[Please note: Some dioceses celebrate the Ascension today. While in some dioceses the Ascension is transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter]
THURSDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER
SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: MAY 9, 2024
MEMORIAL OF SAINT PACHOMIUS, ABBOT AND BLESSED CAROLINE GERHARDINGER, RELIGIOUS
NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT: Prayed in preparation for Pentecost. Beginning tomorrow, Friday, May 10, 2024 (link below)
Greetings beloved family and Happy Feast of Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
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 on Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord” | May 9, 2024 |
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN | May 9, 2024” |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” | May 9, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 9, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 9, 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: Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Ascension Thursday), May 9, 2024
Reading 1, Acts 1:1-11
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9
Reading 2, Ephesians 1:17-23
Gospel, Mark 16:15-20
Today’s Bible Readings : Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter (When the Ascension is transferred to Sunday), May 9, 2024
Reading 1, Acts 18:1-8
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4
Gospel, John 16:16-20
NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT: Prayed in preparation for Pentecost. Beginning tomorrow, Friday, May 10, 2024 (link below): Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts | EWTN | The novena – May 10-18, 2024 | https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/novena-to-the-holy-spirit-for-the-seven-gifts-309
[This Novena begins on the day after the Solemnity of the Ascension, Friday of the 6th Week of Easter, even if the Solemnity of the Ascension is transferred to the 7th Sunday.]
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/
SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST (ASCENSION THURSDAY): The Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord is celebrated on the 40th day after Easter Sunday, also called Ascension Thursday. It is a Holy Day of Obligation, and among the oldest and most solemn feasts on the liturgical calendar. The Feast of the Ascension commemorates the Ascension of Christ into heaven, according to Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and Acts 1:2. On this feast day, we remember the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ into Heaven to the ‘right hand of the Father’. This feast day is important to Christians as the ascension shows that Jesus not only overcame death but that He will live forever. It falls ten days from the end of the Eastertide period, a period which is joyous in tone as Christians celebrate the “glorious risen Christ”. After Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead, He continued to appear to His disciples for a period of 40 days. After this time, with His Apostles gathered around Him on the Mount of Olives, Jesus was taken up bodily into heaven, as recorded in the Gospels. To comfort them in His physical absence, He promised to send them a Consoler and Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to be with them and to guide them into all truth until the end of the world.
In the Eastern Church this feast was known as analepsis, “the taking up”, and also as the episozomene, the salvation, denoting that by ascending into His glory, Christ completed the work of our redemption. The terms used in the West, ascensio and, occasionally, ascensa, signify that Christ was raised up by His own powers. Tradition designates Mount Olivet near Bethany as the place where Christ left the earth. The feast falls on Thursday. It is one of the Ecumenical feasts ranking with the feasts of the Passion, of Easter and of Pentecost among the most solemn in the calendar. The feast has a vigil and, since the fifteenth century, an octave which is set apart for a novena of preparation for Pentecost, in accordance with the directions of Leo XIII.
Traditionally the Ascension of Our Lord was held 40 days after Easter, falling on a Thursday. In the United States, the ecclesiastical provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Omaha, and Philadelphia have retained the celebration of the Solemnity of the Ascension on the proper Thursday. However in most dioceses in the United States and in many dioceses in the world the observance of the Solemnity of the Ascension is transferred to the following Sunday, this year it’s celebrated on May 12, 2024 superseding the 7th Sunday of Easter.
Save Us, Savior of the World🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:
Please note: There are two reflections today: For those dioceses that celebrate the Ascension today (Refer to Sunday Scripture Reflections ~ The Ascension of the Lord | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050924-Ascension.cfm
Scripture Reflections for Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter is used in those dioceses where the Ascension is transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter (Refer to today’s Scripture Reflections ~ Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050924-thursday.cfm
Gospel Reading ~ Mark 16:15-20
(The Ascension of the Lord)
“Jesus said to His disciples: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.”
