Ponder and Magnify: A Rosary Podcast

S1, E1 - Welcome to Season One: The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary

• Jessica Helling • Season 1 • Episode 1

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The mission of the Ponder and Magnify Podcast is to seek an encounter with Jesus through praying the rosary, relying on the grace of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Mary. In this episode, Jessica introduces her husband, John, and their beloved friend, Fr. George Staley of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri. Throughout Season One, Jessica, John, and Fr. George will be diving into the Scripture of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary together. In this episode, in addition to giving a glimpse into the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary, Jessica, John, and Fr. George discuss what they each love about the rosary and what is helpful for each of them to make the most out of praying it. All praise be to God!

Jessica:

Hello and welcome to the Ponder and Magnify podcast, where our mission is to seek an encounter with Jesus through praying the rosary, relying on the grace of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Mary. I am so happy that you are here. All right, everybody. Welcome to our first season focused on the Sorrowful Mysteries. I'm so excited to share with you that I am joined by two wonderful people here my husband, John, and our beloved friend and priest in the Archdiocese of St Louis, Father George Staley. John and Father George will be chatting with me for some of these episodes focused on the Sorrowful Mysteries, so I'm just so excited for them to be here. I'll start with giving a little introduction to John.

Jessica:

John and I met when we were 12. We dated for eight years and have been married for seven. We have one baby in heaven and three daughters here on earth with us and I have to say, after all of the time that we've spent together, all the life experiences that we've shared, John is still by far the best person that I know. It is such a gift to me to be able just to have him as my partner in life. It's surreal, honestly,

Jessica:

John is so gentle and humble of heart, which takes so much self-control and just love. He's so good at loving the person right in front of him, whether it's a member of our family or somebody at work or friends. It's so beautiful to witness and to receive. He's strong, yet playful, and he really lives his faith so well. He is a true image in our home of the tenderness of the Father. It's just such a gift and I just have to thank him, especially for the fact that I'm even here recording this, because I would not have been here without his encouragement. John, thank you. This is just so exciting for me and for a long time this was something just between me and the Lord, and then I opened up and shared it with John and he took such excitement and delight in it and he has prayed for this podcast. He has taken our children without me asking so I could do things to work on this. He has gone above and beyond to make this possible and I'm just so grateful. John, thank you so much.

John:

Of course, I'm just so happy to be here and I know how much time, energy, thought and prayer you put into this and I'm just so honored to be a part of it and I just love you and happy to support you and, like I said, just honored to be here and take part in this

Jessica:

And then we have father George, who is also just so great, such quality humans we have here today. Something that's just awesome, particularly awesome about Father George, is just the shared history that we all have here. So Father George and John have known each other since grade school. They played grade school sports and then in eighth grade and high school got to go to school together, swam together, carpooled, and I got to meet Father George in high school through youth group. So there's a lot of shared history there and, gosh, I just have to say to have that shared history and then to have to have that friend then receive holy orders and become a priest and be able to receive the Sacraments from his hands, is just such a gift. Father George means so much to our family and I still am in awe every time I get to receive the Eucharist from him. He was there while he was a seminarian at our wedding. He baptized our two daughters and he's the godfather to our third. So it just oh, he's so precious to our family, such a treasure for us.

Jessica:

His current assignments in the diocese he's part associate pastor at St Charles Borromeo, he's part-time associate pastor at St Peter in St Charles and he's part-time chaplain for the Catholic Student Center at Lindenwood University and I heard him recently in a homily describe these assignments as his children, which felt so fitting, because Father George talks to John and I about these assignments and those who he gets to interact with through them was such joy and delight when he shares with us about them that it just felt right for him to own them as his kids.

Jessica:

He truly has such a paternal heart which feeds into his priesthood and, gosh, it is such a gift and particularly with his paternal heart is just the sense of security around him. This is the least judgmental, most approachable and inviting priest who just is, so, desires your good and to meet you where you are. And John and I, when we were talking about this podcast, really felt like Father George was a great fit for this season on the Sorrowful Mysteries, because, more than any other priest, we have really gotten to share with him. He's shared with us, I should say, in our Sorrowful Mysteries and we've gotten the privilege of being able to walk with him and some of his, and it's just such a gift. So thank you so much, Father George.

Fr. George:

Thank you, Jess. It's such a joy to be here with you both, just lifelong friends, and I'm so grateful to the Lord just the ways that he's providentially brought us together, how he's continued to bring us together, bringing us here to this moment, and I'm just so grateful for your guys' faith and witness is such an encouragement to me living your vocation well in family life, and I'm so privileged to share in that joy and in the sorrows and all the ups and downs of your life, and so I'm just so grateful to be here, thank you.

Jessica:

Yeah, do you mind leading us in prayer?

