Day 109: The Gift of Wonder
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Amen. Father Mark Murray with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and this is the Rosary in a Year podcast. We're through prayer and meditation. The rosary brings us deeper into relationship with Jesus and to 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 109. 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. 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. No matter what app you're listening in, remember to tap follow or subscribe for your daily notifications. Today we will be meditating upon and praying with the first joyful mystery with help from St. Gregory Thaumaturgus and his work.

on the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary. Some introduction to our author, St. Gregory Thaumaturges. So he was born about the year 210, and he died about the year 270. So he was way back then. St. Gregory was born into a pagan family, and he would convert to Christianity, particularly through the preaching and the mentorship and guidance from a well-known name from that time period named Origen.

a very, very popular author and theologian. So after being baptized, eventually being ordained a priest at the age of 40 years old, he was made the bishop of a tiny Christian community. This is the smallest Christian community as far as having a bishop that I've ever heard of. There were only 17 Christians in his community, but there was about 37,000 people in that city, only 17 though of them of Christians. Through his leadership,

The number of Christians in that area, in the city, in the town would just grow by leaps and bounds. Thaumaturges isn't actually a last name. It's really a nickname or an honorific title, which means wonder worker. Because of the flood of miracles that happened around him, this is what people would call him. Thaumaturges again, meaning wonder worker. As noted, the flock he inherited was in a town called Neo-Caesarea or Pontus.

And it began with only 17 Christians. At the time of his death, it is said that there were only 17 non-Christians left. So some 37,000 people would come to be baptized. He does not have the honorific title of doctor of the church, but like we said, they do call him the wonder worker, which is pretty awesome. All right. And today with our reading and our prayer, we are going to focus on the wonder of the annunciation.

And now our reading from St. Gregory. Today are strains of praise sung joyfully by the choir of angels, and the light of the advent of Christ shines brightly upon the faithful.

Today is the glad springtime to us, and Christ, the Son of Righteousness, has beamed with clear light around us and has illumined the minds of the faithful. Today is Adam made anew and moves in the choir of angels, having winged his way to heaven. Today is the whole circle of the earth filled with joy, since the sojourn of the Holy Spirit has been realized to men.

Today, the grace of God and the hope of the unseen shine through all wonders transcending imagination and make the mystery that was kept hidden from eternity plainly discernible to us. Today are woven the chaplets of never fading virtue. Today, God, willing to crown the sacred heads of those whose pleasure is to hearken to him and who delight in his festivals, invites the lovers of unswerving faith

as his called and his heirs. And the heavenly kingdom is urgent to some of those who mind celestial things to join the divine service of the incorporeal choir. Today is the illustrious and ineffable mystery of Christians who have willingly set their hope like a seal upon Christ, plainly declared to us. Today did Gabriel, who stands by God, come to the pure virgin, bearing to her the glad annunciation, Hail, thou art highly favored.

And she cast in her mind what manner of salutation this might be. And the angel immediately proceeded to say, The Lord is with you, fear not, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you shall conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever.

and of his kingdom there shall be no end. The end of the reading. Thanks be to God. Our focus again is on the wonder of the Annunciation. So for the last couple of years with some of the other friars, other Franciscan friars of the renewal, I've been the co-host of a different podcast. It's called the Poco a Poco podcast. So that the whole Poco a Poco thing, it's a thing. There's a history to it. For that podcast, recently we had join us a guest,

And the guest name is Dr. John Bergsma. And he is the author of a book called "Jesus and Jubilee." And one of the themes, something I learned that became apparent in my own personal reading and in our discussion is that throughout the history of Israel, throughout the history of the Jewish people, there's a lot of developments and also really intense debate regarding what God was going to do. The people of Israel, they knew they needed forgiveness.

They knew that they had not been faithful to God and that he had made certain promises to them. And they knew as well, like that God wanted all of these things. He wanted them to experience forgiveness and freedom and he wanted to save them. But there was a ton of debate and different opinions and really, really strong opinions about like, how would this actually happen? And what would the nature of it be? You know, for example, was it a freedom which meant like not being governed freely?

by some sort of foreign rule, foreign nation? Or was it a freedom more on the spiritual plane? Or was it somehow both? Would it come through violence or another way? And they were looking for that, what they call the goel, the redeemer, somebody who would come to redeem them. They're looking for the messiah. Some groups like the Essenes were looking for this divine Melchizedek, a priest king.

And this question of what God would do, how he would save them, how he would fulfill his promises, it was a big deal for the people of Israel. It was the biggest deal and it was the biggest question. At the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel answers this question. The question that had been debated for centuries,

But even more importantly, like the answer from God that had been longed for for centuries. In the words of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, today, today, referring to the Annunciation, today the grace of God and the hope of the unseen shine through all wonders transcending imagination and make the mystery that was kept hidden from eternity plainly visible to us.

The mystery that was kept hidden from eternity, this question that had been much debated, has been made plainly visible to us. Today a wonder is announced, transcending imagination. Today the angel Gabriel announces to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to all of us, Behold, you shall conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great.

and he shall reign over the house of jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end and the word became flesh and dwelt among us how is god going to respond what is it going to look like his name is jesus he shall be conceived by the power of the holy spirit in the womb the blessed virgin mary he shall be great he shall be called the son of the highest he shall inherit the throne of his father david and of his rule there will be no end

This is the answer. This is the answer, the longed for answer of all of Israel and really all of the world. Admittedly, it can be hard for us to really grasp how profound this moment is. Most folks listening to this podcast have kind of grown up knowing about Jesus. So essentially like we've grown up knowing the answer.

But for Mary and for the first century Jewish people, this was again like the biggest of deals. The longed for Messiah had come. God became man. Beyond imagination, a wonder beyond imagination, God became man. It would be through the shedding of his own blood that freedom and forgiveness would be won for all. That the people of Israel would be freed. That his kingdom would be established and would be victorious. So as we pray today, let's just really ask for the grace of the Holy Spirit.

For the gift of wonder, the gift of wonder at the Annunciation, God has come to save His people in a way far surpassing their expectations or imagination. So may you and I today be renewed with gratitude and wonder at the Annunciation, the Word became flesh, the advent of the Messiah, and the story of our own salvation.

Now with Our Lady, 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. All right, Poco a Poco friends. God bless y'all.