FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (YEAR B)
GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY AND WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS (VOCATIONS SUNDAY)
SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: APRIL 21, 2024
MEMORIAL OF SAINT ANSELM OF CANTERBURY, BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH AND SAINT CONRAD OF PARZHAM ~ FEAST DAY: APRIL 21ST
Greetings, beloved family and Happy Good Shepherd (Vocations) Sunday!
As we continue to celebrate and rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, on this Vocations Sunday, we pray for the Clergy, for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. May the good Lord continue to guide them and strengthen them all in all their works as they serve in His Vineyard. May God’s grace and mercy be with us all during this Easter season and always🙏
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on Good Shepherd Sunday, EWTN | April 21, 2024” |
Pray “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | April 21, 2024 |
Watch “Regina Coeli with Pope Francis | Good Shepherd Sunday | Jesus the Good Shepherd awaits us with open arms | Vatican | April 21, 2024” |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” | April 21, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | April 21, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | April 21, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteriels VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |
Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |
Today’s Bible Readings: Fourth Sunday of Easter (Year B) – Good Shepherd Sunday, April 21, 2024
Reading 1, Acts 4:8-12
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 21, 29
Reading 2, First John 3:1-2
Gospel, John 10:11-18
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/
GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY AND WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS (VOCATIONS SUNDAY): Today, the Fourth Sunday of Easter is known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” because the Mass reading is taken from the Gospel of John, where Jesus uses the imagery of a shepherd guiding and guarding his flock to describe His relationship with those He has redeemed: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn. 10:11). The communion antiphon for this Mass reads, “The Good Shepherd is risen! He who laid down his life for his sheep, who died for his flock, he is risen, alleluia.”
Good Shepherd Sunday is also recognized as Vocations Sunday, we celebrate the World Day of Prayer for Vocations instituted by Pope Paul VI in 1964. This Fourth Sunday of Easter marks the 61st Anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. As we remember and especially pray for all those people who had answered God’s call to be His servants and disciples, to be the ones who live their lives and carry out their actions as the shepherds of the flock of the Lord, in the model of the Good Shepherd Himself, namely our Priests and Bishops, and our Holy Father, Pope Francis. Vocations Sunday reminds us that the more fundamental call we hear in life is the call of the Lord. It is a day when we are asked to pray for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. The faithful pray that God will send them good and Holy Priests who, following the example of Christ, will lay down their lives for His sheep. Each and every one of them had committed themselves to the good works of the Lord, dedicating themselves wholly to the ministry of Priesthood, by which they truly showed the same love and care that our Lord and Good Shepherd had shown us, and this Sunday in particular we pray for all of them that the Lord will continue to guide them and strengthen them all in all their works.
It is also a day when we are asked to reflect on our own baptismal vocation. We all share the one baptismal vocation. Each and every one of us as Christians also have our own unique vocations in life. Vocation in the Church is not just the vocation to Priesthood only, as there are also those who continue to live in the world and living our own respective and diverse ways of life as members of the laity, as people who build up faithful Christian families and societies, as well as all those who also give themselves into consecrated life to God, or those who commit themselves to a life of singlehood and purity, all in the service of God. Each and every one of these vocations are truly important, and we are hence reminded that as Christians we must always be active in living our Christian faith and life at all times.
MEDITATION: THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD: We are a precious gift the Father has confided to Jesus. Thine they were: to me Thou gavest them. All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him that comes to me I will not cast out. This is the Father’s will, that I should not lose one of these precious ones He has given to me. This charge which the Father has given me is more precious than anything whatsoever. Jesus sees His own raison d’etre as that of doing the will of the Father, and the will of the Father is precisely that He should care for each one of us and give us eternal life. All that Jesus is, is precisely for me. His care of me never slackens. “The Lord is my shepherd, I can want for nothing.” If I really believed this, how different my life would be! I would never willingly jib at what happens to me since I would everything as at least permitted by Him, knowing He will make everything turn to my good I would stop trying to run my own life, preventing this or that…I would cease to care for the judgements of others, whether they like me or not, whether they think well or ill of me. I would cease wanting to feel sure about everything, above all about my spiritual life: anxious, fearful, discouraged, plagued by guilt feelings… If my faith in the unfailing tender care of my Shepherd is real, how could I allow such self-occupation?
