Day 125: Hold Fast to Christ
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Hi, I'm Fr. Mark Mary 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 125. To download the prayer plan for Rosary in a Year, visit ascensionpress.com forward slash Ascension.

Rosary in a Year or text R-I-Y 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 whole 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 at ascensionpress.com forward slash support. Today we will be meditating upon and praying with the second glorious mystery, the ascension of our Lord with help from a writing, again by our friend St. Augustine and his work Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon 41. Now our reading from St. Augustine. Run with the heart's affection.

Journey on with love. Ascend by charity. Why do you seek for the way? Cleave unto Christ, who by descending and ascending has made himself the way. Do you wish to ascend? Hold fast to him that ascends, for by your own self you cannot rise. For no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. If no one ascends, but he that descended, that is, the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus, do you wish to ascend also?

Be then a member of him who only has ascended. For he the head with all the members is, but one man. As walking by faith, let us do good works. And these good works, let there be a free love of God for his own sake, an active love of our neighbor. For we have nothing we can do for God, but because we have something we may do for our neighbor, we shall by our good offices to the needy gain his favor, who is the source of all abundance."

Let everyone then do what he can for others. Let him freely bestow upon the needy from his superfluity. One has money. Let him feed the poor. Let him clothe the naked. Let him build a church. Let him do with his money all the good he can. Another has good counsel. Let him guide his neighbor. Let him, by the light of holiness, drive away the darkness of doubting. Another has learning. Let him draw out of this store of the Lord.

Let him minister food to his fellow servants, strengthen the faithful, recall the wandering, seek the lost, do all the good he can. Something there is which even the poor may deal out to one another. Let one lend feet to the lame, another give his own eyes to guide the blind, another visit the sick, another bury the dead. These are things which all may do, so that in a word it would be hard to find one who has not some means of doing good to others. And last of all comes that important duty which the apostle speaks of,

I really love these opening words of St. Augustine. Run with heart's affection. Journey on with love. Ascend by charity. It goes on the right. Do you wish to ascend? Hold fast to him that ascends. The connection I want to highlight is this. We ascend.

by clinging to Jesus, by holding fast to him that ascends. And a principle way in which we in fact cling to him is by works of charity. Our works of charity are a way in which we hold fast to Christ. And their absence is a sign or cause of us ceasing to hold fast to him. And I propose that this is confirmed in Matthew 25. Matthew 25 is where Jesus famously gives the parable with the separation of the sheep and the goats.

Those who will ascend with him and those who will descend without him. And in Matthew 25, how is this discerned? Those who descend without him, those who don't hold fast to him, are those who do not do the works of charity, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, etc. Because they didn't do this for the neighbor, they didn't do it for him. And they've ruptured that relationship. They've ceased to cling to him. And so they descend without him.

Those who ascend with him, with the Lord, those who abide in him, are those who do feed the hungry, do give drink to the thirsty, do visit the imprisoned, etc. Because, as he says, write, that which you did for the least of my brethren, you did it for me. These are all ways in which we cling to him and therefore share in his ascension. We ascend with him through charity. In our reading today from St. Augustine,

I see this theme echoed where he writes, for we have nothing we can do for God, but because we have something we may do for our neighbor, we shall by our good offices to the needy gain his favor, who is the source of all abundance, right? Like we have nothing we can do for God, but because we have something we can do for our neighbor, like that what you did for the least of my brethren, you did it for me. So by loving our neighbor, we can love God. We can give back to God, we could say.

And so out of love for Jesus and for love of Jesus, let us love our neighbor with an outpouring of generosity because the Lord, the source of all abundance has been so generous to us. And St. Augustine, he goes on and I really love this and I invite you to spend some more time with it. He goes on to give some guidance on what this could look like, including for those who have limited means.

Makes me think of this, one of my favorite stories. I was down in Guatemala in language school. This is where I prayed for nachos back in the day and it happened. And I was with a brother who's a few years older than me. And so we were just kind of walking around in Antigua, just kind of chatting. And we were in kind of like a common marketplace. And he was senior to me by a number of years. And at some point as we're walking, a man stops us and he starts talking. And he starts talking, talking, talking, and just sets off on this monologue.

And being the younger friar in that situation, I kind of have this disposition of like deference. And so I'm going to follow the senior brother's lead. But as the monologue went on from like 10 minutes to 15 minutes to 20 minutes, I'm like looking at the brother to be like, is this what we're doing? Like, how long do we let this go on for? And the monologue, literally the monologue continued 25 minutes, 30 minutes. And I'm like looking at the guy talking, looking at the brother, looking at the guy talking, looking at the brother,

40 minutes, 45 minutes, we get to like an hour, hour and 15 minutes of just a monologue when finally, you know, the night falls and the guy had to get back home. And as me and this friar are walking back, I kind of casually bring it up. It's like, hey, so is that what we do?

He's like, what do you mean? Is that what we do? He's like, well, you know, as someone's talking like that, do you ever interrupt it? Do you ever cut it off? Do you ever say you got to go or you just kind of let him go as long as he wants? And the friar, he kind of just stopped and he looked at me. He said, you know, I just don't feel like I have a lot that I can give to people, but I can listen. And so that's what I do. When people talk, I let them and I just listen because that's what I have to give.

And I think this is so good and this nails it, right? Like how often we could say like, does the Lord just listen to us and receive us? And how generous is he in listening to us? And you know, it doesn't take a rock and scientist or some sort of hero or saint to be able to listen to others, but it does take charity. It does take goodwill. And I just think that this brother, he just nails it. You know what? Like what I have to give is I can listen. What I have to give is when I encounter somebody who's lonely and who needs to talk, I can be a friend.

I can be somebody that's there for them. But I can be the one who welcomes the stranger or gives a place to the lonely. And he lives this like that, what you did for the least of my brethren, you did it for me. And this is what clinging to Jesus looks like. This is what ascending with Jesus looks like. This is what ascending with charity looks like. And I think it's so beautiful and it's so accessible. So as we pray today, let us ask,

For the grace to ascend with the Lord. Let us ask for the grace to abide in Him, to hold fast to Him through charity. And let us ask for the grace to give thanks to the Lord in both word and deed. By loving Him through those we are invited to serve in our family, in our community, in our world. Because that which we do for the least in our brethren, we do for Christ.

And in doing these things for Christ, we truly ascend with him who was first descended. And now with Mary, let us pray. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 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 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 thee.

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 thee. 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 thee. 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 thee. 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 thee. 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 thee. 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 thee. 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 thee. 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 thee. 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 so much for joining me and praying with me today. I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow. Poco a poco, friends. God bless y'all. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Rosary in a Year. If you've been enjoying this journey with me, I encourage you to check out my new book, Eight Promises of God, Discovering Hope Through the Beatitudes. We all want to know, like, what can I expect my life to look like when I'm following Jesus? How do I know I'm doing it right?

Our brothers and sisters, I believe that the answer to these questions is found in the Beatitudes. In this book, we'll learn from the example of the truly blessed ones, our Lord and our Lady, and how they practiced and lived the Beatitudes. And all this is going to bear fruit with the deepening of our trust in God's promises in any and all circumstances. You can get your copy today at ascensionpress.com forward slash promises.