Fr. George:

Yeah, absolutely, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Good and loving Father, we praise you and thank you so much for the gift of your Son and the Holy Spirit. We thank you and praise you for giving us salvation, for giving us grace and life, our families, our relationships, the ways in which you are there, present in those moments. We ask that, as we begin this podcast together, that you pour forth grace into our hearts now that we might be open to you. We pray for all those who are listening to this podcast that you, lord, would come and meet them wherever they are, wherever they find themselves, whatever feelings are there, whatever thoughts are there. Lord, God, I just ask that you bring our hearts to peace, to love. We ask all this through Christ, our Lord, Amen.

Jessica:

Amen, Thank you so much. All right, you guys. This is exciting times. Father George, how are you feeling about being here?

Fr. George:

Yeah, I'm feeling.. t he two words that kind of come to mind for me are grateful and peaceful. Just a lot of gratitude, as I kind of said, just so grateful for you guys, grateful for this time to be together talking about our faith and talking about the rosary. And then there's just I'm at a place of peace, feeling very peaceful. I came off of a retreat not too long ago and still abiding in some of those graces from that retreat.

John:

Yeah, I would say I am feeling a combination of excited and then kind of in contrast to you, a little nervous. You know, typically my prayer life is, I would describe it as like more, you know, internal reserved, you know, kind of group prayer and like praying together with people isn't always, um, you know that that's somewhat new to me. Um, but I'm very excited to be here and you know, just to, like I said earlier, just to see this getting off the ground and getting going is just so exciting and, you know, I think, in terms of growth, you know you need to kind of go outside your comfort zone, and so this is a good opportunity for me and I'm excited to see where it goes. How about you, jess?

Jessica:

I think the word that I would use to describe is just giddy. I just have a giddiness about this, and it just the fact that we're here to me is a true, just testament to God's faithfulness and just that the Father truly desires our joy, and I'm just so thankful to Him that we've made it to this point together. It's awesome. Okay, so as we embark here, of course, our focus is on the rosary and encountering Jesus through the rosary. So I'd love to ask you both what do you love about the rosary, or what would you want to share about it, Father George?

Fr. George:

For me, I first came into contact with the rosary when I was growing up at St Clement of Rome was my home parish, our home parish, John and I's home parish, and we on Saturday mornings there would there was a rosary that was led by the children and we would come up and lead different decades of the rosary and there was always donuts and juice afterwards, and so it was a very good experience with the rosary. Growing up and then kind of in high school, didn't pray the rosary very often and then when I got into seminary right after graduating high school I as I was growing deeper in my relationship with Jesus I started becoming more aware that like oh I need a relationship with the Blessed Mother and I didn't really have that and I started just spending time with her, learning about her, reading books about her and praying the rosary.

Fr. George:

And really that relationship with Mary has changed my life, and I don't say that lightly. It really has transformed the way I relate to Jesus. Mary always points me to Jesus and helps me to grow in my relationship with him and I've consecrated myself to her and I pray the rosary every day. It's just something that's just so important to me. It keeps me in close union with Jesus and it helps me to meditate on the life of Jesus and the mysteries that are there and the graces that are there that I ask for my own life as well as for the people that I'm praying for. So I just have a deep love for the rosary and so excited to just share some of that joy. John, how about you?

John:

Yeah, as you said, you know the kind of introduction to it came, you know, as when we were in grade school and you know getting asked to, you know lead a decade with your friends and amongst friends, um up at St Clement. Um, I would say the rosary has resurfaced at different points in my life. When me and my siblings were in more adulthood or early adulthood, it was something that my parents liked to pray with us when we were all together and able to um wasn't frequent but it was um kind of like a I don't know a little a little nudge to. You know, keep at it and you know, and have that exposure to it.

John:

Um, my grandma was, you know, she kind of had a special devotion to Mary, and so there was, you know, that kind of example for me as well. And then, uh, just like praying it kind of on the on a more surface level, I, you know I'm kind of to-do list oriented. I like getting things you know checked off that to-do list and just having that like quantifiable, being able to say, okay, I said 10 Hail Marys about this and 10 Hail Marys about that. It was always good to know that I was able to kind of get those prayers done, for whatever those intentions may be, how about you, jess?

Jessica:

It's hard for me to think of just one thing and not keep rambling on and on. I'm going to try to hold myself here, But I think for me, the experience of the rosary as I pray it I also love to pray it daily it just truly brings my heart. I feel like closer to the heart of Mary and closer to the heart of Jesus, and almost like I can imagine them, one on each side of me, just holding me.

Jessica:

And when I first started praying the rosary, I struggled with it, to be honest, because to me it was just you're focusing on these same mysteries over and over again, and I was kind of struggling with that. It wasn't until I really brought what was on my heart, the circumstances of my life, my weaknesses or sin that I was facing, or my joys that I was facing, or struggles, brokenness, any of that. When I brought that into the rosary and then felt not a rejection but instead an embrace by Mary and Jesus, just holding me and meeting me in those circumstances and then praying each mystery and letting those speak into the circumstances of my life, it became transformational for me, and so it really has been a huge thing for my heart that I never anticipated. So I'm really excited about this. I'm curious, father George, do you have anything that's helpful for you when you're praying the rosary?

