Posted on 05/06/2014 9:41:30 PM PDT by Salvation
May 7, 2014
Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter
Reading 1 Acts 8:1b-8
There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem,
and all were scattered
throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria,
except the Apostles.
Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him.
Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the Church;
entering house after house and dragging out men and women,
he handed them over for imprisonment.
Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.
Thus Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and proclaimed the Christ to them.
With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip
when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.
For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice,
came out of many possessed people,
and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured.
There was great joy in that city.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 66:1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a
R. (1) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Shout joyfully to God, all the earth,
sing praise to the glory of his name;
proclaim his glorious praise.
Say to God, “How tremendous are your deeds!”
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
“Let all on earth worship and sing praise to you,
sing praise to your name!”
Come and see the works of God,
his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has changed the sea into dry land;
through the river they passed on foot;
therefore let us rejoice in him.
He rules by his might forever.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Gospel Jn 6:35-40
Jesus said to the crowds,
“I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.
But I told you that although you have seen me,
you do not believe.
Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.
And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day.”
Blessed Rose Venerini
Feast Day: May 07
Born: 1656 :: Died: 1728
Blessed Rose was born in Viterbo, Italy. Her father, Godfrey Venerini was a doctor. Rose grew up, and was engaged to get married, when suddenly her fiancé died. She decided to dedicate her life to Jesus instead and entered the convent. But a few months later, her father died, so she returned home to care for her widowed mother.
Rose, who knew she could be a leader gathered the young women in her neighborhood. They prayed the Rosary together in the evenings. As they all got to know each other, Rose became aware of how little the young people knew about their faith.
Fr. Ignatius Martinelli, her spiritual director, told Rose that God really wanted her to be a teacher and not a nun. So Rose and two helpers opened a free school for girls in 1685. The parents who sent their daughters there were very pleased with the quality of education and the atmosphere.
Rose was a gifted educator who was able to teach others to teach. In 1692, Cardinal Barbarigo invited Rose to his diocese of Montefiascone, requesting her to organize his schools and train his teachers. It was in his diocese that she became a friend and teacher of Lucy Filippini. Lucy then started a religious order and years later, was declared a saint.
Rose organized schools in various places. Some people disliked her work and attacked her and her teachers. But the teachers did not let that stop them. Rose even opened a school in Rome in 1713. Pope Clement XI congratulated Rose for starting such a wonderful school.
When Rose finally died in Rome on May 7, 1728, at the age of seventy-two, she was directing forty schools in many parts of Italy. After her death, Blessed Rose's lay teachers became religious sisters. The Venerini sisters continue to perform their teaching ministry the way Blessed Rose would in USA and other places.
Reflection: Today, let us pray for all teachers that they may be good examples to their students.
Wednesday, May 7
Liturgical Color: White
Blessed Agnellus of Pisa died on this day in
1236. At the request of St. Francis, Bl.
Agnellus introduced the Franciscan order to
England. He established monasteries in
London and Canterbury, strictly adhering to
the Franciscan rule.
Daily Readings for:May 07, 2014
(Readings on USCCB website)
Collect: Be present to your family, O Lord, we pray, and graciously ensure those you have endowed with the grace of faith an eternal share in the Resurrection of your Only Begotten Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
RECIPES
ACTIVITIES
o Marian Hymn: Beautiful, Glorious
o Marian Hymn: Bring Flowers of the Fairest
PRAYERS
o Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven)
o Prayers for the Easter Season
LIBRARY
o God Loves a Cheerful Giver | Pope John Paul II
o Poland Needs People of Faith and Conscience | Pope John Paul II
· Easter: May 7th
· Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter; Saint Rosa Venerini (Italian)
Old Calendar: St. Stanislaus, bishop and martyr
Today is the feast of recently-canonized Italian educator Saint Rosa Venerini, who founded Catholic schools for girls and young women during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. St. Rosa (also known as St. Rose) was declared a saint in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI, who spoke in his canonization homily of her courageous work for “the spiritual elevation and authentic emancipation of the young women of her time.”
