SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTER
SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: MAY 14, 2024
FEAST OF SAINT MATTHIAS, APOSTLE AND MARYR AND SAINT MICHAEL GARICOITS, PRIEST
NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT ~ DAY FIVE: Prayed in preparation for Pentecost. Beginning, Friday, May 10-18, 2024 (link below)
Greetings beloved family! Happy Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter!
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary | EWTN | May 14, 2024 |
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 14, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” | May 14, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 14, 2024 |
Pray “The Chaplet of Divine Mercy | from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | May 14, 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: Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Reading 1, Acts 1:15-17, 20-26
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
Gospel, John 15:9-17
NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT: Prayed in preparation for Pentecost. DAY FIVE – 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 of Easter]
NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
Prayed in preparation for Pentecost
DAY FIVE: May 14, 2024, Tuesday, 7th Week of Easter
Light immortal! Light Divine! Visit Thou these hearts of Thine, And our inmost being fill!
THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE: The gift of Knowledge enables the soul to evaluate created things at their true worth–in their relation to God. Knowledge unmasks the pretense of creatures, reveals their emptiness, and points out their only true purpose as instruments in the service of God. It shows us the loving care of God even in adversity, and directs us to glorify Him in every circumstance of life. Guided by its light, we put first things first, and prize the friendship of God beyond all else. ‘Knowledge is a fountain of life to him that possesseth it.’
PRAYER: Come, O Blessed Spirit of Knowledge, and grant that I may perceive the will of the Father; show me the nothingness of earthly things, that I may realize their vanity and use them only for Thy glory and my own salvation, looking ever beyond them to Thee, and Thy eternal rewards. 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
SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST OF SAINT MATTHIAS, APOSTLE AND MARYR AND SAINT MICHAEL GARICOITS, PRIEST ~ MAY 14TH: Today, we celebrate the Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle and Martyr and Saint Michael Garicoits, Priest. 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 those suffering from terminal diseases. On this feast day we pray for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May the gentle souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in perfect peace with our Lord Jesus Christ… Amen🙏
SAINT MATTHIAS, APOSTLE AND MARTYR: St. Matthias the Apostle (1st c.) whose name means “gift of God”, followed Jesus during His entire earthly ministry and was one of His 72 disciples sent out to preach the good news. St. Matthias was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot after his betrayal of Christ and subsequent suicide. For when there was question of electing an Apostle to take the place of the apostate Judas, St. Peter spoke: “Of these men who have been in our company all the time that the Lord Jesus moved among us, from John’s baptism until the day that He was taken up from us, one must become a witness with us of His Resurrection” (Acts 1:21). Two men were proposed: Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus and Matthias, and the latter was chosen by lot. About one hundred and twenty persons were present at this election. According to an ancient tradition handed down by Clement of Alexandria and confirmed by Eusebius and St. Jerome, St. Matthias was one of the seventy-two disciples of our Lord. It was after this occurrence that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, among whom St. Matthias was then numbered.
St. Matthias was with the Lord since His Baptism by John the Baptist, and was “a witness to Christ’s Resurrection,” according to St. Peter in Acts. He remained with Jesus until His Ascension. After Christ’s Ascension into heaven, St. Matthias devoted himself to preaching Christianity among the pagans, some of them barbarians and cannibals, all over Judea, Cappadocia, Jerusalem, the shores of the Caspian Sea (in modern day Turkey) and Ethiopia for over 30 years. Many miracles are ascribed to him as the pagans sought to kill him: that he was unharmed after being forced to drink poison, that he once hid by becoming invisible, and that the earth opened up and swallowed his attackers. St. Matthias also preached the need for mortification of the flesh as an aid to growth in holiness. Clement of Alexandria writes that St. Matthias was remarkable for inculcating the necessity of mortifying the flesh with its irregular passions and desires. Eventually, at God’s appointed time, he was martyred for the cause of Christ, though there are conflicting traditions as to exactly where and how. He is said to have met his death by crucifixion in Colchis or by stoning in Jerusalem. St. Matthias is the Patron Saint of carpenters, tailors, and reformed alcoholics, invoked for assistance against Alcoholism, smallpox, diocese of Gary; Indiana; diocese of Great Falls-Billings, Montana.
PRAYER: O God, who assigned Saint Matthias a place in the college of Apostles, grant us, through his intercession, that, rejoicing at how your love has been allotted to us, we may merit to be numbered among the elect. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever… Amen🙏
SAINT MICHAEL GARICOITS, PRIEST: St. Michael Garicoïts (1797- 1863), an Apostle of the Love of God” Priest was a French Basque Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Bétharram. He combated Jansenism in his parish due to the threat that it posed to the faith. Defender of the Faith, Confessor, Teacher, Preacher, ardent devotee of the Holy Eucharist and the Sacred Heart. St. Michael was born on April 15, 1797 in Saint Just- Ibarre, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France and the eldest son of Arnold and Gratianne Garicoits. They were poor and Michael was hired out as a shepherd boy to a farmer. His desire to become a priest always met with “No, we are too poor” by his parents, but his grandmother talked the matter over with the parish priest. Through his efforts St. Michael earned his expenses for college by working after school hours for the clergy and in the bishop’s kitchen. In December of 1823 he was ordained a Priest in Bayonne
Cathedral by Bishop d’Astros. Fr. Michael’s first assignment was at Cambo where he remained two years. He did much to revive religion there, combat Jansenism by the custom of frequent communion as well as by introducing Sacred Heart devotions.
