SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER
SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: MAY 11, 2024
MEMORIAL OF SAINT FRANCIS DI GIROLAMO, PRIEST AND SAINT MAMMERTUS, ARCHBISHOP OF VIENNE
NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT ~ DAY TWO: Prayed in preparation for Pentecost. Beginning, Friday, May 10-18, 2024 (link below)
Greetings beloved family and Happy Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter!
Today, we pray for all priests, especially those recently ordained and those who will be ordained soon. We pray for their well-being, for God’s guidance and protection upon them as they serve in the Lord’s Vineyard. 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🙏
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on EWTN | May 11, 2024” |
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 11, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” | May 11, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 11, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 11, 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: Saturday, May 11, 2024
Reading 1, Acts 18:23-28
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 47:2-3, 8-9, 10
Gospel, John 16:23-28
NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT: Prayed in preparation for Pentecost. Beginning, 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.]
NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
Prayed in preparation for DAY TWO: May 11, 2024, Saturday, 6th Week of Easter
Come. Father of the poor. Come, treasures which endure; Come, Light of all that live!
The Gift of Fear
The gift of Fear fills us with a sovereign respect for God, and makes us dread nothing so much as to offend Him by sin. It is a fear that arises, not from the thought of hell, but from sentiments of reverence and filial submission to our heavenly Father. It is the fear that is the beginning of wisdom, detaching us from worldly pleasures that could in any way separate us from God. ‘They that fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and in His sight will sanctify their souls.’
Prayer
Come, O blessed Spirit of Holy Fear, penetrate my inmost heart, that I may set you, my Lord and God, before my face forever, help me to shun all things that can offend You, and make me worthy to appear before the pure eyes of Your Divine Majesty in heaven, where You live and reign in the unity of the ever Blessed Trinity, God world without end. Amen🙏
Our Father and Hail Mary ONCE; Glory be to the Father SEVEN TIMES
ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT: On my knees before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses, I offer myself, soul and body to You, Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Your purity, the unerring keenness of Your justice, and the might of Your love. You are the Strength and Light of my soul. In You I live and move and am. I desire never to grieve You by unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against You. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Your light, and listen to Your voice, and follow Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You, by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus and looking at His Five Wounds, and trusting in His Precious Blood and adoring His opened Side and stricken Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, to keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You. Give me grace, O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere, ‘Speak Lord for Your servant heareth.’ Amen🙏
PRAYER FOR THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, before ascending into heaven, did promise to send the Holy Spirit to finish Your work in the souls of Your Apostles and Disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me that He may perfect in my soul, the work of Your grace and Your love. Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal, the Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my mind with the light of Your divine truth, the Spirit of Counsel that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining heaven, the Spirit of Fortitude that I may bear my cross with You and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation, the Spirit of Knowledge that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the Saints, the Spirit of Piety that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable, and the Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in any way to displease Him. Mark me, dear Lord, with the sign of Your true disciples and animate me in all things with Your Spirit. Amen🙏
PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth. Let us pray: O God, Who did instruct the hearts of Thy faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit,grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation,through Christ, our Lord. Amen🙏
Novena to the Holy Spirit: Prayed in preparation for Pentecost (link below)
Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts | EWTN: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/novena-to-the-holy-spirit-for-the-seven-gifts-309
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/
SAINTS OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL OF SAINT FRANCIS DI GIROLAMO, PRIEST AND SAINT MAMMERTUS, ARCHBISHOP OF VIENNE: ~ MAY 11TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Francis di Girolamo, Priest and Saint Mammertus, Archbishop of Vienne. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and our world. We also pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, for the sick and dying, for the poor and needy and Christians all over the world.🙏
SAINT FRANCIS DI GIROLAMO, PRIEST: St. Francis di Girolamo (1642-1716), also known as Francis de Geronimo was the eldest of eleven children born to honorable and virtuous parents in Naples, Italy in 1642. As a child he was drawn to God and a life of prayer. After making his first Communion at the age of 12, he went to live with a community of priests in his town. They could clearly see that he was special, and began to entrust to him greater roles in the congregation, including teaching the catechism and he received the tonsure at 16. He later went to Naples in order to learn canon and civil law and was ordained a priest in 1666, receiving a special dispensation because he was under 24 years old. For four years, St. Francis taught in the Jesuit Collegio dei Nobili; Realizing his vocation to Holy Orders, at the age of 28, he joined the Society of Jesus. After successfully completing a difficult year in the novitiate, his superiors sent him to help the preacher Father Agnello Bruno in his mission work among the peasants of Otranto. After three years of diligent work, St. Francis was recalled to Naples to finish his theological studies and complete his profession as a Jesuit. He became a renowned public preacher due to his distinguished and eloquent voice. His sermons were short and vigorous, and he touched many hearts. He was described as “a lamb when he talks, and a lion when he preaches.” He had a heart for the missions after his patron St. Francis Xavier, but instead of traveling to distant lands he accepted his hometown of Naples, Italy. He is known as the Apostle to Naples because that is where he spent most of his time and energy. He was a successful and effective preacher. He conducted at least 100 missions in the provinces.
