THURSDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF EASTER
SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: APRIL 11, 2024
MEMORIAL OF SAINT STANISLAUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR AND SAINT GEMMA GALGANI, VIRGIN
Greetings beloved family and Happy Thursday of the Second Week of Easter!
We continue to celebrate and rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God’s grace and mercy be with us all during this Easter season and always🙏
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN | April 11, 2024” |
Pray “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | April 11, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” | April 11, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | April 11, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | April 11, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteriels VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |
Today Bible Readings: Thursday, April 11, 2024
Reading 1, Acts 5:27-33
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 34:2, 9, 17-18, 19-20
Gospel, John 3:31-36
DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF APRIL – MONTH OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST: The month of April is traditionally dedicated to devotion to Jesus in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The Catholic Church teaches that the Blessed Sacrament is the real and living presence of Christ—His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—received into our souls with every reception of Holy Communion. Our Eucharistic Lord is the source and summit of our Christian life, the ultimate proof of His infinite love for us.
THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL – FOR THE ROLE OF WOMEN: We pray that the dignity and immense value of women be recognized in every culture, and for the end of discrimination that they experience in different parts of the world. 🙏
PRAYER FOR PEACE ~ POPE FRANCIS:
Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!
We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have been in vain. Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: “Never again war!”; “With war everything is lost”. Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace. Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness. Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war” be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother”, and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam! Amen🙏
During this Easter season, please let us all continue to pray for peace all over the world, particularly in Africa, the Middle East, for an end to the current war in Israel-Palestine, and the Ukraine-Russia conflicts and for peace in our families and throughout our divided and conflicted World. Amen 🙏
On this special feast day, as we continue to celebrate our risen Lord, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we pray for the Clergy and religious as they serve in the Lord’s Vineyard. We also pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to remember our beloved, we pray for the repose of their gentle souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May their gentle souls through the mercy of God rest in perfect peace with our Lord Jesus Christ… Amen 🙏 ✝️🕯✝️🕯✝️🕯
PRAYER FOR THE DEAD: In your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust our brothers and sisters. In this life, you embraced them with your tender love; deliver them now from every evil, and bid them eternal rest. The old order has passed away: welcome them into paradise, where there will be no sorrow, no weeping or pain, but fullness of peace and joy with your Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen🙏
Prayers for Peace | https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/prayers-for-peace/
As we continue to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr (Patron Saint of Poland, Kraków, moral order) and St. Gemma Galgani, Virgin (Patron Saint of pharmacists, loss of parents, back illnesses, temptations, and those seeking purity of heart). Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the the sick and dying, especially those who are terminally ill and we pray for the conversion of sinners, for persecuted Christians and for all Christians during this season of Easter🙏
SAINT STANISLAUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR: St. Stanislaus (1030-1079) was Bishop of Kraków known chiefly for having been martyred by the Polish King Bolesław II the Generous. St. Stanislaus was born in July 26, 1030, at Sezepanow in the diocese of Krakow, Poland. Saint Stanislaus was born in answer to prayer, when his parents were advanced in age. Out of gratitude they educated him for the Church. In his childhood were laid the foundation of his future sanctity. After an early training in the schools of his native country and at the university of Gnesna, he was sent to Paris, where he spent seven years in the study of Canon Law and Theology. Out of humility he refused the degree of Doctor and returned home. On the death of his parents Stanislaus gave away his ample fortune to the poor, and received the order of priesthood from the Bishop of Krakow, who made him canon of the cathedral and, soon afterward, preacher and vicar-general. His sermons produced a wonderful reformation of manners. After death of the Bishop he was unanimously chosen to succeed him in 1072.
Boleslaus II, then King of Poland, was leading an infamous life. The Saint reproached him in private with the irregularity of his conduct. The King at first seemed to repent, but he soon broke our again into enormous excesses. The Saint again remonstrated, and threatened excommunication. The King became enraged. Finally, in 1079, after much patience, the Bishop pronounced upon the King the sentence of excommunication. This cost him his life, for while he was in a small chapel outside of Krakow the King and his guard entered. When the guards refused to obey the wicked order of the King to put the Bishop to death, the impious King murdered the holy Bishop with his own hands, he ambushed St. Stanislaus and struck him down with a sword during his celebration of Mass on May 8, 1079. St. Stanislaus was soon acclaimed as a martyr, while Boleslaus II lost his grip on power and left Poland. In later years the fallen monarch is said to have lived in a monastery, repenting of the murder. Saint Stanislaus was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1253. He’s the Patron Saint of Poland, Kraków, moral order. His feast day is April 11th and in his own country he is commemorated May 8, the date of his death in 1079.
