MEMORIAL OF SAINT ANICETUS, POPE, MARTYR; SAINT ROBERT OF MOLESMES, ABBOT AND SAINT DONAN, MISSIONARY AND PRIEST

THIRD WEEK OF EASTER

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: APRIL 17, 2024

Greetings, beloved family and Happy Wednesday 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 17, 2024” |

Pray “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | April 17, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” | April 17, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | April 17, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | April 17, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteriels VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |

Today’s Bible Readings: Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Reading 1, Acts 8:1-8
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7
Gospel, John 6:35-40

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 rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Anicetus, Pope, Martyr; Saint Robert of Molesmes, Abbot and Saint Donan, Missionary and Priest. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners and for Christians all over the world, especially during these incredibly challenging times.

O God, who open wide the gates of the heavenly Kingdom to those reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, pour out on your servants an increase of the grace you have bestowed, that, having been purged of all sins, they may lack nothing that in your kindness you have promised. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever… Amen🙏

SAINT ANICETUS, POPE, MARTYR: St. Anicetus was a Syrian from Emesa (modern-day Homs). He became pope about 155 to his death in April 168. He was St. Peter’s tenth successor who defended the Church against the heresies of Valentine and Marcion, actively opposed Marcionism and Gnosticism. He suffered tribulations. His pontificate saw the appearance of the controversy between East and West over the date of Easter. St. Polycarp of Smyrna, a disciple of John, is reported to have visited him in Rome to discuss the Easter controversy. Polycarp and his Church of Smyrna celebrated the crucifixion on the fourteenth day of Nisan, which coincides with Pesach (or Passover) regardless of which day of the week upon this date fell, while the Roman Church celebrated Easter on Sunday—the weekday of Jesus’s resurrection. The two did not agree on a common date, but Anicetus conceded to Polycarp and the Church of Smyrna the ability to retain the date to which they were accustomed. The controversy was to grow heated in the following centuries.

The Christian historian Hegesippus also visited Rome during Anicetus’s pontificate. This visit is often cited as a sign of the early importance of the Roman See. St. Anicetus actively opposed the Gnostics and Marcionism. The Liber Pontificalis records that Anicetus decreed that priests are not allowed to have long hair (perhaps because the Gnostics wore long hair). According to church tradition, Anicetus suffered martyrdom during the reign of Emperor Lucius Verus, but there are no historical grounds for this account. April 16, 17 and 20 April are all cited as the date of his death.  St. Anicetus died in April of 168 and he was buried in the cemetery of Callistus.

Saint Anicetus, Pope and Martyr ~ Pray for us🙏

SAINT ROBERT OF MOLESMES, ABBOT: St. Robert was born of noble parents in France about 1024, Robert became a Benedictine at Moutier-la-Celle when he was fifteen. Such was the religious dedication of the young man that when he had completed his novitiate, he was named Prior. Later, he was made Abbot of St. Michael of Tonnere. Yet something was missing in Robert’s life. He was desperately trying, but not succeeding, in promoting the observance of a stricter interpretation of the Benedictine Rule. Finally, about 1075, he established a monastery at Molesmes in Burgundy, but here too he did not succeed in his great quest—at least not initially.

In 1098, impelled by the love of God, and his great faith in the Rule of St. Benedict. Robert took St. Alberic, St. Stephen Harding, and others of his monks and traveled to the forest of Citeaux where he started over again. This time, he was successful—in eighteen months he was able to leave the rule of the monastery in the hands of Alberic and Stephen. This was the beginning of the Cistercian movement, and its greatest representative, St. Bernard, was in the near future to come to Citeaux and make it the center of the Christian world of that time. St. Robert was then able to return to Molesmes and be successful there too with his reform. This great lover of God and founder of a dedicated Order died on March 21, 1111, and was canonized in 1222.

PRAYER: Lord, amid the things of this world, let us be wholeheartedly committed to heavenly things in imitation of the example of evangelical perfection You have given us in St. Robert the Abbot. Amen🙏
 

SAINT DONAN, MISSIONARY AND PRIEST: St. Donan (d. 617 A.D.), also known as St. Donnán of Eigg, was a prominent Celtic missionary and Gaelic priest. Little is known of his life except that he was likely an Irishman who traveled as a missionary throughout Galloway and northward along the west coast of Scotland. He is thought to have been a contemporary of St. Columba. Donan formed a religious community on the tiny northwest island of Eigg in Scotland. The community grew to fifty-two men.

One year, after celebrating the Easter Vigil Mass, they were unexpectedly attacked and martyred either by pirates or a band of Viking raiders. Tradition holds that the community was gathered together and killed in the refectory on the night of April 17, 617. The martyrdom of Christian missionaries at this time was rare, leading many to suspect the attack was instigated by a malicious local queen who viewed St. Donan and his monks as a threat to her power. His feast day is April 17.

Saint Donan, Missionary and Priest ~ 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🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS

Bible Readings for today, Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading

Gospel Reading ~ John 6:35-40

“This is the will of my Father, that all who see the Son may have eternal life”

“Jesus said to the crowds, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from Heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what He gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I shall raise Him on the last day.”

