Day 159: Surrender Your Suffering
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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 159. 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 first sorrowful mystery, the agony in the garden, with help from a painting entitled The Prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane Garden by the artist Alessandro Maganza. And now an introduction to our artist and artwork. Alessandro Maganza, born in the year 1556. He was an Italian painter of the Mannerist style.

born and active in Vicenza in Venice, and he was likely trained by his father Giovanni Battista Maganza, spent time in Venice from the years 1572 to 1576. Maganza's style is described as derivative of Palma il Giovanni, and he was known for his religious paintings and frescoes. The time period of this specific painting is from the years 1587 to 1589,

Just a little more on the style. Mannerist style is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around the year 1520. In Mannerism, it exaggerates proportion, balance, and ideal beauty, often resulting in compositions that are asymmetrical or unnaturally elegant, notable for its artificial as opposed to naturalistic qualities.

This artistic style privileges compositional tension and instability rather than the balance and clarity of earlier Renaissance painting. And now our description: On a dark canvas, three disciples are depicted up close sound asleep, their faces blank and resting, one a youth with curly hair, another older with a beard and red cloak, another lays face down further back, all nestled into a garden floor.

Contrasting the swaths of dense darkness, a light emanates from the top left corner and from it emerges a small winged angel bearing a chalice towards Jesus. Jesus kneels bent over, hands clasped in sincere prayer, wrapped in a green garment, barefoot in the thick grass with leaves and bushes around him. Eyes closed, the light illuminates his body.

This angelic light dimly reveals the features of the drowsy disciples. A faint flame deep in the somber dark hues reflects the approach of a group of soldiers into the garden towards the kneeling praying Savior. With our painting today, notice how all of the lines, all the movement, all the actions, the angel, the disciples' bodies,

The soldiers in the background, right? They all point to Jesus. It all points to, flows to Jesus. The law and the prophets, they point to Jesus. They point to this moment. All of salvation has been leading to this point, to this person, to Jesus. And Jesus freely takes all of it upon himself.

Like this role of saving us, the role of revealing to us the Father, the role of shedding his own blood. And he draws to himself also in this moment, he says yes and receives like all sin, all pain, all suffering. He, like the priest, the victim, the sacrifice, the divine scapegoat, he takes it all upon himself.

We see also in this moment, right, already at work, the mystery of God's providence, bringing all things together for good and ordering like all chaos, all darkness into what will be glory and light. Even this darkest of nights become glory and light. And I encourage you as we sit before this painting today, like feel yourself drawn to him.

And surrender to this, what we call this like holy gravitational pull, this divine attraction. He who proclaimed that he would draw all men to himself now draws you. Like don't resist.

Give to Jesus here in the garden your sin. Give to him your worries. Give to him your pain. Give to him your doubts. Give to him all of your darkness. Let him receive it all. Let him redeem it all. Let him order it all for the good. Jesus in the garden demands all of you to save all of you. Give it to him.

a friar priest, one of the guys I lived with, he has a biological brother who is a doctor. He's an orthopedic surgeon. And this priest had some pain. I think it was in like one of his shoulders as he was back home visiting his brother. And his brother was kind of feeling and trying to help like realign it. As he was doing this, like he was feeling like resistance. And so the doctor brother said like strongly, like, hey, give it to me, give it to me.

And he was feeling again, like there was like a resistance. And, but he was like, give it to me, give it to me. And something happened where there's like the priest brother, like he surrendered it. Like he really trusted. And then the doctor was able to realign the joint, the shoulder. He was able to reorder it. But in a sense, like before he could reorder it, he needed to receive it. And that required in this case, like the patient, the priest to give it. As we pray today,

Like, I want you to feel Jesus pulling on your heart, like drawing not only your stuff, your sin, your worries to him, but you and all of you in adoration and praise, like surrender, give yourself to him. Let him take it. He says like, give it to me. Give it to me. My brothers and sisters, let us surrender. Let us surrender it all so that he can redeem it all and glorify it all. 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, friends. God bless y'all.