St. Francis Di Girolamo went as a missionary priest into country towns and villages for open-air preaching in the streets. He was tireless in working to convert sinners and reaching out to the poor, winning many people to greater faith. He sought to convert sinners wherever they were—in brothels, prisons, hospitals, asylums and galleys of ships — on one Spanish ship, he is said to have converted 20 Turkish prisoners. One of his most notable penitents was a Frenchwoman, Mary Alvira Cassier, who had murdered her father and fled to the Spanish army, impersonating a man. Under St. Francis, she repented and became very devout. He converted a number of Muslim or Moorish and Turkish prisoners of war to the Christian faith, rescued chidren from dangerous and degrading situations, and opened a pawn shop for charity. Organized laymen into a group called Oratio della Missione to help fellow Jesuit missioners. St. Francis de Girolamo relentlessly sought out sinners on their own turf and won many to the faith. The fruit of his labor was abundant. He converted many souls, even hardened sinners, and made them virtuous. He is said to have converted 400 hardened sinners every year. Everyone knew him for his holiness and zeal. St. Francis was credited with many miracles in his lifetime, but he humbly attributed numerous cures to the intercession of Saint Cyrus, to whom he had a special devotion. He also had a reputation for being a miracle worker during his lifetime and after his death. After spending 40 years in apostolic labor in Naples, he died of a painful illness from which he suffered greatly without complaint on May 11, 1716 at the age of 74. His coffin was thronged by the people of Naples during his funeral procession. He was beatified by Pius VII, on the feast of St. Joseph in 1806, and canonized by Gregory XVI, on Trinity Sunday 1839. A few of his letters have survived, but no sermons. He’s the Patron Saint of Grottaglie, Italy. His feast day is May 11th.
“Blessed is the man who perseveres when he is tempted, for when he has been proven he will receive the crown of life.” (Jas 1:12)
“If we wish to be saved, let us lose our lives to the world as those who have been crucified with Christ. Let us glory in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ.” ~ St Francis
PRAYER: Glorious St Francis, help me to become more selfless so that I may live as one who is given up to Christ, Amen. Almighty, eternal God, You dedicated the joy of this day to the glorification of St. Francis. Mercifully grant that we may always strive to retain and complete by our works that Faith which he continually proclaimed with unwearying zeal… Amen🙏
SAINT MAMMERTUS, ARCHBISHOP OF VIENNE: St. Mammertus, also known as Mamertius, Mamertus was born near Lyons, France. He was Archbishop of Vienne in Gaul – present day France, during the 5th century. He’s a Theologian and Writer, a prelate renowned for his sanctity, learning, and miracles. He instituted in his diocese the fasts and supplications called the Rogations, during the three days before the Ascension, to remedy the neglect of religion which brought down on ancient Gaul many chastisements. His primary contribution to ecclesiastical practice was the introduction of litanies prior to Ascension Day as an intercession against earthquakes and other disasters, leading to “Rogation Days.” Rogation days are days of prayer and fasting in Western Christianity. They are observed with processions and the Litany of the Saints. The major rogation is held on April 25th, the minor rogations are held on Monday to Wednesday preceding Ascension Thursday. The word rogation comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning “to ask”, which reflects the beseeching of God for the appeasement of His anger and for protection from calamities. A miracle worker, he is reported to have ended an urban disaster – through prayer he stopped a fire that was destroying the city of Vienne one Easter night.
Almighty God, to punish the sins of the people, had visited them with wars and other public calamities and awakened the city of Vienne in particular from spiritual lethargy by the terrors of earthquakes, fires, and ravenous wild beasts, which were sometimes seen in the very market place. These evils were ascribed by the impious to blind chance, but religious and prudent persons considered them as tokens of the divine anger, which threatened their entire destruction. Amid these scourges, Saint Mammertus received a pledge of the divine mercy. A terrible fire broke out on Easter night in the city of Vienne, which baffled the efforts of men; but by the prayers of the good bishop the fire suddenly went out. This miracle strongly affected the minds of the people. It was on this occasion that the holy prelate conceived the project of restoring the Rogations, which had fallen into oblivion. The Church of Auvergne, where Saint Sidonius Apollonarius was bishop of Clermont, also adopted this pious institution before the year 475, and in a very short time it became a universal practice. His pious reform was received by all the churches of France after the first Council of Orleans under Clovis the Great, and then by the Church of Rome under the authority of Leo III. Saint Mammertus died about the year 477 in Vienne, France of natural causes but his body was transported to Orleans, France and placed in its cathedral. There, until the 16th century, it remained in great veneration, then was burnt by enemies of the Church. Relics burned by Huguenots in the 16th century. His feast day is May 11th, the first of the Ice Saints.
