Day 126: Fire of Love
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I'm Fr. Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars of the 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 the Year is brought to you by Ascension. Today is day 126.

To download the prayer plan for Rosary in a Year, visit ascensionpress.com forward slash 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. I encourage you to pick up a copy of the Rosary in a Year prayer guide, a book published by Ascension that was designed to complement this podcast. You'll find all the daily readings from Scripture, St. Reflections, and

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 glorious mystery, the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost with help from a writing from Saint Alphonsus Liguori and his work, The Way of Salvation. Today is one of my favorite readings we'll have during our Rosary in the Year podcast, so it's going to be a bit of an extended reading. And now we begin reading.

We well know by our faith that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son through their mutual love for each other, and therefore that the gift of love which the Lord infuses into our souls and which is the greatest of all gifts is particularly attributed to the Holy Spirit. As St. Paul speaks, the charity of God is poured abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.

God ordained in the old law that fire should be kept continually burning upon his altar. The fire on the altar shall always burn. St. Gregory says that the altars of God are our heart in which he desires that the fire of his love should always burn. And hence the eternal father, not satisfied with having given us his son, Jesus Christ to save us by his death would also give us the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts and keep them continually inflamed with his love.

And Jesus himself declared that it was in order to influence our hearts with his holy love that he came into the world and that he desired nothing more than to see it kindled. I am come to send fire upon the earth and what will I but that it be kindled. Hence, forgetting the injuries and ingratitude he received from men in this world, when he had ascended into heaven, he sent down upon us the Holy Spirit.

Hence it was that the Holy Spirit chose to appear in the form of fiery tongues, and there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were, of fire. And hence the church instructs us to pray, May the Holy Spirit we beseech thee, O Lord, inflame us with that fire, which our Lord Jesus Christ came to cast upon the earth, and which he ardently desired should be enkindled.

This was the holy fire which has inspired the saints to do such great things for God, to love their enemies, to desire contempt, to renounce all worldly goods, and to embrace with cheerfulness even torment and death. Love cannot remain idle and never says it is enough. The soul that loves God, the more she does for her beloved, desires the more to do for him, in order to please him the more and to draw down his love the more.

This holy love is enkindled in mental prayer. In my meditation, a fire shall flame out. If, therefore, we desire to be on fire with the love of God, we must delight in prayer. This is the blessed furnace in which this divine ardor is kindled. The end of the reading. Thanks be to God. I really love this reading from St. Alphonsus Liguori, as the kids say.

It is fire. Let me highlight a couple of lines and then we'll time together. St. Alphonsus writes, quoting St. Gregory, "The altars of God are our hearts in which he desires that the fire of his love should always burn." But let's just sit here for a moment. God desires the fire of his love to burn always in our hearts. Amen. Like I want that Lord, help me to want it more Lord.

He goes on to remind us that the Holy Spirit comes down at Pentecost in the form of tongues of fire, and that it is the fire of the Holy Spirit who is the holy fire, which inspired the saints to do such great things for God. Come Holy Spirit, come Holy fire and enkindle us with the same love. And then lastly, for our reflection today, he writes, if therefore we desire to be on fire with the love of God, we must delight in prayer.

This is the blessed furnace in which this divine order is enkindled. And this is what we're doing here, right? This is then the aim of the Rosary in Your Ear podcast, like not just talking about the fire of God, but actually coming to the fire through prayer, coming to this blessed furnace that we ourselves might also become fire. Now let's bring it all together here. By baptism, by baptism, we have this fire, this fire that,

This holy fire is already burning on the altar of our hearts, but we need to feed the fire. And how do we do so? I'm going to focus on two ways in which we can feed the fire of the Holy Spirit. Through the wood of the cross and the oxygen of prayer. As life presents us with the cross, as we accept the cross, as we carry with Jesus the cross, the wood of the cross is placed on the altar of our hearts and it feeds the fire. The fire of God within us, it grows.

But like a fire doesn't just need wood to continue to feed it. Like it also needs oxygen. And building upon a theme from St. Alphonse in his writing is, I propose that what oxygen is to natural fire, prayer is to the fire of the Holy Spirit burning within us. In the natural world, right? Without oxygen, the fire is suffocated. But with oxygen, like the fire is given what it needs to grow. And the same with the fire within us.

Without prayer, without the oxygen of prayer, the fire of God within us, it's suffocated. But through prayer, this fire is fed and it grows and it burns and it ignites and it fuels and purifies and transforms. Today, as we pray with Pentecost, as we pray with the third glorious mystery, today let us pray, come Holy Spirit. Let's pray that the Holy Spirit, the holy fire of God makes us fire.

May the same Spirit who made the saints burn with love, which made the saints freely and heroically embrace the cross. May the same Spirit which made the saints burn with love, the same Spirit which made the saints freely and heroically embrace the cross, the same Spirit that plunged the saints into the depths and helped them fly to the heights of prayer, may the same Spirit burn within us and transform us from within.

If there's areas in our heart where our love has grown cold, our prayer has grown cold, our charity has grown cold, our hope has grown cold, our faith has grown cold, let us say, "Come, Holy Spirit." Come, Holy Spirit, and kindle in us the fire of your love. 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. Thanks so much for joining me and praying with me again 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/promises.