THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER (YEAR B)
SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: APRIL 14, 2024
MEMORIAL OF SAINTS TIBURTIUS, VALERIAN AND MAXIMUS, MARTYRS; SAINT BENEZET; SAINT LIDWINA OF SCHIEDAM, VIRGIN AND BLESSED PETER GONZÁLEZ, PRIEST
Greetings beloved family and Happy Sunday of the Third 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 14, 2024” |
Pray “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | April 14, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” | April 14, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | April 14, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | April 14, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteriels VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |
Today’s Bible Readings: Third Sunday of Easter (Year B), April 14, 2024
Reading 1, Acts 3:13-15, 17-19
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9
Gospel, Luke 24:35-48
Reading 2, First John 2:1-5
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 enter into the celebration of the Third Sunday of Easter, all of us are reminded yet again of the very reason why we celebrate joyfully during this time and season of Easter. We are reminded that particularly during this time of Easter, all of us should focus our attention on the Risen Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who has won for us such a great victory through His Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross, and then through His glorious Resurrection from the dead. Through all of that, Christ our Lord and Saviour has opened for us the pathway to eternal life, the road to eternal glory and true joy with Him. We are no longer separated and sundered from the love and compassion of God, and we have been brought closer once again to God.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS
Bible Readings for today, Third Sunday of Easter | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ Luke 24:35–48
“Thus it was written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day”
“The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
In today’s Gospel reading, two disciples had a wonderful experience of the risen Lord while they were making their sad journey home from Jerusalem to Emmaus in the aftermath of Jesus’ crucifixion. They were joined by a stranger. However, when this stranger broke the word of God with them, their hearts began to burn. They didn’t want to let go of their travel companion. When they reached their home village, they asked him to stay with them. It was at table in their home as the stranger took bread, broke it and gave it to them that they finally recognized him as Jesus, whose death they had just been mourning. They ran back to the city which they had been glad to leave earlier in the day. They had a story to tell, the story of the Lord’s coming to them in Word and Eucharist. They needed to tell this story to the other disciples and that is how our Gospel reading begins, ‘The disciples told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognized Him in the breaking of bread’. According to the Gospel reading, it was while the two disciples were telling their faith story and the others were engaging with it that the risen Lord appeared to the whole group in person. The two disciples’ sharing of their faith story with others created a space for the risen Lord to come and stand among them all. Whenever we have the freedom and the courage to share something of our faith story with others, we too will be creating an opening for the risen Lord to stand among us and touch our lives. Yet, the Gospel reading also acknowledges the struggle we sometimes have to really believe that the Lord is risen and that He is standing among us. According to the Gospel reading, when the risen Lord stood among the disciples, offering them the gift of His peace, they were in a ‘state of alarm and fright, they thought they were seeing a ghost’. Jesus had to ask them, ‘Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts rising in your hearts’. Alarm, fright, agitation, doubt – these were the initial responses of the disciples to the presence of the risen Lord in their midst. The Gospel reading goes on to say that even after the risen Lord showed them His hands and His feet, His wounds that spoke of His love for them and for all, ‘their joy was so great that they could not believe it’. Even when fear and doubt gave way to joy, they still could not believe that the Jesus was powerfully alive in their midst. We have no difficulty believing that Jesus was crucified. Many of us have crucifixes or crosses in our homes or on our persons. However, we can struggle to believe that Jesus is risen, that He stands among us as risen Lord. It is sometimes not as easy to believe in the risen Jesus as in the crucified Jesus. In that regard, we are no different to the first disciples. Today’s Gospel reading suggests that Easter faith often grows in the midst of doubt and questions. Believing in the risen Lord is a journey that different people travel at different paces. Yet, what matters is our attitude, our openness to the various ways that the risen Lord may choose to come to us and touch our lives.