Fr. George:

I find what's helpful for me is walking around as I actually pray the rosary, Like for me sitting down in one place is just kind of a challenge for me and so actually kind of walking around I'll kind of pace back and forth in my room, walking and praying the mysteries as I do that. That I find that sometimes helps me to be a little bit more focused. I think a lot of times about who I'm praying this decade for has found to be helpful. I've thought what else has been helpful is like praying. There's certain virtues of the rosary, of that particular mystery that I ask for and that's helpful. Sometimes even artwork can be something that's very helpful. As I look and pray a particular mystery and looking at a piece of artwork that represents that mystery, it can be helpful for me to remember what it is that I'm thinking about and asking for and it keeps me connected to Jesus. How about you, John?

John:

Yeah, kind of piggybacking off of what you said. I really enjoy having an intention for each decade, you know. I think that really helps keep me focused and it just makes it kind of more fulfilling if I'm praying for, you know, a certain person or you know um, you know, just a special intention that's you know I've been entrusted with Um. I really enjoy that. And then also, you know, having like a, a space to do it, helps me, um, you know, for me it's just in my car while I'm driving, you know, with my commute to and from work. I know that's ample time and so just knowing when I get in the car I'm settling in and I got my coffee, you know, and having that undisturbed time really really helps me. What about you, jess?

Jessica:

Yeah, I heard a talk one time by this guy named Paul Kim and he talked about praying the rosary and said he compared it to watching a movie. Like when you're watching a movie, you're seeing the scenes and sometimes you're having an emotional reaction to that or whatever, but the soundtrack of the movie enhances your viewing experience. And he used that and said the rosary is similar.

Jessica:

Our mind is kind of imaginatively engaged in the scene that you're reflecting or praying about, and the Hail Marys that you're saying are like your soundtrack to just help you keep entering more deeply. And so when I'm praying the rosary, I really like to imagine myself like offering the Holy Spirit, my imagination and letting Him guide me, and then those mysteries, those places in Scriptures truly become so alive for me. It becomes new, like every time I pray it. Making the sign of the cross becomes so exciting, because I never know what the Lord is going to reveal to me. So, yeah, that's what I would say. I really enjoy that and I thought that was just a really cool way to think about the rosary. So, as we go into these sorrowful mysteries, Father George, could you give us just a little prep on what these mysteries are and kind of just a little gist of what's going on in each of them.

Fr. George:

Sure, absolutely.

Fr. George:

Now there's five sorrowful mysteries that come to us really from the Scriptures and they happen basically from right after the Last Supper on Holy Thursday all the way through Good Friday.

Fr. George:

And so the first sorrowful mystery is Jesus's agony in the garden, that he goes out after the Last Supper and he's with a few of his disciples and he suffers greatly as he's praying with his Father, thinking about the death that he's about to undergo, and then it moves on.

Fr. George:

The life of Christ goes on. He eventually gets arrested and then he's brought before the Romans and then, uh, he's scourged by the romans, and so that's the second sorrowful mystery is the scourging at the pillar and suffering, just incredible pain, and we, uh, yeah, just incredible pain and beating and scourging, and then he was given the third sorrowful mystery is then the crowning with thorns, that he had the crown of thorns placed upon his head, um beaten, and he was mocked and treated with just such contempt, and he was then let out and was condemned to death. And he went out and he carried his cross, which is the fourth sorrowful mystery. So he carries his cross on the way to Golgotha, where he then is crucified, and that's then the final fifth sorrowful mystery is his crucifixion and death on the cross for our salvation, the salvation of the world.

Jessica:

Thank you so much. I'm curious are any of these mysteries sticking out to either of you or that you feel particularly excited to jump into for this season? Father George, what do you think?

Fr. George:

The first sorrowful Mystery is a really powerful place of repetition for me and for those for whom I pray it for, and so I'm drawn a lot of times to that first Sorrowful Mystery, starting off the rosary with that mystery. I could stay there for a long time because it just is so powerful and the graces that are there that flow from that particular moment of Jesus's life are very powerful, so that that first sorrowful mystery draws my heart. What about for you, john?

John:

Honestly, you know how many times I prayed the rosary in my life. I, you know I don't know going back to when I was a kid, but so much of you know the prayers that I've done during it. It's, it's. I've been thinking about the you know intention, like I've mentioned, versus like focusing on the messaging of the, the mystery. So, honestly, this whole experience and this whole you know podcast, I'm excited to just encounter it and learn it in a in a deeper new way. So I'm going to take the cheap answer and say I'm excited for all of them. Jess, you got a leading candidate.

Jessica:

I, I'm excited to really dive into the scourging at the pillar. To me there, that is what Scripture says the least about in terms of, just like verse quantity, I guess you could say, and so to me that leaves a lot of room for the imagination to kind of fill in some of those details based on the historical context and all that kind of thing. But yeah, that's one that I really like to meditate and pray with, so I'm eager to jump into that one. Well, John, Father George, thank you so much. This has been a joy for our first episode, for all those who are listening. Thank you so much. We promise that we will be praying for you and wherever this takes you, and please, we ask for you to be praying for us. Praise be to God.