As the new year approaches, Father Dave welcomes Father Mark-Mary Ames to discuss a new resource to help you grow closer to Christ through the Blessed Mother in 2025. Father Mark-Mary is the Director of Communications and the Director of Priestly Studies of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and the host of the upcoming “The Rosary in a Year” podcast from Ascension.
Father Mark-Mary explains how the podcast builds upon Ascension’s previous podcasts, “The Bible in a Year” and “The Catechism in a Year.” He says, “The overall idea of ‘Rosary in a Year’ is essentially learning to pray with the truths of our faith. ‘The Catechism in a Year’ and ‘The Bible in a Year,’ says here’s what we believe: the deposit of faith and the word of God. Now, we’re going to learn to pray with these and our classroom is going to be the Rosary.”
WATCH: The Rosary in Two Minutes
“If you look at the Rosary again, so many of the foundations of our faith and the core mysteries of our salvation are all there,” Father Mark-Mary continues. “So we’re going to work slowly first through prayer in general, then the prayers of the Rosary, and then a number of times through the mysteries of the Rosary, while at the same time building up the prayer muscle.”
Father Mark-Mary shares his personal connection and journey with the Rosary. “My own praying of the Rosary [began] as an 18-year-old fresh off a conversion…so much of my approach to prayer, and my priority, was just saying the prayers and getting through it. There wasn’t a lot of actual connection to God,” he says. “My praying of the Rosary was talking like on a phone, but nobody was on the other line. So I’m having a 15-minute one-sided monologue, and I haven’t actually connected.”
“I don’t think I’m alone in this,” Father Mark-Mary reflects. “So practicing the presence of God essentially means picking up the phone and waiting for God to say ‘hello.’ Realizing that you’re not just talking to yourself in a room, but you’re in the presence of another who’s looking upon you and hearing you. So we’ll go through a couple of meditations, practicing and helping to illustrate that.”
LISTEN: Singing the Rosary With Grammy-Nominated Musician Laura Huval
He shares how the podcast is for those who already pray the Rosary regularly as well as those who find it daunting. “The way the [Prayer Plan] unfolds is based on my experience as a beginner, but I’m doing it as somebody who’s been a religious for 15 or 16-plus years; I’m finding it to be particularly helpful and fruitful,” Father Mark-Mary says.
“We’re surrounded by so many of these things – the Glory Be, the Sign of the Cross – without ever really wrestling with what’s happening or [asking], ‘what does it mean?’ What does it mean for Jesus to be presented in the temple? Why is that important for me? There is a lot of revisiting those ideas, prayers, and mysteries that maybe we’re quite familiar within a new way.”