In today’s Gospel reading, our Lord Jesus speaks to His disciples, proclaiming His guidance and providence to all of them, reassuring them that as long as they continue to proclaim His truth and Good News, while they might indeed encounter hardships and difficulties, challenges and tribulations, but they shall be protected and guarded, and the Lord would always be by their side, suffering and enduring all those things with them, and through His Holy Spirit, the Church and all the faithful servants of God will continue to be strengthened and empowered even through their greatest moments of hardships and their deepest trials. The Lord would guide and bless them so that they might indeed continue to live their lives worthily of Him, and to continue to proclaim His truth and Good News to all the people of all the nations.
If the Resurrection proved that the Lord had conquered death itself, and broken the chains of sin and evil which had dominated us from the beginning of time, from the moment of our downfall, then the Ascension proved that the Lord truly had come down from Heaven itself, and He rose gloriously by His own power, to show that He is indeed the same Almighty God and Creator of all, one in unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Through His Incarnation, the Lord has shown us all His love and His Presence, manifested and made approachable to us in the flesh, and reminding us that we mankind are indeed made in the image of God. And He has also reassured all of His disciples and followers that He would still be with them even though He has ascended into Heaven and can no longer be physically present with them in the form they are familiar with.
Our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, gives an accounts of the moment when the Lord ascended into Heaven. As mentioned, He reassured all His disciples that the Holy Spirit would be with them, guiding and strengthening them throughout their journey and ministry. The Holy Spirit would indeed come upon all the Apostles and disciples of the Lord at the Pentecost, ten days later, on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection at Easter, which we will celebrate soon as the Pentecost Sunday. Through the guidance, wisdom and strength provided to them through the Holy Spirit, the Lord’s disciples and followers were strengthened and encouraged to go and continue their works and missions in answering God’s call and in fulfilling what they had been entrusted to do, in proclaiming the truth and Good News of God to the nations. This is the main purpose and mission which the Lord had entrusted to all of us the members of His Body, the Church of God, all the faithful and holy people who have received the truth and light of His salvation and grace. And since He has revealed to us all these, therefore each and every one of us are also entrusted with the same mission which the Lord had placed upon His Church, also known as the Great Commission, that is to make Him known to all the people of all the nations, and to proclaim His Good News and salvation in all the whole world, to lead the world and all mankind to return back towards God and be reconciled with Him. Then this will lead to the whole world to acknowledge that Christ is truly the Lord and Master of all, and receive baptism in the Name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
In our second reading today from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus, St. Paul the Apostle spoke to the faithful reminding them all to remain united as one Body of Christ and one united community of believers, encouraged and strengthened by the same Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit Whom God had sent into this world, to dwell in His Church and among all of His faithful ones. The Apostle reminded all of them of the mission which the Lord had entrusted to each and every one of them through the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, by Whom God had guided and led His Church to continue the good works and missions which He Himself had begun in this world. He has bestowed upon His Church and the faithful many gifts and blessings, the many opportunities and chances for them all to proclaim the Gospel to all. That was why St. Paul the Apostle also reminded all of the faithful in Ephesus and beyond, that each and every one of them have received those various and diverse gifts, blessings and talents, and everyone have their own calling and mission in life, in doing their part to contribute to the overall great and wonderful works of the Church. Some are meant to be preachers, while others are called to show their contributions in other ways, in their own daily living and actions, while others teach and help others to understand better the meaning of the Christian faith, and many more diverse calling and ministries are present in the Church. This applies to all of us even to this day, just as we all have been given diverse blessings, talents and opportunities in the Church, and in our world today, to which we are all called to minister as God’s disciples and followers.