In order to cut through His disciples’ fears and doubts the risen Lord showed them His hands and His feet – His wounds. These were the wounds of love; He had suffered for them, and for all; He had died that they, and all of us, might have life to the full. In showing them His wounds, the Lord finally broke through to them. Luke says, ‘their joy was so great that they could not believe it’. The Lord’s wounds can break through to all of us when his other approaches to us fail. Perhaps that is why Good Friday continues to speak to so many people. Our own sharing of our wounds, the sharing of our pain, can also build bridges to others. When we are at their most vulnerable, we often draw others to ourselves. When members of our family become ill, we are drawn to gather around them in a supportive, loving way. In attending to them, we are attending to the Lord. The Lord continues to reach out to us through the wounds of others, because such wounds are, in a very real sense, His own wounds. The coming of the risen Lord to the disciples was for them a profound experience of forgiveness, ‘Peace be with you’. It was also a moment of mission, as the risen Lord sent them out to proclaim to others the forgiveness they had received. The risen Lord comes to us too to assure us that we are loved and forgiven and to send us out as ambassadors of His forgiving, reconciling, love to others.
In our first reading this Sunday from the Acts of the Apostles, St. Peter was speaking to the people who were gathered at Jerusalem during the time of the Pentecost, which was fifty days from the Passover and Resurrection of the Lord. It was at that occasion which the Lord sent the Holy Spirit upon all the disciples who were gathered there in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit strengthened and encouraged the Apostles and the other disciples, who were once fearful and afraid of the repercussions and reactions from the Jewish authorities that they spent most of their time in hiding, so that they no longer feared the sufferings and punishments of the world. The Holy Spirit empowered them and gave them the ability to stand up against the oppressions and oppositions to their efforts, and proclaim faithfully the truth as St. Peter had done. St. Peter spoke vigorously and in great spirit about the many things which the Lord had done for His people, in all that He had endured for the salvation of the whole world, in the sufferings and trials that He had to endure and bore through His Cross, but one which He willingly took up because He truly loves each and every one of us and He wanted to reach out to us, loving and caring for us, providing us with the means to find the path towards our salvation. The Lord has loved us all of us from the very beginning, and He desired that each and every one of us should be reconciled to Him, finding our way back to Him and be reunited to Him through His ever generous mercy and love. By His Cross, He has led us all to freedom from our sins, liberating us from the tyranny of sin, evil and death. However, as many of the people rejected Him and refused to listen to Him, or to embrace the generous offer of mercy which He has given to them. The Lord was arrested, punished and condemned to death for the sins and wickedness of the people, and yet, He continued to show us all His mercy, forgiving us all of our sins, as He asked the Heavenly Father to forgive those who have betrayed, abandoned, and condemned Him to death. His intentions for us all have always been really clear. He wants to be reconciled with us, and He wants us to be able to find our way back to Him, and that was why, He entrusted His Apostles and the other disciples with the important mission to proclaim His salvation to the whole world, just as St. Peter had done before all the assembled people, and the many other works that he and the other Apostles and disciples had done.