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus says, ‘whoever comes to me I shall not turn away’. It is a statement that reveals the welcoming nature of the Lord’s presence. Those who come to Him will find a welcome from Him. The opening invitation of Jesus in this Gospel is ‘Come and see’. He invites people to come to Him and He promises those who do so that He will never turn them away. In this He is being true to God’s will which is, according to the Gospel reading, that all who see the Son and believe in Him shall have eternal life’. It is as the source of life, as the one who can satisfy our deepest hungers and thirsts, that Jesus invites people to come to Him, while assuring them that they will never be turned away if they do come. Through the sharing of His Most Precious Body and Blood, the Lord instituted the Eucharist to us, and bringing us together through His sacrifice, suffering and death on the Cross, and ultimately His Resurrection, into the Communion of the faithful, uniting all of us into His Body, the Body of Christ, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. That is why the Eucharist we receive, which we believe is truly the Real Presence of the Lord in His Most Precious Body and Blood, is called Holy Communion, and only those who have lived and shared faithfully the full teachings of our Christian faith can partake in this most sacred gift that the Lord has granted to all of us. Through this Communion, uniting all of us in the Church, both those in this world, all of us, and all those who had gone before us, the Lord has shown us that He has always been with us, and He never abandoned us at all, even in our darkest moments and challenging times.

In our first reading, it is said of Saul, the future St. Paul, that he worked for the total destruction of the church. Saul, who was a young Pharisee was filled with great and fiery zeal, in persecuting, arresting and torturing the followers of the Lord, rejudices and wickedness was shown in the actions of the young Saul. Saul sought to destroy all who responded to the welcoming invitation of Jesus. There will always be forces in our world that are hostile to our coming to Jesus. Despite all the hardships and challenges faced by the followers of the Lord, most of them remained firm in their faith and endured faithfully the sufferings that they had faced. The Lord has also kept them in His providence and protection, leading them through their difficult times and sending them encouragement and strength to persevere through those challenges. He Himself has foretold all these to His disciples and followers, warning all of them that if the world had opposed, persecuted and treated Him as such, then His disciples and followers must also be prepared that they would be treated in a similar way as well. But He assured them that He would give them guidance and strength, and through the Holy Spirit that He sent to His Church, despite the trials and challenges that His followers had to face, but the Church still thrived and grew rapidly throughout those early years. Not only that, but even Saul himself was converted, and called to become one of the Lord’s greatest servants, as St. Paul the Apostle later in his life. The later experience of Saul suggests that not only does the Lord welcome those who come to Him but He seeks out those who are hostile to Him. Saul eventually came to Jesus because Jesus went after Him. The Lord who welcomes us when we come to Him also seeks us out when we walk away from Him. When we don’t come to Him, He comes after us, not in anger but in love. He is always driven by God the Father’s will that all should see the Son and believe in Him and so have eternal life.

According to today’s first reading, Philip preaches the Gospel in Samaria and the people there unite in welcoming the message Philip preached. In Luke’s first volume, Jesus had attempted to preach the Gospel to a Samaritan village but they rejected Jesus because He was heading for Jerusalem. Now the risen Lord, through Philip, preaches the Gospel to the Samaritans and this time they welcome the Gospel. The Lord continues to offer the Gospel even to those who have rejected it. Even though we may turn from the Lord at times, He never turns from us. This is in keeping with what Jesus says in today’s Gospel reading, ‘Whoever comes to me I shall never turn away’. Easter celebrates the faithfulness of God to His Son Jesus, and the faithfulness of Jesus to all of us. The Lord’s faithfulness encourages us to keep turning back to Him, to keep coming to Him, even after we have turned away from him. Even when we fail to respond to His coming, He remains for us the bread of life and He continues to promise that if we come to Him we will never hunger and if we believe in Him we will never thirst.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, each and every one of us are reminded again today that as Christians all of us are always facing hardships, trials and struggles, challenges and difficulties amidst the lives and the journey that we embark on in this world. However, we must not easily lose hope and we must remain firm in our faith in the Lord, because it is in Him alone we can find the hope, strength and consolation, as well as the assurance of eternal life and true joy and glory. We must always strengthen our faith and trust in the Lord, wholeheartedly believing that He, our Lord and Saviour, the Bread of Life, has the power to help us and to raise us up with Him, and that He will always be with us, never abandoning us even in our darkest and most difficult moments. As we are reminded of this fact today, and as we continue progressing through this most holy and blessed season of Easter, let us all therefore do our part as the Christian faithful, the members of God’s own Body, the Church of God, to be evangelising and missionary disciples, righteous and good, faithful and just in all of our works, actions and deeds. Let us all be good role models and examples of our faith in our every words and actions, as well as in all of our interactions with one another. May the Risen Lord, Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, continue to bless and guide us all, and strengthen us so that we may persevere faithfully and continue to commit ourselves to His path, much as how our early Christian predecessors had done. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and be with His Church always, and bless its every works and good efforts and may He bless each and every one of us and strengthen us all in our every day living, in living our lives with faith from now on, that we may inspire many others to follow the Lord and to be reconciled with God, like the way we do. Amen🙏

Let us pray:

My ever-present Lord, I thank You profoundly for the way You come to me in the Most Holy Eucharist. I thank You for Your divine presence and glory. Help me to see beyond the veil of the appearance of bread and wine so that I can see more clearly Your divinity. As I see Your divine presence, dear Lord, help me to profess my belief in You with greater certitude and faith. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen🙏

Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Anicetus, Pope, Martyr; Saint Robert of Molesmes, Abbot and Saint Donan, Missionary and Priest ~ 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 Week of Easter🙏
   
Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖

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