According to the Tridentine Calendar, today is the feast of St. Stanislaus, the patron of Poland. He reproached King Boleslaus the Cruel for his dissolute life, and while saying Mass, was put to death by him in 1079. In Poland his feast is celebrated on May 8, which is the day he died. His feast in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite is celebrated on April 11.
St. Rosa Venerini
Rosa Venerini was born in Viterbo, on February 9, 1656. Her father, Goffredo, originally from Castelleone di Suasa (Ancona), after having completed his doctorate in medicine at Rome, moved to Viterbo where he practiced the medical profession brilliantly in the Grand Hospital. From his marriage to Marzia Zampichetti, of an ancient family of Viterbo, four children were born: Domenico, Maria Maddalena, Rosa and Orazio.
Rosa was naturally gifted with intelligence and an uncommon human sensibility. The education that she received in her family allowed her to develop her many talents of mind and heart, forming her in steadfast Christian principles. According to her first biographer, Father Girolamo Andreucci, S.I., she made a vow to consecrate her life to God at the age of seven. During the early years of her youth, she lived through a conflict between the attractions of the world and the promise made to God. Rosa overcame this crisis with trusting prayer and mortification.
At age twenty, Rosa raised questions about her own future. The women of her time could choose only two orientations for their live: marriage or the cloister. Rosa esteemed both, but she felt called to realize another project for the good of the Church and the society of her time. Urged on by prophetic interior occurrences, she committed much time in suffering and searching before reaching a resolution that was completely innovative.
In the autumn of 1676, on the advice of her father, Rosa entered the Dominican Monastery of St. Catherine, with the prospect of fulfilling her vow. With her Aunt Anna Cecilia beside her, she learned to listen to God in silence and in meditation. She remained in the monastery for only a few months because the sudden death of her father forced her to return to her suffering mother.
In the years immediately following, Rosa had to bear the burden of serious events for her family: her brother Domenico died at only twenty-seven years of age; a few months later her mother died, unable to bear the sorrow.
In the meantime, Maria Maddalena married. There remained at home only Orazio and Rosa, by now twenty-four years old. Challenged by the desire to do something great for God, in May of 1684, the Saint began to gather the girls and women of the area in her own home to recite the rosary. The way in which the girls and women prayed, and above all, their conversation before and after the prayer, opened the mind and heart of Rosa to a sad reality: the woman of the common people was a slave of cultural, moral and spiritual poverty. She then understood that the Lord was calling her to a higher mission which she gradually identified in the urgent need to dedicate herself to the instruction and Christian formation of young women, not with sporadic encounters, but with a school understood in the real and true sense of the word.
On August 30, 1685, with the approval of the Bishop of Viterbo, Cardinal Urbano Sacchetti and the collaboration of two friends, Gerolama Coluzzelli and Porzia Bacci, Rosa left her father's home to begin her first school, according to an innovative plan that had matured in prayer and her search for the will of God. The first objective of the Foundress was to give the girls of the common people a complete Christian formation and prepare them for life in society. Without great pretense, Rosa opened the first "Public School for Girls in Italy". The origins were humble but the significance was prophetic: the human promotion and spiritual uplifting of woman was a reality that did not take long to receive the recognition of the religious and civil authorities.
Expansion of the Work
The initial stages were not easy. The three Maestre (teachers) had to face the resistance of clergy who considered the teaching of the catechism as their private office. But the harshest suspicion came from conformists who were scandalized by the boldness of this woman of the upper middle class of Viterbo who had taken to heart the education of ignorant girls. Rosa faced everything for the love of God and with her characteristic strength, continuing on the path that she had undertaken, by now sure that she was truly following the plan of God. The fruits proved her to be right. The same pastors recognized the moral improvement that the work of education generated among the girls and mothers.
The validity of this initiative was acknowledged and its fame went beyond the confines of the Diocese. Cardinal Mark Antonio Barbarigo, Bishop of Montefiascone, understood the genius of the Viterbo project and he called the Saint to his diocese. The Foundress, always ready to sacrifice herself for the glory of God, responded to the invitation. From 1692 to 1694, she opened ten schools in Montefiascone and the villages surrounding Lake Bolsena. The cardinal provided the material means and Rosa made the families aware, trained the teachers, and organized the schools. When she had to return to Viterbo to attend to the strengthening of her first school, Rosa entrusted the schools and the teachers to the direction of a young woman, St. Lucia Filippini, in whom she has seen particular gifts of mind, heart and spirit.