Our second reading today from the Epistle of St. John, is a reminder from the St. John the Apostle of the salvation which the Lord Jesus, Our Saviour has brought upon us, by His actions and selfless sacrifice on the Cross as mentioned. Again this same truth and fact have been reinforced to us, to remind us all that we have the obligation and calling to follow the Lord in all things, and in everything that we say and do in our lives. We cannot be truly good and faithful Christians, and we are no better than hypocrites and unbelievers unless we truly embody what we believe and profess in our faith, in all of our every words, actions and deeds, just as we are expected to. Essentially, we must be truly sincere in believing and committing ourselves in following God and His path.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, the Third Sunday of Easter, all of us are reminded that we are all the people whom the Lord had loved and redeemed from sin, and by our common baptism, all of us have been made partakers of the New and Eternal Covenant that He had sealed by His own Most Precious Blood. We are again being constantly reminded of what we believe in the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our God and Saviour, Whose glorious Resurrection and triumphant victory over sin and death are the sources of our great joy and celebration during this whole entire season and time of Easter. On this day we heard this reminder yet again because of just how central the Resurrection is to our entire Christian faith. Without believing in the Resurrection, one cannot truly call himself or herself as a Christian, and without the Resurrection, there is no use of believing in Christ because if Christ has not conquered death, then all of us would have succumbed to destruction and death, to eternal damnation and despair. Let us all hence be ever courageous and committed in serving the Lord in all things and in the best way we can do, so that like the Apostles and disciples of the Lord before us, our holy predecessors, we may also be inspirational and dedicated in our lives, in our actions to reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters, proclaiming the Risen Lord, His Good News and salvation to all, so that more may come to believe in our Lord and Saviour, and come to seek the Lord and to be reconciled with Him. Through all of us and our commitment to Him, we may indeed make more people to realise the depth of their sins and wickedness, so that they may open their hearts and minds to welcome the Lord into themselves, allowing Him to transform us all to be good and worthy children of the Light, the Light of His salvation. May the Risen Lord continue to bless us all in all of our good efforts and endeavours, and may He continue to guide us through our journey in life, in all the struggles and in enduring the many trials and challenges that we may encounter in our journey, now and forevermore. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and may the Risen Lord, Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, continue to guide us all and give us the strength and courage to proclaim His truth and Resurrection to the world. Amen 🙏
SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINTS TIBURTIUS, VALERIAN AND MAXIMUS, MARTYRS; SAINT BENEZET; SAINT LIDWINA OF SCHIEDAM, VIRGIN AND BLESSED PETER GONZÁLEZ, PRIEST, APRIL 14, 2024:
As we continue to rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, today, on this third Sunday of Easter, we celebrate the Memorial of Saints Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus, three Christian Martyrs who were buried on April 14th. They are known by their inclusion in the Acts of St. Cecilia. Saint Benezet (Little Benedict), he’s Patron Saint of Avignon; bachelors; bridge-builders. Blessed Peter Gonzalez, Priest, Dominican protector of captives and sailors, he’s Patron Saint of sailors and Saint Lydwina of Schiedam, Virgin (Lydwine, Lydwid, Lidwid, Liduina of Schiedam), she is the Patron Saint of those with chronic pain, chronically ill, ice skaters and town of Schiedam. Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick, the Church, for persecuted christians and the conversion of sinners and for Christians all over the world.🙏
SAINTS TIBURTIUS, VALERIAN AND MAXIMUS, MARTYRS: Saints Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus, three Christian Roman Martyrs of the 2nd and 3rd century, who were buried in the cemetery of Praetextatus on April 14th. They are known by their inclusion in the Acts of St. Cecilia, a mid-fifth-century Acts of the Martyrs. According to the Acts, Valerian was Cecilia’s husband, Tiburtius his brother, and Maximus a Roman soldier or official who died with them. As Valerian and Tiburtius refused to worship the pagan gods (the supposed protectors of Rome’s earthly glory and wealth), they were executed. Their courage and composure in the face of death was so remarkable that it converted their guard, Maximus. After professing Christianity, he too suffered martyrdom. The three were buried by the grieving Cecilia, and a little later she herself was sentenced.
The three martyrs were traditionally honoured with a joint feast day on 14 April, as shown in the Tridentine Calendar. The 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar removed this celebration, since the only thing really known about them is the historical fact of their burial in the Catacombs of Praetextatus. However, it allowed them to be honoured in local calendars. The 2001 decree of promulgation of the revised Roman Martyrology declared: “In accordance with the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council on the Sacred Liturgy, ‘the accounts of martyrdom or the lives of the saints are to accord with the facts of history’ (art. 92 c), the names of saints included in the Martyrology and their notices have to be subjected more carefully than before to the judgement of historical study.” Accordingly, the revised Roman Martyrology now merely states, under 14 April: “At Rome, in the cemetery of Praetextatus on the Appian Way, Saints Tiburtius, Valerian and Maximus, martyrs.’ The Eastern Orthodox Church honors them together with Saint Cecilia on November 22nd.
