Day 143: Fulfillment of the Promise
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I'm Father 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. This is day 143. To download the prayer plan for Rosary in the 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 fifth sorrowful mystery, the crucifixion, with help from a fresco of the crucifixion by the artist Pietro Gagliardi. So our artwork today is a fresco, and it's a fresco of the crucifixion by the artist Pietro Gagliardi, and it's in the church of San Girolamo. The fresco here was done between the years 1850

1847 and 1852. The style is known as late romantic, which is characterized by luminous palettes with soft, gentle nuances of color and open, spacious compositions, graceful figure movements, and celestial realms. This particular fresco is part of an overall restoration of the church of San Girolamo that was commissioned by Pope Pius IX in 1847.

Now a description of our painting. Christ hangs high on a cross above a mountainous terrain. The sky directly behind Jesus' cross is blue with beaming golden light and a vibrant rainbow which starkly contrasts to the brooding black and gray clouds over the rest of the scene. Angels in attendance hover between the ominous skies and Christ's shining celestial halo. Jesus is flanked by the two thieves. One faces him.

and his body reflects the glow of Jesus' light and the other, enshrouded in darkness, turns away. Beneath them a tableau of drama unfolds. Those gazing towards Jesus at the foot of the cross are colorfully illuminated, including Mary, wearing blue with a golden halo, as she clutches her chest in pain. Saint John in yellow falls on his knees, hand against his head in agony, and several women join Mary in her mourning at the foot of the cross.

Some soldiers hold spears and others cast lots. People of all kinds witness the scene. Some onlookers jeer, some fight, some bow in humble reverence. Now our meditation, as we sit before this most tragic of scenes, which is depicted so beautifully by our artist, what catches my attention is that unique detail of the large, vibrant rainbow behind our crucified Lord Jesus.

which if you look closely, seems to be having its colorful bows being completed by the outstretched arms of Jesus. You can see his own outstretched arms completing this circular rainbow. And this rainbow, of course, it harkens back to God's promise to Noah after the flood. And the rainbow, like it speaks to Noah and then to us, the promise of God. And what we see depicted here so beautifully is Jesus crucified.

And the crucifix as like the fulfillment of like the rainbow from the promise of God to Noah, the sign that death does not have the last word, but life does. So we see that in the rainbow and we see that perfected and fulfilled in the crucifix, the cross, the sure sign of our hope and of God's fidelity. From here on, all storms will cease and the dawn shall break.

In other words, like darkness, suffering, death, they will not have the last word, but rather light and love and life. This is God's promise, which is perfected and fulfilled in the paschal mystery of Jesus. Hope, light, life, and God's goodness towards his people will be victorious. It will be what endures. And I feel like the placing of the rainbow,

In the scene of the crucifixion, it's a way of communicating to us that this darkness, that this storm, this suffering, the death that we are witnessing will not be the end of the story. He will rise. The last time that Mary, the mother of God, the mother of Jesus, holds her son, it will not be his lifeless body on Calvary. She will encounter him and hold him again alive and victorious.

The Father's goodness, right, towards the Son will have the final word. And with Him, we too shall rise. And so those of us who are currently like deeply, really sharing in the Lord's passion in our own lives, those of us who are really sharing in Mary's sorrow, as we see those we love so much suffer so much, we can take hope.

That suffering and death and darkness are not victorious. They don't have the last word. But in Christ, our hope, the storm shall cease. The waters, which feel like they're drowning us in suffering, they will recede. And life, like life will conquer. Jesus hanging from the tree at Calvary, it says to us, I know your suffering.

But I also know his goodness. I am with you. Stay with me and we will rise together. We will experience the Father's goodness, a goodness which may not seem possible in this current situation. But stay with me. Trust his promise that the storm will cease and the dawn will break in all things for all eternity if we remain with him, if we hope in him, if we let him.

So as we pray today, as we pray with Mary, who knew the depths of suffering, but also the heights of God's fidelity, like let us really ask for this grace, not just from a human like resoluteness, not just a deeper human commitment to trust when it's hard, but let us like profoundly in even from a place of like radical poverty independence. Let us ask for the grace, the supernatural gift of grace. That is hope to see the rainbow in our modern day Calvary's like this promise of God's victory.

and to remain with Mary and Jesus and hope in the midst of our sufferings so that we who suffer with him, we who die with him, may also rise with him. 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 again today. I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow. Poco a poco. All right. God bless y'all.