After the openings in Viterbo and Montefiascone, other schools were started in Lazio. Rosa reached Rome in 1706, but the first experience in Rome was a real failure which marked her deeply and caused her to wait six long years before regaining the trust of the authorities. On December 8, 1713, with the help of Abate Degli Atti, a great friend of the Venerini family, Rosa was able to open one of her schools in the center of Rome at the foot of the Campidoglio.
On October 24, 1716, they received a visit from Pope Clement XI, accompanied by eight Cardinals, who wanted to attend the lessons. Amazed and pleased, at the end of the morning he addressed these words to the Foundress: "Signora Rosa, you are doing that which we cannot do. We thank you very much because with these schools you will sanctify Rome ".
From that moment on, Governors and Cardinals asked for schools for their areas. The duties of the Foundress became intense, consisting of travels and hard work interwoven with joys and sacrifices for the formation of new communities. Wherever a new school sprang up, in a short time a moral improvement could be noted in the youth.
Rosa Venerini died a saintly death in the community of St. Mark's in Rome on the evening of May 7, 1728. She had opened more than forty schools. Her remains were entombed in the nearby Church of the Gesù, so loved by her. In 1952, on the occasion of her Beatification, they were transferred to the chapel of the Generalate in Rome. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 15, 2006 at Rome.
Her Spirituality
During her entire life, Rosa moved in the ocean of the Will of God. She said, "I feel so nailed to the Will of God that nothing else matters, neither death nor life. I want what He wants; I want to serve Him as much as pleases Him and no more".
After her first contacts with the Dominican Fathers at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Oak Tree, near Viterbo, she definitely followed the austere and balanced spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola under the direction of the Jesuits, especially Father Ignatius Martinelli.
The crises of adolescence, the perplexity of youth, the search for a new way, the institution of the schools and the communities, the rapport with the Church and the world-all were oriented to the Divine Will.
Prayer was the breath of her day. Rosa did not impose on herself or her Daughters long vocal prayers, but recommended that the life of the Maestre, in the practice of the precious education ministry, be a continuous speaking with God, of God and for God.
Intimate communion with the Lord was nourished by mental prayer, which the Saint considered "essential nourishment of the soul". In meditation, Rosa listened to the Teacher who taught along the roads of Palestine and in a particular way from the height of the Cross. With her gaze upon the crucifix, Rosa always felt more strongly her passion for the salvation of souls. For this reason, she celebrated and lived daily the Eucharist in a mystical way. In her imagination, the Saint saw the world as a great circle; she placed herself in the center of it and contemplated Jesus, the immaculate victim, who offered Himself from every part of the world to the Father through the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
She called this means of elevating herself to God "The Greatest Circle". With incessant prayer, she participated spiritually in all the Masses being celebrated in every part of the world. She united with love the sufferings, hard work and joys of her own life to the sufferings of Jesus Christ, concerned that His Precious Blood would not be shed in vain.
The Charism
We can summarize the charism of Rosa Venerini in a few words. She lived consumed by two great passions: passion for God and passion for the salvation of souls. When she understood that the girls and women of her time needed to be educated and instructed in the truths of the faith and of morality, she spared nothing of time, hard work, struggle, and difficulties of every kind, as long as it responded to the call of God. She knew that the proclamation of the Good News could be received if people were first liberated from the darkness of ignorance and error. Moreover, she intuited that professional training could give woman a human promotion and affirmation in society. This project required an educating Community and Rosa, without pretense and well before its time in history, offered to the Church the model of the Apostolic Religious Community.
Rosa did not practice her educational mission only in the school but took every occasion to announce the love of God. She comforted and cured the sick, raised the spirits of the discouraged, consoled the afflicted, called sinners back to a new life, exhorted to fidelity consecrated souls not observing their call, helped the poor and freed people from every form of moral slavery.
