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. Hey everybody, just recording here a little wrap-up of our season three on the luminous mysteries and a looking ahead into our season four. I just want to say thank you, thank you, Holy Spirit, for putting this podcast on our hearts and then just providing all that is needed in order to see it through and just endowing it with such beauty. I just want to say thank you, God. This podcast has touched my heart, and I just pray, pray that it's bearing fruit in the hearts of others too. Looking back on season three, there were so many gifts. First of all, Father Clark Philipp is just so wonderful. I'm so happy we got the chance to have him. And then kind of going week by week, some of the highlights that really stuck out to me. In our first introduction episode, there was a point where Father Philipp described the institution of the Eucharist as the breaking forth of the whole of Christ's heart. And oh, that just pierced me. That's been something I've been carrying and really thinking thinking about as I'm receiving the Eucharist. When we went to our first luminous mystery, the baptism in the Jordan, I loved John's reflection in our conversation where he noticed that Jesus was inviting John the Baptist to a cooperation with him rather than asking John the Baptist to do something on his own. John had a beautiful reflection on how Jesus used the word "us" and how God wants to work with us in partnership, never calling us to anything on our own. So we don't have to fear our incapacity, but know that he's making up for any weakness in us. Just thank you, Holy Spirit, for that reflection from John. And the second luminous mystery, the wedding feast of Cana. It was so beautiful to reflect on the union of heart between Jesus and Mary. And just when Mary is interceding for the couple at the wedding that has run out of wine, imagining that she's bringing Jesus a request to do something about it, and that that desire is already on Jesus' heart, that he's just waiting to be asked to address it, and Mary's Mary's intercession is almost giving him permission to do so. I just love the idea that we discussed of Mary praying for things, seeing what we need before we even see it, and asking her son to address those needs, and him just being so relieved that someone's asking him so that he can deliver on that. The third luminous mystery was the proclamation of the kingdom. And that week really the decade meditation stuck out to me with that scripture of the healing of the leper, and just really thinking about how Jesus proclaiming his kingdom is really him offering to heal us. And I love in that story of the leper, how the leper said to Jesus, "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean." And Jesus responds, "I will do it, be made clean." And I just love imagining that exchange between me and the Lord and anyone really and the Lord and just Jesus' desire to make us clean. And I love praying with that and imagining him cleaning, purifying my own heart. Just such a gift. And the fourth luminous mystery is the transfiguration. And it was during this decade meditation, praying it, and really praying for all of our listeners as I was doing that in the recording. I was imagining us all being together, all of us who have listened to this podcast, just beholding Jesus in his glory, and really flowing from that came that prayer intention, may we all be in heaven together one day. And that just felt so right for the podcast. And I've loved closing each episode from that point forward with that intention, may we all be together in heaven one day. So that was a huge moment for me in the podcast. I also just loved in our discussion over the transfiguration story, just how it teaches us about prayer as just beholding the face of Jesus and his glory. And when we do that, just letting that dissipate our fear, concern, worries. And also just that we have a God who wants us to see his glory. And then join him in it. Just what a gift that is, that we have a God who wants to be known. That doesn't have to be that way. It's just such a gift. Then in the fifth luminous mystery, the institution of the Eucharist, through that whole week, what really stuck out to me was just seeing the Eucharist as Jesus' heart or his greatest gift of self and all of the eternal benefits that come from receiving it. Even if a person just receives it one time, all of the benefits for eternity, we're doing something on earth and it's impacting us for all of eternity when we receive the Eucharist. And from one of the rosary meditations on our Friday rosaries, there was this image of just being handed the Eucharist and in holding it, realizing that you're holding Jesus' heart and taking a second to really look at it and see your own name written in it. And then in consuming it, you're accepting the invitation to heaven. Those were really powerful images that stuck with me while I was praying. Gosh, thank you, God, for the truth, beauty, and goodness that came from season three. Thank you for being with us in it. And we pray that you may continue to be glorified by it. If this podcast is not glorifying you, then it's for nothing. We just we pray that all we do is adding to your glory, that others can come to a deeper encounter with your heart. And we pray for our next season upcoming, season four. Season four will be on the joyful mysteries, our last set that we have. And I'm really excited about this one because it'll be running and airing through Advent. So we'll be focusing on all those stories of the joyful mysteries as we're preparing our hearts for Christmas. And I shouldn't just say Advent, it'll run through Advent and go into the Christmas season as well. So we'll be reflecting on all these joyful mysteries. They'll line up well with our scriptures that we'll be reading through Mass through this throughout those seasons. So I'm just, I'm really excited for that. We'll follow the same format with Scripture discussion on Mondays, over the mystery, decade meditations on Wednesdays, and full rosaries with the joyful mysteries on Fridays. And we have a wonderful priest, another wonderful priest who is near and dear to John and I's hearts that we are excited to invite and just enter into discussion with. So we thank you, God, for the gift of all you are doing for us in our hearts and in our minds through this podcast. And we ask for you to continue to work through it as we anticipate the excitement and joy that we know season four will have to offer by your grace. So, what a gift it is to be on this journey with all of you and to pray with all of you. It's such a gift. Well, know that we are praying for you. We ask for you to please be praying for us. May we all be in heaven together one day. Praise be to God.