The Shepherd psalm is one Jesus must have prayed a thousand and more times to His Father. “The Lord carried you, as a man carries his child, all along the road you travelled”…at this hour you were led to the cross. Where are the nice green pastures on that stony and painful way? Were the still waters in His burning thirst? Did He feel His head and body were being washed and anointed with oil when the crown of thorns was pressing against His temples?
“He leads me along the right path: he is true to his name…Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life.” Had Jesus not held firmly to this certainty, that whatever it seemed or felt like this was the truth, the real nature of things, then we would not have been redeemed. His faith would have failed. But as it proved, His faith remained steadfast and triumphed. The Good Shepherd is risen. He who laid down His life for the sheep, who died for His flock. He is risen. Alleluia!
This Fourth Sunday of Easter marks the 61st Anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations instituted by Pope Paul VI in 1964. Parishes are especially encouraged to include prayers for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life in the general intercessions on that day and the homily may focus on vocations. Pope Francis’ messages for each year should be read and taken to heart (link below)
Message for the 61st World Day of Prayer for Vocations 2024 | Pope Francis | https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/vocations/documents/20240421-messaggio-61-gm-vocazioni.html
Theme: Called to sow seeds of hope and to build peace
Pilgrims of hope and builders of peace
“Let us awaken from sleep, let us leave indifference behind, let us open the doors of the prison in which we so often enclose ourselves, so that each of us can discover his or her proper vocation in the Church and in the world, and become a pilgrim of hope and a builder of peace!”
“Let us rise up, then, and set out as pilgrims of hope, so that, as Mary was for Elizabeth, we too can be messengers of joy, sources of new life and artisans of fraternity and peace.”
At the Regina Coeli on Good Shepherd Sunday, Pope Francis reminds us that Jesus loves us without limit, giving His life for us. He prays that we may go meet the Lord and allow ourselves “to be welcomed and lifted up by the loving arms of our Good Shepherd.”
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS: “Dear friends, on this day in particular, but also in the ordinary pastoral life of our communities, I ask the Church to continue to promote vocations. May she touch the hearts of the faithful and enable each of them to discover with gratitude God’s call in their lives, to find courage to say ‘yes’ to God.” ~ Pope Francis
GOOD SHEPHERD PRAYER FOR PRIESTS: Lord Jesus Christ, eternal High Priest, You offered yourself to the Father on the altar of the Cross and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit gave Your priestly people a share in Your redeeming sacrifice. Hear our prayer for the sanctification of our priests. Grant that all who are ordained to the ministerial priesthood may be ever more conformed to You, the Divine Master. May they preach the Gospel with pure heart and clear conscience. Let them be shepherds according to Your own Heart, single-minded in service to You and to the Church and shining examples of a holy, simple and joyful life. Through the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Your Mother and ours, draw all priests and the flocks entrusted to their care to the fullness of eternal life where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS
Bible Readings for today, Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year B | Good Shepherd Sunday | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ John 10:11–18
“The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”
“Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus declares that He knows His own and His own know Him, just as the Father knows Him and He knows the Father. It is an extraordinary statement to make. Jesus is saying that the relationship that He has with each one of us is as intimate as the very personal relationship that He has with His heavenly Father. Jesus knows us as intimately as the Father knows Him. When it comes to the Lord we are not just one of a crowd, lost in a sea of faces. In a way that we will never fully understand, the Lord knows each one of us by name. We only really know those we love. It is because the Lord loves each of us so completely that He knows each of us so fully. According to Saint Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia, where he says, ‘I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me’. We can each make our own those words of Saint Paul. When Jesus speaks in today’s Gospel reading as the good shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep, He is saying that in love He lays down His life for each one of us individually. The Lord who gave Himself in love for each one of us on the cross, and who, as risen Lord, continues to give Himself in love to each of us daily, also calls each of us by name. Today, Good Shepherd Sunday, is Vocations Sunday. The Lord has a calling that is personal to each one of us. He calls us in our uniqueness, in a way that takes account of our particular temperament, our unique identity, the background that is specific to each one of us. No one of us is like anyone else. Parents know how distinct and unique each of their children are. They will all have been given the same love; they grow up in basically the same environment. Yet, from a very early age, their uniqueness becomes very evident. That unique identity begins at conception and starts to be formed during the nine months the child is in their mother’s womb. The family is a microcosm of the church; it has been called the domestic church. Within the family of the church, the Lord’s call to follow him, the call of the good shepherd, begins while we are in the womb. The prophet Jeremiah heard the Lord say to him, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart’. The particular way the Lord calls us and works through us will be unique to each one of us. I can do something for the Lord that only I can do. Each one of us has a unique contribution to make to the work of the Lord in the church and in the world, and that contribution is just as important as anyone else’s contribution. We each have a unique vocation and each vocation is equally significant. When we each respond to our own unique vocation, we are supporting others in their response to the unique call of the good shepherd to them.