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures on this great Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, marking the moment when the Lord Jesus Christ, forty days after His glorious Resurrection from the dead, ascended in glory to His heavenly Throne. The Lord Jesus ascended in glory by His own power, leaving behind this world but not abandoning His disciples and followers. He ascended to prepare for us all our places by His side in Heaven, to welcome us all in the end of time, to prove to us that we all truly have something to look forward to in our faithful and dedicated life. Through His Ascension, He returned triumphantly and gloriously to where He had come from, the Throne of God as the only begotten Son of God and the Divine Word Incarnate, and to prepare a place for all of us, His disciples and followers in the world that is to come. Let us all therefore realise well that we are all called to continue the good works that the Lord had begun with His Apostles and our holy predecessors. There are indeed still many opportunities and chances presented to us in our world today, with its unique challenges and difficulties, and with many are still lost to the Lord, or having forgotten His love and truth, in their pursuit of worldly glory, ambition and pleasures. It is up to us then to make good use of the blessings, talents and opportunities that God has given to us so that we may continue to be good role models and inspirations for one another, at all times. Through our lives and examples, we may indeed be the shining beacons of God’s light and truth, proclaiming His Good News to all the people around us and beyond. May the Risen Lord Who had ascended in glory into Heaven, as He takes up His Throne, continue to be with us all His Church, and continue to guide and strengthen us all in our path. May He continue to empower each and every one of us with the strength and courage to see things through and to persevere despite the many challenges and trials that we may have to encounter and endure in our respective paths in life and in our respective vocations and ministries. May the Lord, ascended in glory onto His Throne in Heaven, most excellent and almighty, continue to guide us all His Church and all of us His beloved ones, in our path and way of life so that we may truly be the inspirational and worthy beacons of His light, truth and love. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and be with us always and may all of us continue to strive to be faithful in all things, and do our best to be good role models and inspiration as the missionaries and disciples of our Lord in our world today, ever inspired, strengthened and guided by the Holy Spirit. Amen🙏
SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT PACHOMIUS, ABBOT AND BLESSED CAROLINE GERHARDINGER, RELIGIOUS ~ FEAST DAY: MAY 9TH Today, on this Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Pachomius, Abbot (founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism) and Blessed Caroline Gerhardinger, Religious. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from terminal diseases. We also pray for the safety and well-being of the poor and the needy all over the world. We pray for peace, justice, love and unity in our families and in our divided and conflicted world. We continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, for the sick, the poor and needy and Christians all over the world.🙏
SAINT PACHOMIUS, ABBOT: St. Pachomius (c. 292 – May 9, 348 AD), also known as Saint Pachomius the Great, is generally recognized as the Founder of Christian Cenobitic Monasticism (monks who live in community). St. Pachomius was born about 292 in the Upper Thebaid in Egypt (modern-day Luxor, Egypt) to pagan parents. According to his hagiography, at age 21, St. Pachomius was swept up against his will in a Roman army recruitment drive and was inducted into the Emperor’s army, a common occurrence during this period of turmoil and civil war. With several other youths, he was put onto a ship that floated down the Nile and arrived at Thebes in the evening. Here he first encountered local Christians, who customarily brought food and comfort daily to the conscripted troops. This made a lasting impression, and St. Pachomius vowed to investigate Christianity further when he got out. The great kindness of Christians at Thebes toward the soldiers led to his conversion after his discharge. He was able to leave the army without ever having to fight, was converted and baptized. After being baptized, he became a disciple of an anchorite, Palemon, and took the habit. The two of them led a life of extreme austerity and total dedication to God, combining manual labor with unceasing prayer both day and night.
In 318, St. Pachomius, aided initially by Palemon, built a monastery on the banks of the Nile at Tabennisi, though enlarged several times, soon became too small and a second was founded at Pabau (Faou). In a short time some one hundred monks joined him, and St. Pachomius organized them on principles of community living. Soon St. Pachomius was obliged to establish ten other monasteries for men and two nunneries for women. Before his death in 348, there were seven thousand monks in his houses, and his Order lasted in the East until 11th century. St. Pachomius was the first monk to organize hermits into groups and write down a Rule for them. The rule that St. Pachomius drew up was said to have been dictated to him by an angel, and it is this rule that both St. Benedict in the west and St. Basil in the east drew upon to develop their better famous known rules of cenobitic life. Hence, thought St. Anthony is usually regarded as the founder of Christian Monasticism, it was really St. Pachomius who began monasticism as we know it today. Represented in hermit’s garb, or crossing the Nile on the back of a crocodile. St. Pachomius died on May 9, 348.