Fr. Michael Garicoits’ next call was to a professorship in the senior seminary for priests at Betharram, and then to be superior. In 1838, Father Garicoits drew up a constitution largely based on that of the sons of St. Ignatius. Like them, his missionaries were to take life vows and to spread far and wide. Associates gathered round him at Betharram, and all seemed promising, when the bishop disapproved of his idea of founding a new congregation. Not till 1852 was the community allowed to choose its own superior, and even then it was tied down by regulations which hampered its activity. Father Garicoits submitted, but with a heavy heart. He died on Ascension day, May 14, 1863 in Lestelle-Bétharram, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France. Fourteen years later the Society of Priests of the Sacred Heart of Betharram was approved by the Holy See on the lines the founder had laid down. St. Michael Garicoits, who was at one time spiritual director of the Basque house of the Daughters of the Cross at Igon, received much encouragement in his foundation from St. Elizabeth Bichier des Ages, and he was all his life a close friend of her congregation in the Basque country. Both of them were canonized in the year 1947. St. Michael was Canonized on July 6, 1947, Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City by Pope Pius XII. He’s Patron Saint of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Bétharram and Teachers. His feast day is May 14th.
Saint Michael Garicoits, Priest ~ Pray for us🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:
Bible Readings for today, Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle, Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ John 15:9-17
“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you”
“Jesus said to His disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. “I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name He may give you. This I command you: love one another.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is speaking to His disciples, who, in John’s Gospel, represent disciples of every generation. He says to them, ‘You did not choose me; no, I chose you’. The Lord’s choice of us is prior to our choice of Him. To put that in other terms, the Lord loves us before we love Him. The Lord loves us first. His love for us is a given, as He says at the beginning of the Gospel reading, ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you’. The Lord’s love for us is a constant and our task, according to the Gospel reading, is to remain in the Lord’s love. The Lord’s love for us remains, endures, and it falls to us to remain in His enduring love. According to Jesus in the Gospel reading, we remain in His love by living His one commandment to love one another as He has loved us. Jesus says, ‘you remain in my love by loving one another as I have loved you’. The Lord’s love for us is to empower us to love one another with His love. This is our fundamental baptismal calling. According to Jesus in the Gospel reading, when we love one another as the Lord loves us we will enter into the Lord’s own joy, which is the completion of every human joy. We don’t find happiness by seeking happiness directly but by opening ourselves to the Lord’s love for us and then by seeking to share that love with each other. The Lord’s love for us is primary; we are to remain in that love, receiving it, welcoming it. This is the movement of prayer. Having remained in the Lord’s love for us, we then go out and bear fruit that will last, by loving one another as the Lord has loved us. Our prayerful openness to the Lord’s love is the foundation for the work of loving others as the Lord has loved us.
In our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, after Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and his subsequent suicide, the early church wanted to find a replacement for Judas so as to restore the group of the twelve to its full complement. A certain amount of human effort was put into finding such a person. First of all, Peter addressed the community of faith about the need to choose a replacement for Judas. Then the community had to discern who might be the best candidates and two suitable candidates were put forward, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Having decided on these two candidates, they bring both to the Lord in prayer, and they invite the Lord to show them which of the two He has chosen. As a result, Matthias came to replace Judas. The discernment process involved both work and prayer. The members of the early church in making this important decision didn’t leave everything to the Lord and, at the same time, they didn’t take the whole process upon themselves alone. Their efforts to find a replacement for Judas were important, but the fruit of those efforts needed to be brought to prayer so that the Lord could have the final and most important say. Saint Augustine once wrote, ‘pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you’.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, as Christians, we are all reminded and called to follow in the footsteps of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, those holy predecessors of ours who have gone before us, and have dedicated themselves and their lives to God in all various manners and ways. Yet, they all proclaim the Lord and showed everyone what it truly means for us to become disciples and followers of God by living the message of the Gospel of Christ, according to today’s Gospel passage. The Lord told all His disciples and us all to love one another just as He has loved all of us, and how the Father has loved all, because the way and the path of the Lord is truly that one of Love and compassion. Let us all therefore walk faithfully in the footsteps of the Holy Apostles, committing ourselves thoroughly and doing our very best so that in everything that we do, we will always glorify God and be good role models and examples for one another. Let us all be the great inspiration for our brothers and sisters so that through us, more and more may come to know the Lord, and more may be willing to walk in the path of the Lord. May we be inspired by the examples of St. Matthias and all the other holy men and women of God, that we too may become the bearers and beacons of God’s light to the people still living in the darkness of this world, in ignorance of God and His truth. May St. Matthias, Holy Apostle and good servant of the Lord continue to intercede for us sinners, and help us in our journey and path towards God, inspiring us all to be more like Him in all of our actions, words and deeds, now and always. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and strengthen us as we do our best and strive to be courageous and good Christians in all of our actions and works, so that through us and our works, we may endeavour to bring many more souls to the salvation and eternal life in God. St. Matthias, Holy Apostle of Our Lord, pray for us all sinners. Amen🙏
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/
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, You have perfectly fulfilled the will of the Father in all things, and You have chosen me and appointed me to share in Your divine mission. Help me to open my mind and will to all that You call me to do, so that I, too, may be an instrument of the Kingdom of Your Father in Heaven. I make this prayer in Your most holy name. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Matthias the Apostle and Saint Michael Garicoïts ~ 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, grace-filled and fruitful Seventh Week of Easter!🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena💖