FIFTH WEEK OF EASTER

SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: MAY 3, 2024

Greetings beloved family and Happy Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter!

We thank God for the  gift of life and for the gift of the new month of May. The entire month of May is dedicated to our beloved Mother Mary, the Mother of God. May she continue to intercede for us and may God’s grace and mercy be with us all during this season of Easter🙏

Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 3, 2024 |

Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN | May 3, 2024” |

Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” | May 3, 2024 |

Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 3, 2024 |

Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 3, 2024 |

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

Memorare Chaplet | Prayer in Difficult Times (Powerful Prayer) |

Today’s Readings: Friday, May 3, 2024
Reading 1, First Corinthians 15:1-8
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 19:2-3, 4-5
Gospel, John 14:6-14

DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF MAY: MONTH OF OUR LADY: In addition to the myriad feast days honoring Our Lady under her many titles and virtues, the entire month of May is especially given to her praise. In the words of Pope Paul VI, May is “a month which the piety of the faithful has long dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God … For this is the month during which Christians, in their churches and their homes, offer the Virgin Mother more fervent and loving acts of homage and veneration; and it is the month in which a greater abundance of God’s merciful gifts comes down to us from our Mother’s throne.”

THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF MAY – FOR THE FORMATION OF RELIGIOUS AND SEMINARIANS: We pray that religious women and men, and seminarians, grow in their own vocations through their human, pastoral, spiritual and community formation, leading them to be credible witnesses to the Gospel.🙏

https://www.usccb.org/prayers/popes-monthly-intentions-2024

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/

FEAST OF SAINTS PHILIP AND JAMES, APOSTLES ~ FEAST DAY ~ MAY 3RD: Today, we celebrate the Feast of two of the twelve Apostles of Jesus, Saints Philip and James, Apostles. Saints Philip and James are linked on this feast because they shared the patronage of an ancient Roman basilica, known today as the Church of the Twelve Apostles in Rome. Both were martyred in the 1st century. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and Saints Philip and James, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are terminally ill. We pray for all Pharmacists, for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, for all Christians, for the poor and needy and for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and all over the 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 our beloved family members who recently passed away and the souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. 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🙏

SAINTS PHILIP AND JAMES THE LESSER, APOSTLES: Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of not just one but two of the great Apostles of the Lord, namely that of St. Philip and St. James, two of the Twelve Apostles, part of the innermost circle and closest collaborators of our Lord Jesus Christ’s ministry and work. Both of them like that of the other Apostles and disciples of the Lord, went through many hardships and trials, and went from places to places to proclaim the Good News of the Lord, delivering the truth and love of God to more and more people who have not yet heard of Him or known Him. They laboured for many years in distant lands and in foreign places, among foreigners and others so that many more may come close to the salvation in God. Through their efforts and hard work, many have come close to the Lord and found the path to His grace, and not few followed in the footsteps of the Apostles. Sts. Philip and James are linked on this feast because they shared the patronage of an ancient Roman basilica, known today as the Church of the Twelve Apostles in Rome. Both were martyred in the 1st century.

SAINT PHILIP: St. Philip was born in Bethsaida in Galilee and was one of the 12 Apostles that Jesus called the day after St. Peter and St. Andrew. The Apostle Philip was one of Christ’s first disciples, called soon after his Master’s baptism in the Jordan. The fourth Gospel of St. John gives the following detail: “The next day Jesus was about to leave for Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him: Follow Me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael, and said to him: We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets wrote, Jesus the Son of Joseph of Nazareth. And Nathanael said to him: Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him: Come and see” (John 1:43ff). After receiving the Holy Spirit, immediately, Philip began to preach the Gospel, in Scythia and Phrygia, converting great numbers to the faith, finding his friend Nathaniel and telling him that Jesus was the one whom Moses and the other prophets had foretold. According to tradition, St. Philip was then a married man, and he had several daughters, three of whom reached eminent sanctity. Like the other Apostles, St. Philip left all things to follow Christ. His name is frequently mentioned in the Holy Gospels.