PRAYER: Almighty God, for Whom holy Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus uplifted their testimony, grant, we beseech Thee, unto all whosoever call the same to solemn memory, grace to imitate the example of their godly courage. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end… Amen🙏
SAINT BENEZET, THE BRIDGE BUILDER: St Benezet, the Bridge Builder, also known as “Little Benedict” (c 1163-1184). St Benezet is also known as Benezet of Hermillon, Benedict, Bennet, Benet, Benoit, Little Benedict the Bridge Builder. Born in c 1163 at Hermillon, Savoy, France and died in 1184. He is a Shepherd, Mystic, miracle-worker, Founder of the Fratres Pontifices – the Bridge-Building Brotherhood, he was the builder who instigated and directed the building of the Pont d’Avignon and founder of the tradition of the bridge building brotherhood. St Benezet, the Bridge Builder, was born somewhere in the countryside of eastern or northeastern France. As he grew up he tended his mother’s sheep. Though uneducated and unskilled, gentle Benedict was a quiet, devout youth, thoughtful of others. One day in 1177, while the sun was in eclipse, Benezet heard a voice, he believed was Jesus, commanding him three times to go to Avignon, where the Rhone current was especially swift and to build a bridge there. He was also told that Angels would watch over his flocks in his absence. He obeyed the Divine order, without delay and reported immediately to the Bishop of Avignon. Naturally, the Bishop was hesitant about accepting the word of the frail teenager. But little Benezet lifted a massive stone to begin the work and announced that it would be the start of the foundation. This would become the Pont Saint-Bénézet. Thus he succeeded in convincing the Bishop that the construction of the bridge would be an act of true Christian charity. Permission was granted and the youth set about his task. According to the legend, there were shouts of “Miracle! Miracle!” when Bénézet had lifted and laid that first huge stone. Eighteen miracles occurred in total during the project – the blind had their vision restored, the deaf could hear again, cripples could walk and hunchbacks had their backs straightened. For the next seven years St. Benedict worked hard on the project and around 1181 he won support for his project from wealthy sponsors who formed themselves into a Bridge Brotherhood to fund its construction. This was a religious association active during the 12th and 13th centuries and begun in Avignon but by it’s inspiration, it spread across Europe and whose purpose was building bridges, especially to assist pilgrims. It was customary for a bishop to grant indulgences to those who, by money or labour, contributed to the construction of a bridge. They also maintained and/or built hospices at the chief fords of the principal rivers, besides building bridges and looking after ferries. The Brotherhood consisted of three branches– knights, clergy and artisans, where the knights usually had contributed most of the funds and were sometimes called donati, the clergy were usually monks who represented the church and the artisans were the workers who actually built the bridges. Sisters are sometimes mentioned as belonging to the same association. In addition to the construction of bridges, the brotherhood often attended to the lodging and care of pilgrims and travellers and the collection of alms, in this area, the sisters were most active.
In 1184, sadly, young Benezet died, some four years before the great stone bridge at Avignon was completed. The wonders that occurred during the bridge’s erection and the miracles wrought at the Bridge Builder’s tomb convinced the people of Avignon that the young man was a Saint and he was referred to as such as early at 1237. They, therefore, built a Chapel on the “Bridge of St Benezet” to enshrine his relics. There the body was venerated until 1669, when floodwaters carried away a large segment of the bridge. His remains were rescued from the flood and on examination, were found to be incorrupt. Now they repose in the local church of St Didier. Understandably, bridge builders adopted little Benedict as their Patron Saint. The remains of the bridge still remain a pilgrimage site. St Benezet’s bridge has another claim to fame – it achieved worldwide fame through its commemoration by the song “Sur le Pont d’Avignon” (“On the Bridge of Avignon”). One can build in a figurative as well as a literal sense. Bishops, the pope in particular, are often called “pontiffs”, a title derived from the Latin word for “builder of bridges”. Building bridges between God and mankind is their special calling. Our Lord Himself was a “pontiff” in the sense that He made his Cross a bridge, on which souls could enter heaven. The beatitude “Blessed are the peacemakers” promises heaven to those who work for reconciliation, that is, “build bridges”. Some persons labour to raise walls, or “iron curtains” to divide mankind. Others labour to tear down the walls that divide, straighten the paths that connect, bridge the crevices that separate people. Surely they come close to fulfilling the great commandment to love our neighbour as oneself. St Benezet was one such. He promoted the unity of God’s children. St. Benezet is the Patron Saint of Avignon; bachelors; bridge-builders and construction workers. His body is incorrupt.
