Day 85: The Blessing Never Stops
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I'm Fr. Mark Mayer 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 85.

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For today's Lectio Divina, we'll be praying with the second glorious mystery, the Ascension, Luke chapter 24 verses 50 to 53. And the point of emphasis will be this: The blessing never stops. The blessing never stops for our time of Lectio. Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

While He blessed them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God." Let's go ahead and engage the scripture for our meditatio. Just a reminder, right, of the overall arc of what's happening here as Jesus ascends to the Father is that He now becomes present to us.

He becomes active in our lives in a new way, without the limits that he took upon himself during his earthly life. That he always sees all of us. He always hears all of us. He's always ministering to, caring for, protecting all of us according to his most perfect will. And a particular point of emphasis, clearly in the Ascension narrative of Luke, is he never stops blessing us. Notice the details. He lifts up his hands and he blessed them.

And while he is blessing them, he parted from them, was carried up into heaven. The image portrayed, illustrated is Jesus with his hands in blessing and continually keeping his hands in blessing over the disciples and over all of us as he returns to heaven as the sign of he's returning to the Father, to the right hand of the Father. But he will forever, right, forever continue to bless us. The blessing of Jesus never ends.

Again, as he took on human nature and its limitations, like there would have been a time even for Jesus, like the raising of his hands, he would have gotten tired. But now Jesus resurrected, Jesus ascended. He doesn't have these limitations. There's no end. Eternally, he is blessing us. Forever, he is blessing us. And forever, he is blessing the Father as he's in the Father's presence, right? Right hand of the Father with the Holy Spirit. And then what's the response?

What's the response? Again, we point out, which is an important detail, that Jesus, in a sense, is leaving them, but the disciples are not sad because through faith they know that he's actually becoming present to them in a new way, in an even more profound way. So as he ascends to heaven, they worship him. They return to Jerusalem, but with great joy, not great sadness. And what happens? They were continually in the temple blessing God.

The idea that the blessing doesn't stop. The blessing of Jesus upon us never stops, but also the reciprocation, the response of blessing God, of praising God, like it never stops. And so there's this beautiful reality to enter into of the never ceasing blessing of Jesus towards us and our return of never ceasing to bless him, never ceasing to return to him with joy and worship and adoration.

continuing with our meditatio to reflect on this beautiful invitation of Jesus' eyes always on us with love and blessing. And perhaps we could put some words to this, like Jesus always looking upon us as beloved, beloved son, beloved daughter, blessing us with the truth of who we are, blessing us with the grace that we need to persevere in faith, to persevere in hope on this pilgrimage. But then also this invitation in our own hearts,

to continually like to bless him to praise him to adore him to place our trust and confidence in him to bring our needs and supplications to him with confidence part of the fruit of the ascension is we have access to this perfect and never never ceasing dialogue and exchange of blessing with our risen lord our lord ascended into heaven okay returning for our alexio lifting up his hands he blessed them

And they were continually in the temple blessing God. For the ongoing meditatio, I'm just going to really encourage you with your own imagination, your own prayer, to look upon Jesus with his hands still outstretched in blessing. And in your own way, you can literally, if you want to lift up your hands to return the blessing, if in your own heart,

You want to just imagine what returning the blessing looks like for you. I'm just going to ask you to look upon Him, blessing you, and to respond with your own blessing. And so again, for the meditatio, I'm going to really encourage you to spend a moment to develop this scene so that as you return to this mystery again and again, while you're praying the second glorious mystery in the rosary, you can return to this place. One more time here to conclude our Alexio, our reading.

Lifting up his hands, he blessed them, and they were continually in the temple, blessing God. Now we'll transition to our oratio, our time of prayer following our template. Receive, respond, request, rejoice, receive the good news. Receive what God is revealing about himself. I think it is important to note, again, the Father's faithfulness. Jesus becomes man. Jesus comes to save us.

Throughout his earthly life, he remains obedient to the Father, trusting the Father, in dialogue with the Father. And now, he is risen and ascended. He's returned to the right hand of the Father, victorious, where he reigns forever. So the good news, again, of the victory of Jesus, of the victory of the fidelity of God the Father. Also the good news that we have a new access to Jesus.

get an even more profound, even more efficacious, even more beautiful, even more immediate access to Jesus than we did during His earthly life or the disciples and apostles would have during His earthly life. And that He continually forever blesses us. There isn't a moment where Jesus isn't looking upon us, ministering to us, pursuing us, pouring out His grace upon us. God has moved to our response beginning with praise and adoration.

With these disciples, like with great joy, let us return the blessing. Jesus, we bless you. We adore you. We worship you. We glorify you. We rejoice in your ascension. We rejoice, Lord, in the new access we have to you, in the way in which you are present to us. We thank you, Lord, for looking upon us in this moment with your hands raised in blessing, your heart filled with love for us, your eyes seeing us in all of our need to our second level of response.

What's the second response? It's to return the blessing. As Jesus never ceases to bless us, to look upon us with love. Let us spiritually, night and day, be in the temple continually blessing Jesus. Continually in relationship with Jesus. Continually looking to Jesus. Continually processing life. Journeying through life with Jesus. And now our request. Okay, Jesus, we're going to ask for the grace to receive us.

the great news, the great joy of the ascension. Can we just really ask for the grace of the Holy Spirit that we may persevere in blessing, persevere in being in the temple, in relationship with Jesus, persevere in experiencing life under the gaze, the loving gaze of Jesus. And Jesus, in particular, we're just going to ask for this particular grace, Lord, to see you looking at us in this moment with love, affection, and blessing.

And now we'll conclude our oratio with our rejoicing. Jesus, we just thank you for the gift of this prayer. We thank you for the stillness. We thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. We thank you, Lord, for reminding us that even now, seated at the right hand of the Father, you bless us. We thank you, Jesus, for the grace that we need, that we may persevere in prayer, that we may persevere in remaining in your presence in your holy temple, that we may persevere in returning the blessings.

And together we'll conclude our Lectio Divina with our Contemplatio by praying one decade of the Rosary. And I'm going to ask you really to kind of remain in this place of looking upon Him as He looks upon you. Look upon Jesus, see Him blessing you, and respond by adoring, speaking to Him. And now with Our Lady, we 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. That's going to conclude our time of praying Lectio Divina together today. Certainly, if you've been taken to a place of prayer and you're able to continue remaining in dialogue and in this mutual blessing of God, we'd encourage you to do that.

But thank you. Thank you for joining me and praying with me today. And I look forward to continuing this journey with you again tomorrow. All right, Poco a Poco friends. God bless y'all.