yet it was one God, who, through his holy prophets and servants, according to a thoroughly arranged distribution of times, gave the lesser precepts to a people as yet required to be bound by fear, and who through His Son, gave the greater ones to a people whom it had now become suitable to set free by love. Moreover, when the lesser are given to the lesser, and the greater to the greater, they are given by him who alone knows how to present to the human race the medicine suited to the occasion. Nor is it surprising that the greater precepts are given for the kingdom of heaven, and the lesser for an earthly kingdom by that one and the same God who made heaven and earth. The end of the reading thanks be to God. All right so let's go ahead and reflect on these words of St. Augustine in the context of praying with the proclamation of the kingdom, the call to conversion. Just a reminder. So as Jesus is proclaiming the kingdom, our way to understand this, right, is that in the proclamation of the kingdom, which is being proclaimed, established by word and by deed, we have these realities happening, and we see this in all that Jesus is going to do and he's going to preach, right. And teach during his public earthly ministry, right? The Savior is saving, the divine physician is healing, the teacher is teaching, right? And what we encounter, particularly here at the Sermon on the Mount, is the lawgiver of the new kingdom is giving the new law. Let's go ahead and pull a couple of lines here from St. Augustine, right? He says this through his Son, gave the greater ones to a people whom it had now become suitable to set free by love. There's this acknowledgement that as Jesus comes, he is giving a new law and a greater law. And this makes sense again, according to St. Augustine, his own words. Nor is it surprising. The greater precepts are given for the kingdom of heaven, right? There's a new law for this new kingdom, the kingdom of heaven being given here by Jesus. And we counted this phrasing a number of times with the Lord, like you have heard it said, but I say to you, you have heard it said, but I say to you, and you have heard it said, when Jesus is doing this, like he's going to mention.