Day 150: God Will Provide
12:06 Share

I'm Fr. Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars at 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 150. 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, Saint Reflections, and beautiful images of the sacred art we'll be reflecting on.

Today we will be meditating upon and praying with the second joyful mystery, the visitation, with help from a visitation scene, a painting in the Chiesa de Santi Severino e Socio by Federico Maldorelli. And now brief introduction to our artist and artwork. Federico Maldorelli lived in the year 1826 to 1893. He was an Italian painter from Naples and his dad was also a painter.

This particular painting we're going to be looking at, which again is found in a church, was done in about the year 1889. Now our description of the painting. Against an idyllic backdrop of blue skies, pink clouds, and lush greenery, a group gathers on the stone porch of a fine home. At the center, in a pink dress, yellow head wrap, and teal outer garment, Our Lady stands, eyes raised to heaven, her figure

round in pregnancy, clasping her chest with one hand and holding the other hand low and open. In turquoise, a woman, Elizabeth, crouches at her side, one hand on her own round belly, the other gesturing towards Mary's rounded abdomen. Two men are on either side of them. St. Joseph, with a walking stick, offers a bow. The other is older, Zachariah, and he's close to the door in a purple robe, standing upright and

Now, before getting into some of the specifics of today's painting, let's get a little reminder of what has taken place since yesterday's mystery, the Annunciation. This is from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 1. Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,

Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife for that which is conceived in hers of the Holy Spirit. And a few verses later, it says, when Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. Yesterday, the annunciation, right? The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her she was to be the mother of Jesus. And remember how we encountered her.

So little, so young, so innocent and so vulnerable. And the father, God the father saw that. So he sent an angel to Joseph as well to give him an admission or an encouragement on his mission. To take Mary as his wife, to protect Mary, to care for Mary, to accompany Mary, to rejoice in Mary and to love Mary. And I believe that St. Joseph is an icon of

of the father's paternal care for Mary. God's looking out for her, his provision for her of protecting her, right? So that she may not only experience safety in him and God, but also experience like human safety, emotional safety in the strong and loving care of St. Joseph. And I really, I believe this is just a very important insight into the heart of God and his fatherly love of Mary.

So today in this painting of the visitation, who do we find present with Mary at the entryway, the porch to the home of Elizabeth and Zachariah? We find St. Joseph. Now I realize that the gospel itself doesn't explicitly say that Joseph travels with Mary to the home of Elizabeth and Zachariah. And the account of the visitation in Luke's gospel, right? Like it doesn't mention him by name, but I think he had to be there.

So the question, right, can you know something is true without it being explicitly mentioned? I think so. And I'll use kind of an obvious example. If I were to say I went fishing on my friend's boat yesterday, like you better believe there was some water present, right? Like I didn't explicitly say that we were on the water, but if we were on a boat and we were fishing, I think everyone is going to have a lot of confidence that water was present as well.

And I guess that might be a little bit of a ridiculous example, and I know it's not a perfect comparison, but like, let's look at the details. We have St. Joseph, the best of men, a righteous man who had an angel appear to him and told him to take Mary as his wife. Okay. And then we have Mary, this very young woman who was recently with child, right? Again, who's so vulnerable in the world, who's going to make about an 80 mile journey.

You think St. Joseph's just gonna say like, "See you later." Just gonna let her go alone. Like I think him traveling with Mary, loving her, protecting her, providing for her, guiding her, making her like feel and in fact be safe. I think that's just the most obvious thing in the world.

And I realized the goal of the artist in today's painting, like it's to highlight the presence of Jesus, the presence of the long for Messiah in the womb of the blessed mother. That's where the focus is. Certainly. I acknowledge that, but I also like to spend some time with St. Joseph and his presence there today, as it's not a detail that we've discussed or prayed with to this point on our journey. And I find it so profoundly moving. And again, such a beautiful insight into the heart of God and,

particularly the fatherly heart of God for Mary and the heart of St. Joseph for her and for us. And so this is a theme that we're going to come back to a couple of times in these next couple of episodes as we journey through the joyful mysteries again. So as we pray today, I'll invite you to reflect on perhaps the journey

that Joseph and Mary made together. And so if you can enter into a space of imaginative prayer, reflecting on how they interacted, how safe Mary felt in his presence, how grateful to God she felt for St. Joseph being with her, this icon of his fatherly care. And let ourselves also be moved to worship God, to give thanks to God for his goodness and for this insight into his heart. And lastly, let us be moved and feel confident

to request St. Joseph's protection for us as well, particularly any areas in our lives where we currently feel vulnerable and unsafe, that we too may experience his protection and care. 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.

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.