PRAYER: Lord, amid the things of this world, let us be wholeheartedly committed to heavenly things in imitation of the example of evangelical perfection that You have given us in St. Pachomius. Amen🙏
BLESSED CAROLINE GERHARDINGER, RELIGIOUS: Blessed Caroline Gerhardinger (1797-1879), also known as Mother Maria Theresa of Jesus, was born into a working class family in Bavaria on June 20, 1797. She was a German Roman Catholic religious sister who founded the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Bl. Caroline Gerhardinger served as an educator in Bavaria until the establishment of her order, which provided free education to the poor and soon expanded in Europe. Her giftedness as an educator was apparent early in her life, and she became a certified teacher at the age of 15. Although Bl. Caroline was drawn to a quiet, contemplative life, her desire was to teach young girls to aspire to their full potential. For this she was greatly loved by her students. Responding to the needs of the time, and under the spiritual guidance of her bishop, Bishop George Michael Wittmann (1760-1833), Bl. Caroline gradually recognized God’s call to found a religious community in order to respond to the needs of the times through education. She began a new religious order dedicated to education called the Poor School Sisters of Notre Dame. This was during a period when all religious orders were closed by decree of the Bavarian government.
In 1822, Caroline Gerhardinger had written, “The love of Jesus sees into the future.” As foundress, she endeavored to give the new congregation a future. She sent her Sisters in groups of twos and threes into the local villages to teach the poor young girls who would otherwise have no opportunity for education, a novelty in her day which grew into a new form of apostolic religious life. In this way she sought to remedy social ills through education, which she believed was just as necessary for a child as love, food, and shelter. When the Vatican negotiated the reopening of Bavaria’s religious communities in 1828, the Sisters moved into a convent. On November 16, 1835, Bl. Caroline professed her religious vows and took the name, Mary Theresa of Jesus. Her love for God, nourished and strengthened by her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, enkindled the burning desire of her life: to know God and to do God’s will. God’s cause was the only concern of her heart. Blessed Theresa anchored her community in poverty and dedicated it to Mary. The congregation experienced rapid growth and acceptance, but Blessed Theresa and her sisters also suffered great hardship and painful struggle. In 1865, the rule and constitutions of the School Sisters of Notre Dame were finally approved by Pope Pius IX. Blessed Theresa then continued to govern the congregation as its general superior until her death in Munich on May 9, 1879. At the time of her death her order had grown to 2,500 sisters. On November 17, 1985, Mary Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger was declared “Blessed” by Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Her feast day is May 9th.
Blessed Caroline Gerhardinger, Religious ~ Pray for us🙏
PRAYER INTENTIONS: During this season of Easter, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and all the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for our children and children all over the world, we pray for their health, safety and well-being, we particularly pray for those who have no one to care for them and those who are terminally ill, we pray for God’s Divine healing upon them. 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 soul 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. We pray for Vocation to the Priesthood and Religious life. We particularly pray for all Youths and all Seminarians, with special intention for those Seminarians who will be ordained into Priesthood. 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 ascended Lord, all things throughout history were but a preparation for the moment when You drew fallen humanity into Heaven to be with Your Father forever. Help me to always heed Your holy words, so that I, too, will share in Your Ascension. Use me, dear Lord, to also go forth and to draw many others to You so that the Kingdom will be filled with all those whom You have called. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Pachomius and Blessed Caroline Gerhardinger ~ 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 Ascension Thursday and fruitful Sixth Week of Easter!🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