"Educate to save" became the motto that urged the Maestre Pie Venerini to continue the Work of the Lord intended by their Foundress and radiate the charism of Rosa to the world: to free from ignorance and evil so that the project of God which every person carries within can be visible.
This is the magnificent inheritance that Rosa Venerini left her Daughters. Wherever the Maestre Pie Venerini strive to live and transmit the apostolic concern of their Mother, in Italy as in other lands, they give preference to the poor.
After having made its contribution to the Italian immigrants to the USA from 1909 and in Switzerland from 1971 to 1985, the Congregation extended its apostolic activity to other lands: India, Brazil, Cameroon, Romania, Albania, Chile, Venezuela and Nigeria.
Excerpted from © Libreria Editrice Vaticana
3rd Week of Easter
This is the will of my Father. (John 6:40)
After major sporting events, most television networks air a “postgame show,” during which highlights and important facets of the game are replayed, discussed, and analyzed. True fanatics of the sport follow such information with rapt attention. It’s a good way for them to feel connected to a sport that has so captured their imaginations.
In a similar way, we can look at the Easter season as a good, long postgame show as well. Nothing could possibly be greater than the death and resurrection of God’s own Son, so it’s well worth reviewing it and gaining every possible insight from it!
And what is one of the most important insights we can receive this Easter season? We are created for eternity! As Jesus told his disciples, “This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life” (John 6:40). When we think about God’s will, we often are drawn to consider issues like our vocation. Should I be married or enter religious life? Should I teach or be a missionary or an accountant? But most important of all is the fact that God’s will for you is that you live with him forever.
That one truth undergirds everything else. It’s not confusing, debatable, or uncertain. Your Father wants to bring you to heaven. He wanted it so much that he sent his only Son to give up his life so that it could happen. God’s will is that you will never be separated from his love and presence. Everything else is just details. They can be important details, but they should never outweigh the fact that you are precious in God’s sight. They should never overshadow the fact that he loves you so much that he wants to spend eternity with you.
Right now, today, God is standing by your side. He is telling you, “Don’t be afraid; I will help you do whatever I ask of you. I will give you everything you need so that you can live with me forever.” He has taken you by the hand, and no one can snatch you from him. You belong to him, and he belongs to you. Forever!
“Father, I want to live with you for all eternity. Hold me close, and keep me always in your presence.”
Acts 8:1-8; Psalm 66:1-7
Daily Marriage Tip for May 7, 2014:
How do you stay close when one of you is away – on a business trip, deployed, off with the guys or gals? Consider calling or e-mailing daily. Skype a good night kiss. Pray for each other and let the other know when you did it. What do you do that helps?
| John | |||
| English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
| John 6 |
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| 35. | And Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger: and he that believeth in me shall never thirst. | Dixit autem eis Jesus : Ego sum panis vitæ : qui venit ad me, non esuriet, et qui credit in me, non sitiet umquam. | ειπεν δε αυτοις ο ιησους εγω ειμι ο αρτος της ζωης ο ερχομενος προς με ου μη πειναση και ο πιστευων εις εμε ου μη διψηση πωποτε |
| 36. | But I said unto you, that you also have seen me, and you believe not. | Sed dixi vobis quia et vidistis me, et non creditis. | αλλ ειπον υμιν οτι και εωρακατε με και ου πιστευετε |
| 37. | All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will not cast out. | Omne quod dat mihi Pater, ad me veniet : et eum qui venit ad me, non ejiciam foras : | παν ο διδωσιν μοι ο πατηρ προς εμε ηξει και τον ερχομενον προς με ου μη εκβαλω εξω |
| 38. | Because I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. | quia descendi de cælo, non ut faciam voluntatem meam, sed voluntatem ejus qui misit me. | οτι καταβεβηκα εκ του ουρανου ουχ ινα ποιω το θελημα το εμον αλλα το θελημα του πεμψαντος με |
| 39. | Now this is the will of the Father who sent me: that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing; but should raise it up again in the last day. | Hæc est autem voluntas ejus qui misit me, Patris : ut omne quod dedit mihi, non perdam ex eo, sed resuscitem illud in novissimo die. | τουτο δε εστιν το θελημα του πεμψαντος με πατρος ινα παν ο δεδωκεν μοι μη απολεσω εξ αυτου αλλα αναστησω αυτο [εν] τη εσχατη ημερα |
