Day 171: Worship the Newborn King
The Rosary in a Year (with Fr. Mark-Mary Ames)
Ascension
4.9 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 20 June 2025
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
Caravaggio’s Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence offers a tender and grounded depiction of Christ’s birth, surrounded not only by the Holy Family but also by saints known for their deep love of poverty. Fr. Mark-Mary uses this scene to lead into the Praises of God by St. Francis, lifting our gaze from the humble manger to the majesty of the One who was born there. We’re invited into deeper awe, love, and surrender by recognizing the greatness of God who chose such lowliness. Today’s focus is the mystery of the Nativity and we will be praying one decade of the Rosary.
All of the Sacred Art we’ll be meditating with can be found in the Rosary in a Year Prayer Guide, for free linked in the complete prayer plan, or in the Ascension App. For the complete prayer plan, visit https://ascensionpress.com/riy.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Father Mark Mary with Franciscan friars of renewal, and this is the Rosary in a Year podcast. |
| 0:08.9 | We're through prayer and meditation. |
| 0:11.0 | The rosary brings us deeper into relationship with Jesus and Mary and becomes a source of grace for the whole world. |
| 0:15.5 | The Rosary in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. |
| 0:18.5 | This is Day 171. |
| 0:23.1 | 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 33-777. |
| 0:30.2 | You'll get an outline of how we're going to pray each month and it's a great way to track your |
| 0:33.1 | progress. The best place to listen to the podcast is in the Ascension app. There's special |
| 0:37.2 | features built just for this podcast and also recording to the full Rosary with myself and other friars. I encourage you to pick up a copy of the Rosary in the Year prayer guide, a book published by Ascension that was designed to compliment this podcast. You'll find all the daily readings for scripture, saint reflections, and beautiful images of the sacred art will be reflecting on. |
| 0:56.8 | Today we will be meditating upon and praying with the third joyful mystery, |
| 1:02.9 | the Nativity of our Lord with help from a painting by the artist Caravaggio, |
| 1:08.6 | entitled Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence. |
| 1:15.1 | Now word on our artist and artwork, Caravaggio, we're back with him. Again, he worked from |
| 1:21.5 | the year 1571 to 1610. And his painting today that we'll be looking at, his nativity with St. Francis, St. Lawrence, |
| 1:30.5 | which was done in the year 1609. |
| 1:32.2 | It's one of his last works, and it was painted during his time in Sicily after fleeing Rome. |
| 1:38.5 | Its location is currently unknown as it was stolen from the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo, Italy. The style of the |
| 1:48.1 | artwork today is Baroque. Now a description of our painting. Amidst wooden golden beams and |
| 1:57.7 | tufts of hay, a tiny baby Jesus lays on the floor of a barn. Seated above him |
| 2:04.6 | in a red frock with tied up hair, the Virgin Mary quietly gazes down at him. Her fair profile and |
| 2:11.2 | exposed shoulder are struck with light. Next to her, the large head of a cow peers down. On the left side, St. Lawrence |
| 2:20.9 | in gold investments, emerge in attentiveness, bends over to observe the humble, naked child. |
... |
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