Day 182: Shared Sacrifice
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I'm Father 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 182. 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. 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/support. Today we will be meditating upon and praying with the fourth sorrowful mystery, Jesus Carrying His Cross, with help from a painting entitled, "Christ Falls on the Way to Calvary" by the artist Raphael. And now a brief introduction to our artist and artwork.

Our artist, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, known as Raffaele, was born in the year 1483 and he died in the year 1520. He was an Italian painter and architect, celebrated as one of the greatest masters of the High Renaissance.

Raphael was born in Orino, but he would later work in Florence before moving to Rome in the year 1508 when he was about 25 years old. And it's there that he received the major commissions from Pope Julius II. His works are admired for their clarity, ease of composition, and depiction of human grandeur. Tragically, Raphael died at the age of 37, but he left behind a prolific legacy.

that influenced generations of artists. Our painting today, Christ Falls on the Way to Calvary, was done between the years 1515 and 1516, and it exemplifies the high Renaissance style characterized by harmony, balance, and emotional depth. Our painting today showcases Raphael's mastery of composition, dynamic arrangement, and use of vibrant colors. His skillful application of chiaroscuro enhances the three-dimensionality of the figure's

and creates a dramatic interplay of light and shadow. And the vertical composition departs from traditional horizontal depictions of this theme, reflecting Raphael's innovative approach to religious art. Now a description of our painting. Outside the stone gates of a city, a dense gathering of figures looks to Christ, who stumbles under the weight of a wooden cross. Women accompany him in reverent sorrow, while a cluster of men forcefully urge him forward.

Soldiers on horseback give directions while others brandish spears, whips, and shields. One soldier's red banner vividly cuts against the bright blue sky. Towering above Jesus is a strong man gripping the cross with both hands, upholding it and preventing it from crushing Christ beneath its weight. The scene unfolds before an open landscape that rises toward a distant hill, elevated like a stage, yet ominously empty.

In the background, two other condemned men are similarly driven onward toward the hilltop. At the center, Jesus crowned with thorns collapses beneath the cross, his sorrowful gaze directed towards his mother Mary, dressed in nun-like robes, arms extended in silent anguish. Their eyes meet in a shared moment of suffering, piercing and tender. Around her, a group of women, haloed and tearful,

stand as reverent witnesses to the unfolding agony. As I've quoted before a couple of times throughout our journey up to this point, we know that Jesus said, no one takes my life from me. I lay it down freely. While seeming powerless, out of control, forced, the opposite was true, right? Jesus was always freely receiving and responding to the Father's will.

He knew what he was doing and why he was doing it. And this is confirmed by his words to Peter that are spoken during his arrest. This is what Jesus says. Jesus is saying yes to what is happening. He is freely offering himself. But what about Mary?

What about the beautiful mother of Jesus who can still remember his little kicks while he was in her womb, his youthful curls and infectious laugh while he was just a playful child, the strong embrace of his hugs generously given when he had become a man. What about her? What about her who now encounters her son who was once so strong and full of life and

now so pale from blood loss and frail under the harsh wooden cross. What about Mary? Does she say, no one takes my son from me, I offer him freely? Or is she powerless, out of control, forced into her own share of this suffering? As painful as it is, a pain that I cannot personally begin to fathom, I do believe that

that Mary intimately echoes Jesus' offering. "Father, your will be done." In Raphael's painting of the encounter between Mary and Jesus while he's on the road to Calvary, Raphael gives Mary what to me is an ambiguous posture. Are her arms outstretched calling him to herself? Or are her arms extended an offering? Perhaps both.

Maybe she is seeking one last embrace with her son while his lungs are still filled, before she freely sends him to finish what he had come to do. Speaking about Mary, particularly her presence at the foot of the cross, but I believe also applying equally to our mystery today, Pope John Paul II wrote, referring to Mary, "She stood in accordance with the prediction, beside the suffering Savior,

And her standing was not passive acceptance, but a spiritual sharing in his suffering and a maternal offering of her son. It's hard to fathom and even to begin this from a worldview which doesn't account for the power of grace. Before the mystery of this maternal offering, worldly wisdom indeed falls short.

But this offering was not the fruit of pure human strength. And perhaps it is the highest sign that Mary is in fact full of grace for it was grace that gave her the faith to believe that this was the necessary path. And it was grace that gave her the hope to remain with him in silent ascent to this offering.

And it was grace that gave her the burning charity for Jesus and for us sinners that impelled Mary beyond passive acceptance to spiritual sharing in this suffering, in his suffering. And certainly what I'm about to say is a speculation, but part of me wonders how would a simple word by Jesus, the Father would send 12 legions of angels

at a simple word of Mary, like would Jesus maybe have called upon his father and those angels? But we'll never know because Jesus never commanded them and Mary never requested them. But both Jesus and Mary, creator and creature, son and mother, freely and totally said yes to this offering, a yes which was never taken back,

and which never faltered. My brothers and sisters, remember the yeses. Remember the yeses made for your salvation, for our salvation. As you behold the body of Jesus given for you and the blood of Jesus poured out for you, don't forget to notice Mary during the carrying of the cross and then at Calvary, her hands extended towards her son saying, behold the fruit of

of my body given for you. Behold, blood from my blood poured out for you. 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. Okay, 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.