“Blessed John Paul II – who was Krakow’s archbishop in the “See of St. Stanislaus” before becoming Pope – paid tribute to him often during his pontificate. In a 2003 letter to the Polish Church, he recalled how St. Stanislaus “proclaimed faith in God to our ancestors and started in them…the saving power of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
PRAYER: God, for Your honor the holy Bishop Stanislaus fell before the swords of his persecutors. Grant that we may be strong in the Faith and persevere until death. Amen🙏
SAINT GEMMA GALGANI, VIRGIN: St. Gemma Galgani has been called the “Daughter of the Passion” because of her profound imitation of the Passion of Christ. She is especially venerated in the Congregation of the Passion (Passionists). St. Gemma Galgani (1878-1903) was born Maria Gemma Umberta Galgani on March 12, 1878 at Camigliano, near Lucca, Italy, the fifth of eight children born to a prosperous pharmacist. When she was young, Gemma’s mother and three of her siblings died of tuberculous. When she was 18 her father died as well, leaving Gemma to help care for her younger siblings. She rejected two marriage proposals and became a housekeeper while trying to enter the religious life as a Passionist. At twenty years of age, St. Gemma was attacked by tuberculosis of the spine and she developed spinal meningitis. This disease was declared by the doctors to be hopelessly incurable. After countless novenas to St. Gabriel, she was completely miraculously healed on the first Friday of March, 1899. She attributed her healing to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the intercession of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. At this time, apparently free from her recent illness, the Saint sought to fulfill her lifelong wish of pursuing her religious vocation with the Passionist nuns, but her application, as previously, was rejected. She was rejected due to her poor health, and later became a Tertiary member of the order.
From 1899 on, this quiet and unexcitable girl who was endowed with a remarkably fervent religious disposition underwent many extraordinary religious experiences—all of which were carefully investigated by her confessor and spiritual director, Father Germano. Throughout her life she united herself with the Passion of Christ and experienced great suffering as a result, but not without receiving many remarkable graces as well. She experienced many mystical visions and was often visited by her guardian angel, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary. For this she was known as a great mystic, and, according to her spiritual director, developed the stigmata at age 21. The marks of Christ’s crucifixion (Stigmata) appeared intermittently for over eighteen months on her hand and feet, and she had ecstasies and visions. In 1902, she was again stricken with an illness that was thought to be tuberculosis and she fell asleep in the Lord on April 11, 1903 after a selfless life of love given to God for the conversion of sinners, she died on Holy Saturday, the Vigil of Easter at the age of 25. The fame of her sanctity spread rapidly all over the world. She was beatified by Pius XI on March 14, 1933, and canonized by Pius XII on Ascension Day, 1940. She’s the Patron Saint of Students, Pharmacists, Paratroopers and Parachutists, loss of parents, those suffering back injury or back pain, those suffering with headaches/migraines, those struggling with temptations to impurity and those seeking purity of heart. Her feast day is April 11th.
PRAYER: All-powerful God, You made the Virgin St. Gemma a living image of Your crucified Son. Through her prayers, may we suffer with Christ and so share in His glory. Amen🙏
PRAYER INTENTIONS: We thank God for blessing us all with the gift of His precious son, may we be saved by the name of our Savior Jesus Christ! May the Lord grant us His grace as we continue to serve Him in spirit and in truth during this Easter Season. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying. We particularly pray for sick children, those who are sick with convulsive disorder, mental illness, strokes, heart diseases, and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. May God restore them to good health and grant them His Divine healing and intervention. May our Mother Mary comfort them, may the Angels and Saints watch over them and may the Holy Spirit guide them in peace and comfort during this challenging time. We pray for the safety and well-being of us all and our families, for peace, love and unity in our families, our marriages and our divided and conflicted world. Every life is a gift. We pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the gentle souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May their gentle souls through the mercy of God rest in peace with our Lord Jesus Christ Amen. For all widows and widowers. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Bishops, the Clergy and all those who preach the Gospel. For vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted Christians, for all the innocent who suffer violence due to political or religious unrest, for the conversion of sinners and Christians all over the world. Amen🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS
Bible Readings for today, Thursday of the Second Week of Easter | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ John 3:31-36
“The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.”
