Day 19: Valley of Tears (2026)

I'm Father Mark Mary with Franciscan Friars with the renewal and this is the Rosary in a Year podcast. We're 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 19. To download the prayer plan for a rosary in a year visit ascensionpress.com forward slash rosary in a year or text R-I-Y to 33-777. Look at an outline of how we're going to pray each month. It's a great way to track your progress. The best place to listen to podcasts 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. No matter what app you're listening in, remember to tap follow or subscribe for your daily notifications. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we set up our size, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. John chapter 19 verse 26 and following says this, when Jesus saw his mother and disciples whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother, and from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. In this context, both John and the Blessed Mother and our Lord are suffering. John suffering as he sees the one he loved being crucified and the Blessed Mother as her own heart is pierced with the sword as the woman of sorrows beholds her son being betrayed and crucified. The Blessed Mother, our Lady, knows what it means to suffer. She knows it deeply and intimately from within. The Blessed Mother also is a woman of hope and she has the experience of the resurrection. She has the experience of Christ risen from the dead. She has an experience of heaven. Jesus gives us this most beautiful of gifts in his mother as one who knows what we're experiencing. I think these words of the Hail Holy Queen take on a particular beauty and meaning in death when we reflect on their author. I admit that the authorship of the Hail Holy Queen is a bit still disputed, but most people seem to point to this 11th century blessed name, the Blessed Hermon of Richeneau. I apologize if my pronunciation of the last name isn't great, but Blessed Hermon was born with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, and a cleft palate. Later on in his life, he would end up going blind. He's a man who would have struggled greatly. He's a man who would have been very, very, very familiar with the cross and the fact that this world that we live in, it's a fallen world. His experience of it as a valley of tears makes sense. I think we do have to recognize that we do continue to live in a fallen world, the world that is affected by sin and that referring to it as a valley of tears is honest and really fair. What Blessed Hermon would experience deeply in his life and would pass on to us through his prayer was that he had a companion in the midst of this valley of tears, someone who was with him to accompany him and support him and encourage him in the Blessed Mother, being one who also knew deeply the suffering possible in this life. I'd like to share a story. It's a story told of a Catholic missionary out in kind of remote village areas, a Catholic area, and he's out there and he's visiting a number of homes and he comes to a small home where there's a widow living there. He visits her a couple of times and he sees a very, very bloody crucifix on her wall in a way that was well-meaning. One day he brings a picture, a holy picture of the laughing Jesus of Jesus being joyful and he kind of takes it upon himself because he's so confident in the gift to take down the crucifix, hand it to this widow and to put up this picture of the joyful and laughing Jesus. He concludes his visit, goes away and maybe a week or two later he comes back and what he finds on the wall is the bloody crucifix. The picture of the laughing joyful Jesus is nowhere to be found and taken aback by and very surprised. He says to the woman, what happened? I gave you a gift and I don't see it anymore. This widow says, Father, yes, I understand. I'm very, very grateful for the gift and I believe in the resurrection and all that. You see the crucified Jesus, I know that he gets me. And this woman experienced life as a value of tears. This woman, like Blessed Herman, was very familiar with the cross and she knew that and she found consolation in the fact that Jesus, her savior, knew what it meant to suffer from within. He was familiar with her life experience. And I do believe it's noteworthy that Jesus gives us the Blessed Mother, his mother to be our mother, in the context of the crucifixion. She knows what it means to love those who have gone astray. She knows what it means to experience betrayal and hurt and pain and loss and even loss of a loved one of a child. And she also knows that God is a Father who keeps his promises, who's worthy of our trust. So she's a perfect mother and a perfect guide as we continue this journey through the value of tears. As we close with prayer, let's just take a moment to acknowledge any area in our life where we are beat up, where we are struggling, particularly where we feel misunderstood or alone in it. And let us turn to our Lady and let us turn to our Lord who know it, who get it from within. Let's experience the grace and the peace and the consolation that comes from them understanding of being in it with us. My brothers and sisters, whatever it is, Jesus and Mary, they get it. They get it and they're with you in it. And let's bring this to them as 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. 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. And the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Alright everybody, thank you for joining me and praying with me again today. I look forward to continuing this journey with you tomorrow. Poco a poco friends. Alright, go bozo.