Little St Benezet ~ Pray for us!🙏
SAINT LIDWINA OF SCHIEDAM, VIRGIN: St. Lydwina of Schiedam, Virgin (Lydwine, Lydwid, Lidwid, Liduina of Schiedam) (1380-1433) was a Dutch mystic who is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church. St. Lidwina is thought to be one of the first documented cases of multiple sclerosis. She is the Patron Saint of those with chronic pain, chronically ill, ice skaters and town of Schiedam. St. Lidwina was born into a poor country family of Holland in 1380. At an early age, she prayed to the Mother of God and experienced visions of incredible religious images. When she was 15, she went ice-skating with some friends and fell. She broke a rib from this fall, but gangrene continued to consume her body. No medical professional could diagnose her injury, and this began her martyrdom.
As the gangrene spread throughout her body, she became permanently paralyzed. Pieces of her body even fell off, and she suffered from external bleeding. Despite these medical complications, Saint Lidwina never gave up on her faith in God. She engaged in constant prayer and commitment in her faith to God. She continued to experience great pain for the rest of her life, but she was rewarded with visions of faith from God. She died in 1433 at age 53. She was canonized by Pope Leo XII in 1890. Today, she serves as an inspiration for chronically-ill patients and those with multiple sclerosis.
PRAYER: Lord, we devoutly recall the sufferings of St. Lidwina. Give success to our joyful prayers and grant us also constancy in our Faith. Amen🙏
BLESSED PETER GONZÁLEZ, PRIEST: Bl. Peter González (1190 – 15 April 1246), sometimes referred to as Pedro González Telmo, Saint Telmo, or Saint Elmo, was a Castilian Dominican friar and priest, born in 1190 in Frómista, Palencia, Kingdom of Castile and Leon. St. Peter Gonzales, Dominican protector of captives and sailors. He preached a campaign against the Moors, and then cared for the captured Muslims and sailors. Saint Paul had a conversion experience on the road to Damascus. Many years later, the same proved true for Peter Gonzalez, who triumphantly rode his horse into the Spanish city of Astorga in the 13th century to take up an important post at the cathedral. The animal stumbled and fell, leaving Peter in the mud and onlookers amused.
Humbled, Peter reevaluated his motivations—his bishop-uncle had secured the cathedral post for him—and started down a new path. He became a Dominican priest and proved to be a most effective preacher. He spent much of his time as court chaplain, and attempted to exert positive influence on the behavior of members of the court. After King Ferdinand III and his troops defeated the Moors at Cordoba, Peter was successful in restraining the soldiers from pillaging, and persuaded the king to treat the defeated Moors with compassion.
After retiring from the court, Peter devoted the remainder of his life to preaching in northwest Spain. Having developed a special mission to Spanish and Portuguese seamen, he is considered their patron. He is the Patron Saint of Sailor. Bl. Peter Gonzalez died in 1246 and was beatified in on December 13, 1741, Rome, Papal States, Pope Benedict XIV.
Blessed Peter González ~ Pray for us 🙏
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🙏
Let us pray:
My revealing Lord, You showed Yourself to Your disciples not only physically but spiritually, revealing Your very essence to them interiorly. Please bestow this gift upon me, dear Lord. May I come to know You and believe in You with all my heart. As I do, please use me as an instrument of Your mercy to others. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary and Saints Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus; Saint Benezet; Saint Peter Gonzales and Saint Lydwina of Schiedam ~ 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, joyous, and grace-filled third Sunday of Easter and week🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