In today’s Gospel reading, John the Baptist says of Jesus, ‘He whom God has sent speaks God’s own words’. Jesus speaks God’s own words because He is the Word of God in human flesh. John the evangelist declared in his opening verses, ‘the Word became flesh and lived among us’. We reflect deeply on all that Jesus said and did, on the whole of His life, on His death, resurrection and ascension, because we know that God has spoken the most powerful and clearest word He could ever speak through Jesus. We are not in the dark about God, wondering who God is and what God is like. In the language of John’s Gospel, it is Jesus, ‘who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made Him known’. Jesus came among us, full of God’s grace and truth, full of God’s gracious love and faithfulness, and we are invited to keep receiving from this fullness of God in Jesus. He has given us so much from His fullness that a life time is not long enough to receive it all. According to our Gospel reading today, God gives the Spirit to Jesus without reserve. God gave all to Jesus without reserve, and what Jesus received from God He has given to us, without reserve. However, there will always be a reserve in our receiving. We struggle to empty ourselves sufficiently to receive all the Lord wants to give us. We spend our lives learning to receive like little children. The greater our capacity to receive from the Lord’s fullness, the greater will be our ability to give as we have received. As Jesus received all from God and gave what He received to us, so Jesus looks to us to receive all from Him and to give what we receive to one another. We are to keep receiving from Jesus all He wishes to give us, His word, His Spirit, His love, so that, like St. Peter in our first reading, we can witness to Him before others.
Our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, details the confrontation between the members of the Sanhedrin or the Jewish High Council and the Apostles. The Sanhedrin, composed of the most powerful and influential members of the Jewish community, including the chief priests, elders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, many of whom were against the teachings and works of the Lord, had been persecuting the Lord’s disciples ever after the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of the Lord. They had always been jealous and fearful of the popularity and influence of the Lord, and they closely guarded the special influence and privileges they had built up for themselves among the Jewish people, and that was also the reason why they arrested the Lord Jesus and handed Him over to the Romans to be crucified, in order to protect themselves and these privileges. The Sanhedrin was very much against the Apostles and their works, and ordered them all to stop teaching and preaching in the Name of the Lord Jesus. In fact, quite a few among the members of the Sanhedrin wanted to kill the Apostles if not for the timely intervention of Gamaliel, a respected member of the Sanhedrin and a renowned teacher of the Law himself, who according to Christian traditions, was a secret convert to the Christian faith. In the end, the assembly of the Sanhedrin agreed to scourge the Apostles and to let them go with the stern warning against any attempts to proselytise and proclaim the Risen Lord. This was met with great indignation and refusal by the Apostles, who chose to remain firm in their faith and resisted the attempts of those who sought to pressure them into giving up their efforts and works in proclaiming the Risen Lord. They had witnessed the Risen Lord Himself, and received the direct commandment and mission to proclaim His truth and Good News among the nations, and hence, it was inconceivable for them to disregard the Lord’s direct commandment and mission in saving themselves and preventing them from getting into trouble, by obeying the commands of the worldly Sanhedrin, who was mostly concerned more about their own worldly attachments and matters rather than to follow the Lord. After all, the Lord had spent a lot of time and effort, showing and proclaiming Himself and His good works to them, only to be repeatedly rebuffed and rejected because many of them could not resist the temptations of sin and evil, the temptations of worldly glory, fame, ambition and their own ego and pride. Thus, the Apostles and the other disciples of the Lord continued to do what the Lord had commanded them to do despite the oppositions they encountered.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are reminded that as Christians, each and every one of us are bearers of the truth of God, in everything that He Himself has revealed to us, through His Church and the holy Spirit. All of us as Christians believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, the Messiah sent by God into this world to save all of us, and that He is the Son of God, the Divine Word incarnate in the flesh, giving us all His own life, so that by doing so, He restored us all to a new life and existence, one that is once again attuned and connected to God, by His triumph and victory over sin and death. That is what we celebrate and are most joyful in during this blessed and glorious season of Easter, a time of celebration and rejoicing indeed. May the Risen Lord, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ continue to guide each and every one of us, and may He empower us all to live ever more faithfully and worthily in His presence. May He continue to bless us and love us in all things, and bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours for His greater glory, at all times. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and may He bless our Easter joy and observance, and help us to have a truly blessed and fruitful Easter season. Amen🙏
Let us pray:
My loving Lord, the Father has given all to You, and You, in turn, have given all to the Father. The love You share is infinite and eternal, overflowing into the lives of all Your creatures. Draw me into that divine love, dear Lord, and help me to imitate and share in Your love by fully giving my life to others. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr and St. Gemma Galgani, Virgin ~ Pray for us 🙏
Thanking God for the gift of His Son our Lord Jesus Christ and praying for us all as we celebrate the resurrection of our loving Savior, Jesus Christ. Have a blessed, safe and joyous second week of Easter!🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