Our first reading this Sunday from the Acts of the Apostles, Acts 4:8-12, shows the testimony of faith which St. Peter the Apostle mentioned how the healing of a man that had been healed from his affliction came about from the power and authority of the Risen Lord, the One Whom the Jewish authorities had opposed and rejected, persecuted and handed over to the Romans to be judged, sentenced and condemned to death on the Cross, in the most humiliating and painful way possible. And yet, all the proofs, evidences and events of that time pointed out how the Lord Jesus did not remain dead but rose from the dead just as He Himself had predicted it, appearing before many people and from which the belief in His Resurrection and His works began to propagate, as those disciples of the Lord who had witnessed His death and resurrection all went forth to proclaim His truth to more and more people. St. Peter told everyone of the salvation in this same Messiah, the One through Whom everyone shall receive justification and liberation from the tyranny of sin, evil and death, because of everything that He had done out of love for us, truly our Good Shepherd, Who knows us all and loves each one of us, and Who does not want any one of us to be lost to Him or to be separated from Him. That is why He went out all the way to seek us, His lost sheep, calling upon us, the ones who have been lost to the darkness of this world and sin, so that we may find our way back to Him, and His light may help lead us on the way back to the right path towards salvation and eternal life. As our Lord and Good Shepherd, He wants us to listen to His call, that we may not wander off anymore in this world, and be found by Him. Today’s first reading declares that the stone that was rejected by the builders proved to be the keystone. There is a clear reference there to Jesus Himself. He was the rejected one who became the keystone of a new family, the church. There is a sense in which the Lord sees each of us as the keystone for some aspect of His mission. We are all key to the Lord’s work, and He calls each of us by name from the first moment of our conception to share in that work. On this Vocations Sunday we commit ourselves anew to hearing and responding to the call of the good shepherd.
In our second reading this Sunday, First John 3:1-2, St. John the Apostle in his Epistle or letter to the Church and the faithful, he reminded and encouraged everyone that God has truly loved and cared for all of them because He has considered all of us to be His own children, whom He truly loved, because we share in the humanity of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Who is both the Son of God and Son of Man. Therefore, we are all considered to be sons and daughters of God, and having been loved as such, naturally He wants us all to be like Him and to follow Him, in doing His will and living our lives worthily as Christians, that is as all those whom the Lord had called and chosen from this world. By our membership in the Church, we have been made partakers of God’s love and made to be His own adopted children.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures on this Fourth Sunday in the season of Easter, the Church celebrates together the occasion of the Good Shepherd Sunday (Vocations Sunday), due to the readings today, which highlighted the Lord as our Good Shepherd, and all of us being the sheep of His flock. The Lord is indeed our Good Shepherd, as the One Who has come into our midst, embracing us all with His most generous love and compassion, to gather all of us into His one flock so that none of us will be lost again to damnation because of our many sins and wickedness. As our Good Shepherd, the Lord has always loved each and every one of us, and we are reminded today of this great love that He has always given us, even when we have constantly disobeyed Him and disregarded His love and kindness. May the Risen Lord, Our Good Shepherd and guide, continue to be with us and guide us all, strengthen and encourage us with the power and strength needed for us to endure through the challenges and trials that we may have to face amidst our lives as Christians in this world today. Let us all be good role models for one another, and be good sources of inspiration that through our role model and examples, many more people may come to believe in the Lord through us. Let us all do our part, in our respective vocation and calling in life, to glorify the Lord by our lives, in each and every one of our works and dealings. We should be the beacons of Christ’s light, hope and truth to the whole world, in all of our whole lives, actions and deeds, so that more and more people may come to believe in God through us. Let us all go forth in faith, and commit ourselves wholeheartedly to serve the Lord. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace as we devote more of our time and effort to follow our vocations in life, and may God, our loving Good Shepherd be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen🙏
SAINTS OF THE DAY – MEMORIAL OF SAINT ANSELM OF CANTERBURY, BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH AND SAINT CONRAD OF PARZHAM ~ FEAST DAY: APRIL 21ST
As we continue to rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, today on this Good Shepherd Sunday (Vocations Sunday), we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, Bishop and Doctor of the Church and Saint Conrad of Parzham, who was known to be diligent at his work, sparing in words, bountiful to the poor, and eager to help strangers. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this Good Shepherd Sunday as we pray for Vocations, we humbly pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners and for Christians all over the world. We also pray for the poor and the needy and abandoned children, especially during these incredibly challenging times.