Saint Mammertus, Archbishop of Vienne ~ 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🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:
Bible Readings for today, Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ John 16:23b-28
“My Father loves you because you have loved me and believed in me”
“Jesus said to His disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. “I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus at the last supper tells His disciples that a day is coming when He will no longer need to pray to the Father on their behalf, ‘I do not say that I shall pray to the Father for you’. This is because on that day the disciples themselves will enjoy an intimacy and communion with God that up until then has belonged to Jesus alone. The ‘day’ that Jesus refers to there is the day of Easter, the day of Pentecost, the day of the church. Through the outpouring of the Spirit we are caught up into a relationship with God, which is a sharing in Jesus’ own relationship with God. As Saint Paul says, the Spirit that has been poured into our heart cries out ‘Abba, Father’ as Jesus does; through the Spirit we receive adoption as sons and daughters of God, sharing in Jesus’ own relationship with God. Through the Spirit we can pray directly to the Father as Jesus does. Such is the depth of our communion with God through the Spirit that Jesus does not have to stand between ourselves and God to make representation on our behalf. One of the principal messages of John’s gospel is that Jesus has come to draw us into that same communion with God the Father that He has enjoyed from all eternity. That is why what Jesus says of Himself can often apply to all of us. At the end of the gospel reading Jesus says, ‘I came from the Father and have come into the world and now I leave the world to go to the Father’. This is the essential truth about Jesus’ life, but it is also the essential truth about our lives as well. We have come from God the Father and we are on a lifelong journey to the Father. As we approach the feast of Pentecost we need to pray for an increase of the gift of the Spirit among us, as Jesus says in today’s Gospel reading, ‘Ask and you will receive, and so your joy will be complete’.
Our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles gives us an insight into how members of the early church supported and helped one another in their faith. St. Paul is described as encouraging all the followers. Reference is made to Apollos, a member of the church in Ephesus, a very gifted and impressive figure; he had a sound knowledge of the Scriptures; he spoke with great eloquence, and had been given instruction in the faith, in the Way of the Lord but not fully formed in the faith. A married couple, named Priscilla and Aquila, took a great interest in him and gave him further instruction in the faith, sharing their deeper understanding of the faith with him. Then when Apollos decided to journey from Ephesus to the church in Corinth, the members of the church in Ephesus encouraged him. They didn’t want to keep him for themselves; they realized that others could benefit from his gifts. They not only encouraged him but they sent a letter of recommendation ahead of him to the church in Corinth. When Apollos arrived in Corinth we are told that his knowledge of the Scriptures was a great help to the believers there. Today’s reading paints a wonderful picture of the church at its best – believers helping, supporting and encouraging each other in the faith, helping one another to grow in the Lord. This is what the church is called to be in every generation; this is the church in which the Spirit of Christ is alive and active. We need each other’s faith if we are to grow in faith. We need the believing community if we are to grow in our relationship with the Lord. Within the community of faith we have an opportunity to give from our own faith and to receive from the faith of others. As members of the body of Christ, we all have something to offer and we all have something to receive. When it comes to the faith and our relationship with the Lord we are always interdependent. We need the church, the living community of faith; we cannot do it alone.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all called to be His witnesses and to proclaim His same truth and love to all the people, as we believe that Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, has come into our midst from the Father in order to reveal the love of God to all of us. Just as we have received these from Christ, our Lord and Saviour, hence, each one of us have been called to pass them on to many others who have not yet known Him. May the Lord Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord and Saviour, be with us always, and may the Holy Spirit give us the strength and encouragement so that all of us may devote ourselves, our time and energy, courageously in the path of evangelisation, and commit ourselves in our everyday living, in our every words, actions and deeds to glorify the Lord always, so that more and more people may come to believe in the Lord as well, and be saved together with us. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and bless all of us and our every good endeavours and works, for His greater glory. Amen🙏
Let us pray:
My precious Jesus, Your hour of glory upon the Cross is the clearest and fullest revelation of the Father’s love. On the Cross, You show us all how deeply we are loved by You and Your Father in Heaven. Please do open my mind, dear Lord, to all You wish to reveal to me, so that as I come to know You, I will also come to know Your Father in Heaven. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary and Saint Francis di Girolamo and Saint Mammertus ~ Pray for us🙏
Thanking God for the gift of this day and praying for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and our world and for God’s Divine Mercy and Grace upon us all and for vocations to priesthood and consecrated life. Have a blessed, safe and grace-filled Sixth Week of Easter and relaxing weekend!🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