Third Sunday of Easter
May your people exult for ever, O God, in renewed youthfulness of spirit, so that, rejoicing now in the restored glory of our adoption, we may look forward in confident hope to the rejoicing of the day of resurrection. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Daily Thought from the Saints
"The bread you store up belongs to the hungry; the cloak that lies in your chest belongs to the naked; the gold you have hidden in the ground belongs to the poor."
— St. Basil the Great
Daily Scripture Verse
"Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts, and then everyone will receive praise from God."
1 Corinthians 4:5
Daily Meditation
"Moreover we learn from the principles of our Faith and the teaching of the Saints that often God Himself by His immediate action withdraws the visible effects of His grace for purposes in accordance with His wisdom and goodness. How many persons who have become lukewarm and careless in their duties are roused by the awareness of God's absence and are able to regain the fervor they had lost! How many more have been led to the practice of the highest virtue by interior trials! Who can measure the degree of heroic virtue saints like St. Ignatius, St. Teresa or St. Francis de Sales attained by this means? We must consider it the action of a Providence unceasingly attentive to the welfare of His children, who feigns to abandon them in order to rouse them from slumber or increase their humility, self-distrust and self-renouncement, their confidence in God, submission to His will and perseverance in prayer. Hence instead of allowing ourselves to become discouraged and fainthearted under trials which may seem to overwhelm us, let us act in the same way as we do when our bodies are sick, consult a good doctor—a good spiritual director—and applying the remedies he advises, patiently await the effects that it pleases God to give. Everything is meant for our good, and such trials ought to be counted as special graces from God. Whether or not they are sent as a punishment for our sins, they come from Him and we should thank Him for them, placing ourselves entirely in His hands. If we bear them with patience we shall receive greater grace than if we were filled with a sense of fervent devotion."
— Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure
Day by Day with Mary, the Mother of God
Who else lived with God as Mary has? To whom else can we go and find out that he is really a man? From whom shall we know the incarnate one better that from the woman who carried him for nine months in her womb?
—Catherine Doherty
Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again: for forgiveness has risen from the grave!
—St. John Chrysostom
A Prayer from Notre Dame University
Rev. Chase Pepper, C.S.C.
Father, your Son consented to stay with his disciples and to make himself known to them in the breaking of the bread. Even now, we believe that he stands at the door of our hearts and knocks to be let in, but many times, either we don’t hear him or we don’t recognize the one we find there. Free our hearts to accept your Son, however he comes to us, and make us burn with love for your Word and the Eucharist. Amen.