“The Mother of God is our mother. May the good mother ask and beg for us, may she request and obtain what is good for us”.~ St. Anselm
SAINT ANSELM OF CANTERBURY, BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH: He is generally considered to be the founder of the philosophical school of Scholasticism, for his attempt to analyze and illumine the truths of faith through the aid of reason. He was a major figure in the intellectual life of the Middle Ages, and a major political and ecclesiastical force as well. St. Anselm (1033–1109) was born into a noble family in Piedmont in the Lombardy region of Italy in about the year 1033.The example of his pious mother led him to great faith, and he sought to enter the monastery at age 15. However, the abbot refused him due to Anselm’s stern father. After his mother’s death Anselm left home and settled in Normandy to study under the direction of a famed monk named Lanfranc. Upon the death of his father, Anselm became a Benedictine monk at the age of 27. Due to his brilliance, Anselm became a teacher at the abbey’s school and prior of the monastery. He was made Prior in 1063 and Abbot in 1078. He went on to become the most learned theologian, philosopher, and mystic of his generation, the greatest since St. Augustine of Hippo. Anselm’s fame led to his appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury in England on 1093, succeeding his old master, Lanfranc in thisoffice, as Archbishop of Canterbury. He went on to correct abuses against the Church at the hand of the English kings. His resistance to the unjust measures of King William Rufus drew upon him the anger of that monarch. In1097-98, he made a voyage to Rome, and spend some time in a monastery of Calabria, where he composed a work on the Incarnation. In the same year he assisted at the Council of Bari, and by his prayers prevented the Pope from excommunicating the King of England.
During his travels the Saint composed several of his metaphysical works, and did not return to his See until after the death of King William Rufus in 1100. Differences with the new King caused him to undertake a second journey to Rome in 1103, and Pascal II upheld the authority of the Archbishop as his predecessor, Urban II, had done. Twice he was banished from the island while appealing to Rome for assistance, and twice he returned to Canterbury to carry on his duties until his death. He returned to England in 1106 and died in 1109. St. Anselm was characterized by his spirit of recollection, which he preserved even in the most distracting occupations and by the metaphysical bent of his mind. His written works have deeply influenced Catholic Philosophy and Theology. In this field he is best known for his “Ontological Argument” for the existence of God. He was also a strenuous defender of the rights of the Church against the usurpation of kings. His abilities as an extraordinary theologian, negotiator, and statesman greatly supported the cause of the Church. As archbishop he continued his monastic lifestyle and intellectual pursuits. He is famous for his devotion to our Blessed Mother, whose Feast of the Immaculate Conception he was the first to establish in the West. He composed several philosophical and theological treatises, as well as a series of beautiful prayers and meditations, which led him to be proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Clement XI in 1720. His feast day is celebrated on April 21st.