| 40. | And this is the will of my Father that sent me: that every one who seeth the Son, and believeth in him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day. | Hæc est autem voluntas Patris mei, qui misit me : ut omnis qui videt Filium et credit in eum, habeat vitam æternam, et ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die. | τουτο δε εστιν το θελημα του πεμψαντος με ινα πας ο θεωρων τον υιον και πιστευων εις αυτον εχη ζωην αιωνιον και αναστησω αυτον εγω τη εσχατη ημερα |
| “You Will Never Be Lost Where I Cannot Find You.” | ||
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Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter
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Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day." Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe that you are present here and now as I turn to you in prayer. I trust and have confidence in your desire to give me every grace I need to receive today. Thank you for your love, thank you for your immense generosity toward me. I give you my life and my love in return. Petition: Lord, help me to have a deeper confidence and trust in you. 1. An Empty Hole the Size of Christ: “It’s like I had a big hole in my heart, and I couldn’t fill it with anything.” So exclaimed someone who recently came back to the sacraments after being away for many years. She was hungering and thirsting for Christ, and, thankfully, Christ didn’t permit anything else to fill the place in her heart where only he belonged. On re-encountering Christ—in his mercy in confession, in his nourishing grace in communion—she was able to experience the benefits promised by Christ himself: “Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away.” Every one of us invariably finds holes in our hearts, small or not so small. Only Christ belongs there. To welcome Christ back in our hearts, we must seek out his mercy and nourishing grace. 2. Then Why Are You Afraid? If what we need is Christ and what we truly long for is Christ, then what keeps us from going to him? Sometimes it is our pride, or spiritual laziness, or maybe superficiality in our spiritual life. But behind these reasons is often a fear that if we open ourselves to Christ, we will somehow lose out. Benedict XVI addressed this fear in his first homily as Pope: “Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and He gives you everything. When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundred-fold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ - and you will find true life. Amen” (Mass for the Inauguration of the Pontificate, April 24, 2005). 3. Can You Tell Me Where the Lost-and-Found Is? These are words that Christ has never spoken—nor ever will. It is his Father’s will that Christ lose none of those entrusted to him. Christ never fails in his mission. Rather, in today’s reading he promises: “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.” This is our guarantee that we will never be abandoned and left without his grace to support us. There will be no difficulty, obstacle, or temptation too great for him to help us overcome. Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, I trust in you. Despite the real struggles and obstacles in my path now, I know that you are leading me towards you. You are the only one who can fill the depths of my heart. Somehow, mysteriously, each of these trials is part of making that a reality. Resolution: When faced with any obstacle today—even if it is small—I will say a quick prayer entrusting the situation to Christ. |
May 7, 2014
Jesus uses bread to help us understand the importance of the gospel today. We need to eat and we need to drink. Food and water are vital to our existence. They equate to life itself. And yet our mortal bodies need to eat and drink every day. Why were we created with this limitation? Would it not be more simple to create man as a being without a stomach, without the need to eat or drink? We would have more time to do other things than to eat three meals a day. We would not be hungry nor thirsty ever. And yet we need to eat and drink on a daily basis. We cannot eat or drink loading up for an entire month and then stop entirely eating and drinking for the next month. We were created to eat and drink on a daily basis. This is so that we may learn to lean on God on a daily basis also. That is why the prayer of the Our Father says: “Give us this day our daily bread” and not monthly bread. Christ proposes a new kind of bread that we will not hunger anymore. He proposes us the real food of Christ which is to do the will of God. And the will of God is for us to go to Heaven. Christ makes it his advocacy and determined mission to bring us all to Heaven. If we have the spirit of Christ, we will be full of the Holy Spirit which helps us to focus on the heavenly things and be at peace with whatever happens here on earth. We were created for Heaven. And Christ promised that all who share in this food will be raised up on the last day.
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