St. Philip is eighth in the Apostolic list of the Roman Canon; in the Synoptic Gospels he is named after the two groups of brother, Peter and Andrew, James and John (Matt 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14). In St. John (I:43-44), we read that he was called after St. Peter to follow Jesus, and the Gospel adds he was of Bethsaida, as were Andrew and Peter. Philip introduced Nathaniel, who we know as the Apostle Bartholomew to Jesus (cf. St. Bartholomew). This same Gospel of St. John mentions Philip once again (John 14:9), in the passage, read at Mass, which serves also as the Antiphon of the Alleluia and for the Communion: “Philip, he that sees Me sees the Father also”; elsewhere (John 12:21) it tells us that certain Gentiles wishing to see Jesus had recourse to Philip, and in chapter 6 Jesus says to Philip, before the multiplication of the loaves, “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” These little incidents, though they tell us nothing about St. Philip’s inner life, show us that in the intimate companionship of the Apostles he played a distinct part. The Breviary story tells us that he evangelized Phyrgia, and that, at Hierapolis, he was fastened to a cross, crucified and then stoned at Hierapolis, in Phrygia. It adds that his relics, with those of St. James, were taken to Rome and placed in the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles. This church was once one of the most venerated in Rome. It corresponds to the famous church of Byzantium called the Apostoleion or Church of the Apostles. St. Julius I (341-352_ erected it, Pelagius I (556-561) rebuilt it, and finally John III (561-574) dedicated it to the memory of all the Apostles, especially SS. Philip and James, whose relics were enshrined therein. St. Philip is the Patron Saint of pastry chefs, Hatters, jockeys and horsemen, Uruguay, Luxembourg.

PRAYER: O Saint Philip, chosen disciple of the Lord, who brought Nathaniel to Christ, who most zealously preached thy Lord, Jesus Christ, and out of love to Him willingly gave thyself to be nailed to the cross, and put to death, obtain, I beseech thee, for me, and for all men, grace with zeal to bring others to the practice of good works, to have a great desire after God and His truths, and, in hope of the eternal blissful contemplation of God, to bear patiently the adversities and miseries of this life…Amen🙏

SAINT JAMES THE LESSER: James the Lesser is called “Lesser” because he was younger than the other Apostle by the same name, James the Great. St. James was the son of Alpheus (also known as Cleophas), the brother of Saint Jude. St. James the less was related in some way to Jesus, a cousin of Our Lord, whom he is said to have resembled. His mother Mary was either a sister or a close relative of the Blessed Virgin, and for that reason, according to Jewish custom, he was sometimes called the brother of the Lord. After Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, he became the head of the Church in Jerusalem. He was the first Bishop of Jerusalem. Saint Paul tells us that he was favored by a special apparition of Christ after the Resurrection. (I Corinthians 15:7) On the dispersion of the Apostles among the nations, Saint James remained as Bishop of Jerusalem, where the Jews held in such high veneration his purity, mortification, and prayer, that they named him the Just. He governed that church for 30 years before his martyrdom. Hegesippus, the earliest of the Church’s historians, has handed down many traditions of Saint James’s sanctity.

Saint James was a celibate Nazarite consecrated to God; he drank no wine and wore no sandals. He prostrated himself so long and so often in prayer that the skin of his knees was hardened like a camel’s hoof. It is said that the Jews, out of respect, used to touch the hem of his garment. He was indeed a living proof of his own words, The wisdom that is from above is first of all chaste, then peaceable, modest, ready to listen, full of mercy and good fruits. (James 3:17) He sat beside Saint Peter and Saint Paul at the Council of Jerusalem. When Saint Paul at a later time escaped the fury of the Jews by appealing to Caesar, the people took vengeance on James. One day, being requested to preach against Christ, he publicly proclaimed Him to be the Messiah, in Whom men were bound to believe, at which the Jewish priests became so enraged and crying out, The just one has erred! stoned him to death. They threw him down from a pinnacle of the temple, cast stones upon him, and finally killed him outright with a fuller’s rod. During his martyrdom he prayed for his persecutors in the same words pronounced by Jesus: Heavenly Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. He was martyred in the year 62. St. James the Lesser is the Patron Saint of Apothecaries; druggists; dying people; Frascati, Italy; fullers; milliners; Monterotondo, Italy; pharmacists; Uruguay.

PRAYER: O Saint James, who lived so temperately and strictly, who, like thy master, prayed so earnestly and constantly for thy tormentors, I beseech thee that thou wouldst procure us from Jesus grace, after thy example, to live sober and peniteptial lives, and to worship God in spirit and in truth. Obtain for us, therefore, the spirit with which thou didst write thine epistle, that we may follow thy doctrine, be diligent in good works, and, like thee, love and pray for our enemies…Amen🙏

Lord God, You give us joy every year on the feast of Your Apostles Sts. Philip and James. Through their prayers let us share in the Passion and the Resurrection of Your only-begotten Son and help us merit the eternal vision of Your glory… Amen🙏

SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS

Bible Readings for today, Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050324.cfm

Gospel Reading ~ John 14:6-14

“Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me?”

“Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”

In today’s Gospel reading, the words of Philip to Jesus, ‘Lord, let us see the Father and we shall be satisfied’, might well resonate with us. Perhaps we too sense that we will really only be satisfied when we see God, or, in other words, when we are in Heaven. Yet, Jesus replies to Philip that God the Father whom he longs to see he already sees in Jesus, ‘to have seen me is to have seen the Father’. The Lord told His disciples that He has indeed come from the Father, showing them all the fullness of God’s love and truth to them, and seeing Him is in truth the same as having seen God in His fullness of glory and love. That is because He was indeed the Love of God made manifest and perfect in this world, incarnate in the flesh as the Son of God and as the Son of Man. In those words, Jesus is letting us all know that He has already begun to satisfy our deepest longings, our longing for God. Jesus has shown us the face of God in Himself, in His life, death and resurrection. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus we will already begin to see the face of God and the Heaven for which will become a present reality, to some extent. Jesus is reminding St. Philip and all of us that we have already been given a great deal. What we need to do is to appreciate what we have been given, to experience the presence of God in the person of Jesus who is with us always until the end of time; He is with us in His word, in the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and in each other. God has not hold back from us even His own most beloved Son, but sending Him into our midst so that all of us may experience the fullness of God’s love manifested in the flesh, as He appeared before us as the Son of Man, born of His blessed mother Mary, becoming the tangible expression of God’s ever generous love and grace. Through Christ His Son, God wants us all to experience the fullness of His love, and He wants us all to pass that love to more and more people we encounter in our own lives.

Our first reading today from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, describes the testimony of faith that St. Paul delivered to the faithful in the city of Corinth, reminding them all to pass on the truth, knowledge and the wisdom of God’s truth which they had received from the hands of the Apostles and the other missionaries. St. Paul shared with them how he himself has received the same truth and teachings from the Apostles, who shared and passed on to him the truth about what happened in the Lord’s ministry, in everything that He had done for the sake of the salvation of the whole world. St. Paul himself did not witness everything that had happened but he received the same truth from the hands of the other Apostles and also through the wisdom and inspiration from the Holy Spirit. The Apostles have been called and chosen to bring the Good News of the Lord to the nations, and in the case of St. Paul, while he himself never journeyed together with the Lord and His group, and in fact was an ardent and overzealous persecutor of Christians in his early moments, but this did not prevent the Lord from calling St. Paul and making him to be one of His greatest missionaries, proclaiming the message of His truth to more and more people that had not yet known Him and had not yet heard His words of truth and experienced His love. St. Paul hence shared to the people of God, the faithful in Corinth that each and every one of them ought to be missionary and evangelising as well, in committing their lives and works to the glorification of God and the proclamation of His truth and salvation. St. Paul lists James as one of those to whom the risen Lord appeared and then to all the Apostles. On this feast day, we celebrate and mark the great memories of these two wonderful saints, the Holy Apostles of Our Lord, St. Philip and St. James, we are all called to reflect on ourselves and on our own calling in life. Each one of us as Christians are disciples and followers of the Lord, and we are all called to the same mission that the Lord has entrusted to His Apostles. The Lord has given to us the mission to reach out to more people among the nations, that we may be the genuine witnesses of His truth, love and resurrection among all the people of God. We are the ones to be the beacons of God’s light in our respective communities today.

As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, each and every one of us are reminded that we should walk in the footsteps of the Holy Apostles. We are all reminded to do our best to serve the Lord by our every contributions, even to the smallest and seemingly least significant actions we do. For it is by our combined works and efforts that God will extend His reach and works ever more gloriously among His people. Let us all spend more time in building up our relationship with God and in deepening our understanding of our faith, so that we may be truly inspirational to all those who witness our lives and works. Let us walk in the path of the Apostles and do whatever we can to proclaim the Lord in each and every moments of our lives. Let us all therefore be inspired by the dedication and examples showed by the Holy Apostles, St. Philip and St. James, and be strengthened and inspired to walk in the same path that they had walked. Let us all turn towards the Lord faithfully and dedicate ourselves to Him thoroughly, doing our very best to be faithful missionaries and evangelisers of our Christian faith, not just through mere words only, but also through genuine actions and works, in doing God’s will and obeying His Law and commandments, becoming true shining beacons of the Light of Christ in the midst of our community. May the Lord continue to be with us always and may He empower each one of us to walk in His presence at all times. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, bless us always and grant us His grace in our every efforts and good works, now and forevermore. St. Philip and St. James, Holy Apostles and devout servants of God, pray for us all. Amen🙏

Let us pray:

My divine and personal Lord, it is the deepest desire of Your Sacred Heart to know me and to love me. Fill my heart with this same desire so that I will not only know You, dear Lord, but also the Father in Heaven. Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your perfect love and pray that I may open myself to that love more fully each and every day. Saints Philip and James, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen🙏

Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary, Saints Philip and James, Holy Apostles of the Lord ~ Pray for us sinners🙏

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 fruitful Fifth Week of Easter 🙏

Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