PRAYER: We ask your intercession, Saint Anselm, to help our faith to understand its object. You did not leave man’s sense of wonder unchallenged but sought to organize human thought to meet the challenge of God. Help all thinkers to be open to finding as much as searching. Amen🙏
Almighty God, who didst raise up thy servant Anselm to teach the Church of his day to understand its faith in thine eternal Being, perfect justice, and saving mercy: Provide thy Church in every age with devout and learned scholars and teachers, that we may be able to give a reason for the hope that is in us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever~Amen🙏
SAINT CONRAD OF PARZHAM: St. Conrad of Parzham, (1818-1894), was a German Franciscan mystic and lay brother. He served for over 40 years in the post of porter or doorkeeper of the Capuchin friary of the shrine of Our Lady of Altötting, through which work he gained a widespread reputation for his wisdom and holiness, he was known for his Marian devotions. St. Conrad had the gift of prophecy and of reading people’s hearts. St. Conrad of Parzham was born Carl Birndorfer in Parzham, Bavaria, Germany, on December 22, 1818 and was baptized with the name of John, the son of Bartholomäus Birndorfer and Gertrude Niedermayer, and was born on the family farm in Parzham, now a part of the town of Bad Griesbach, then in the Kingdom of Bavaria, now part of Germany. Baptized Johann Evangelist, he was the second youngest of 12 children, five of whom died in infancy. At the age of six, he started elementary school in nearby Weng. Young John’s devotion was noticeable especially when he prayed in church, the distant location of which was no hindrance to his visiting it frequently even in inclement weather. He had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and each day fervently recited the rosary. On feast days he frequently made a journey to some remote shrine of the Blessed Mother. During such pilgrimages, always made on foot, he was engaged in prayer, and when he returned in the evening, he was usually still fasting. John spent his early years on the family farm. His mother died when he was 14; his father two years later. After attending a parish mission in 1838, he decided to enter the religious life. The following year, at the age of 31, and after distributing his inheritance, he was admitted as a lay brother among the Capuchin Franciscan friars.
Immediately after his profession in 1842 he was sent to the Friary of St. Ann, in the city of Altötting. The friary served the Shrine of Our Lady of Altötting, the national shrine of Bavaria to the Blessed Mother. St. Conrad was given the task of assisting the porter at this shrine. In March 1851, he had to leave Altötting to go to Burghausen to care for a dying priest. The following September, he entered the novitiate at Laufen, where he was given the name Conrad in honor of Conrad of Piacenza. He then returned to Altötting as porter. Because it was a large and busy city, the duty of the friary porter was a very difficult one. St. Conrad was known to be diligent at his work, sparing in words, bountiful to the poor, eager and ready to receive and help strangers. Brother Conrad fulfilled the task of porter for more than 40 years, assisting the inhabitants of the town in their needs of body and soul. St. Conrad loved silence in a special way. His spare moments during the day were spent in a nook near the door where it was possible for him to see and adore the Blessed Sacrament. During the night he would deprive himself of several hours of sleep to devote the time to prayer either in the oratory of the friars or in the church. It was generally believed that he never took any rest, but continually occupied himself in work and exercises of devotion.On April 21,1894, St. Conrad died in the friary where he had served for 41 years. During his lifetime, St. Conrad was reputed to have been able to read the hearts of those he met, and he was attributed with the gift of prophecy. His heroic virtues and the miracles he performed won for him the distinction to be ranked among the Blessed by Pope Pius XI in 1930. Four years later, the same pope, approving additional miracles which had been performed, solemnly inscribed his name in the list of saints. He was canonized in 1934. He is the Patron Saint of the Mid-America Province of Capuchin Friars, Catholic Student Association, doorkeepers, Passau, Germany, diocese of (since 1984). His feast day is celebrated on April 21st.
PRAYER: Lord God, our Father, in You is our hope and our life. You have made us and be belong to You. Give us Your grace and Your help to constantly render to You, our love and gratitude and to suffer for that great love, by which You sent your only Son to save us. St Conrad, pray for us that we may grow in holiness and soon meet you in heaven… Amen. Saint Conrad of Parzham ~ 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:
Divine Shepherd, You came to lay down Your life for us all so that we might have life and have it to the fullest. Like the blind man You cured, I profess my belief in You and worship You. Help me to receive and imitate Your love so that I will lay my life down for others, leading them to You, their holy Shepherd.
Good Shepherd, You speak to me continuously, revealing to me Your presence and guidance in my life. May I become so familiar with Your sacred Voice that I will always recognize it. Lead me to Yourself, the glorious Gate to the life of grace, and transform me into a faithful and obedient sheep. Jesus, my Good Shepherd, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Anselm of Canterbury and Saint Conrad of Parzham ~ Pray for us 🙏
Thanking God for the gift of this day and praying for His Divine Mercy and Grace upon us all and for vocations to priesthood and consecrated life. Have a blessed, safe, grace-filled and joyous Good Shepherd Sunday and a fruitful Fourth Week of Easter 🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