Photo: A Typewriter

 

Spirituality: from Teilhard de Chardin on the Eucharist

Prayer is to nourish, nurture, and evoke a consciousness and an alternative to the current consciousness. All are invited into a higher way of seeing things. We want more people to see this whole to develop a sense of the ‘human.’ Our consciousness is meant to embrace everyone.

Poem: Gerard Manley Hopkins, May's Magnificat

May is Mary’s month, and I

Muse at that and wonder why :

Her feasts follow reason,

Dated due to season—

Candlemas, Lady Day ;

But the Lady Month, May,

Why fasten that upon her,

With a feasting in her honour ?

Is it only its being brighter

Than the most are must delight her ?

Is it opportunist

And flowers finds soonest ?

Ask of her, the mighty mother :

Her reply puts this other

Question : What is Spring?—

Growth in every thing—

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,

Grass and greenworld all together ;

Star-eyed strawberry-breasted

Throstle above her nested

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin

Forms and warms the life within ;

And bird and blossom swell

In sod or sheath or shell.

All things rising, all things sizing

Mary sees, sympathizing

With that world of good

Nature’s motherhood.

Their magnifying of each its kind

With delight calls to mind

How she did in her stored

Magnify the Lord.

Well but there was more than this :

Spring’s universal bliss

Much, had much to say

To offering Mary May.

When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple

Bloom lights the orchard-apple

And thicket and thorp are merry

With silver-surfèd cherry

And azuring-over greybell makes

Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes

And magic cuckoocall

Caps, clears, and clinches all—

This ecstasy all through mothering earth

Tells Mary her mirth till Christ’s birth

To remember and exultation

In God who was her salvation.

Photo: St. Joseph, the Worker

 

Poem: Madeleine L'Engle, O Sapientia

 It was from Joseph first I learned

of love. Like me he was dismayed.
How easily he could have turned
me from his house; but, unafraid,
he put me not away from him
(O God-sent angel, pray for him).
Thus through his love was Love obeyed.

The Child’s first cry came like a bell:
God’s Word aloud, God’s Word in deed.
The angel spoke: so it befell,
and Joseph with me in my need.
O Child whose father came from heaven,
to you another gift was given,
your earthly father chosen well.

With Joseph I was always warmed
and cherished. Even in the stable
I knew that I would not be harmed.
And, though above the angels swarmed,
man’s love it was that made me able
to bear God’s love, wild, formidable,
to bear God’s will, through me performed.

Photo: City Life

 

Spirituality: from Teilhard de Chardin on the Eucharist

Many have evolved into a sense of the ‘human’. Some see all humans as part of the human family, members of the world household who need to be fed, housed, educated, and cared for medically. We are united to Christ by entering into communion with ‘all’ people. We will be made whole when we choose the whole.

The God of Spacious Hospitality: The Fifth Sunday of Easter 2026

                                         The God of Spacious Hospitality:

The Fifth Sunday of Easter 2026 

May 3, 2026

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Acts 6:1-7; Psalm 33; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12

 

The comforting Gospel passage is one used for many funerals because it reminds us that we each have a place in God’s world. We can retain our full human identity and still be known to God and others in the expansive world that is to come. The passage tells us: We belong. We are a child of God and known to God. It also reminds that even if we do not think we know the way, God remembers us and gives us spacious hospitality.

 

The idea of being with God with many dwelling places serves as an example of the hospitality we are to extend to one another here on Earth. We have a really big God and we have to grow into this larger image of God. Much of our prayer language has focused upon the Christ who ‘was,’ that is Jesus of Nazareth. We return to ancient Scripture for understanding and guidance, and we can lose sight of the Christ who ‘is’ – the Christ who ‘is’ today and the Christ who is ‘up ahead of us.’ The cosmic ‘Body of Christ,’ of which you are a part, has been evolving in size and consciousness for over 2,000 years. 

 

When we realize we are part of this large community of faith, our mindset shifts from one that is restrictive to one that his more open and inclusive. Even if we have a small faith, we have a big God. Through our partaking of the Eucharist, we are moved to see his God of airy hospitality. Together, we move toward a broader and more comprehensive way of thinking and perceiving. Our capacity for compassion and empathy increases. 

 

Our prayer life can no longer be about self-improvement or of a ‘Jesus and me’ experience. I can no longer be self-focused or self-enclosed because, as a community, we develop a collective spiritual life. Our spiritual life is always based on being part of a community. We think and feel and move as the “Body of Christ.” We begin to see ourselves no longer as individuals living separate lives. Through the Resurrection, we are new creations and part of something much greater. 

 

As part of our Eucharist and our life of faith, we are called to take on a higher way of thinking. We hear this on Easter Sunday in Colossians 3 when Paul exhorts us with these words, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” Our work in this life is to realize that our inhibitions, indoctrinations, and habits prevent us from recognizing God’s presence among us. This awareness of what holds us back is crucial for taking down those formidable barriers, for those deeply entrenched illusions. Our transformation leads to an evolution to a more complex structure, to a higher way of thinking, to a reality in which there are more dwelling places that we imagine possible.

 

This passage is certainly comfortable for funerals, but it means so much more. It is meant for ‘now.’ It is meant that we may experience the fullness of life today. What is salvation but the permission to “enjoy the fullness of life” during life on earth as it will continue to grow consciously forever with God in heaven, in those many dwelling places. This is a God who gives us such space to pass onto others what we receive – a generous hospitality where all are welcome, where all belong, because this big God says, “Todos, Todos, Todos,” 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

Monday: (Acts 14) As Gentiles and Jews in Iconium were about to attack Paul and Barnabas, they fled to Lystra where Paul healed a lame man.  

 

Tuesday: (Acts 14) The crowds began to put their faith in Paul and Barnabas as gods, but the men protested and told the story of the Christ event. Opposition to Paul increased shortly afterwards and he was stoned. They left for Derbe to strengthen the disciples in those cities and encouraged them during their times of hardship.

 

Wednesday: (Acts 15) Some of Paul’s Jewish opposition raised the question of circumcision and adherence to the Mosaic laws. Along the way to Jerusalem to seek the advice of the Apostles, they told everyone of the conversion of the Gentiles.

 

Thursday: (Acts 15) After much debate, Peter and James decided that no further restrictions were to be made on the Gentiles.

 

Friday (Acts 15) The Apostles and presbyters chose representatives and sent them to Paul and Barnabas with word that the Gentiles were indeed welcomed into the faith with no extra hardships placed upon them. The people were delighted with the good news.

 

Saturday (Acts 13) In Derbe and Lystra, Paul heard of a man named Timothy who was well regarded by the believers. Paul had him circumcised and they travelled to Macedonia to proclaim the good news.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (John 14) In the Farewell Discourse, Jesus reassures his disciples that he will remain with them if they keep his commandments to love one another. 

 

Tuesday: (John 14) To punctuate his message of consolation, he tells them he will send an advocate to teach and remind them of all he told them.

 

Wednesday (John 15) Jesus leaves them with his lasting peace that will help them endure many difficult times. This peace will allow us people to remain close to him – organically as he is the vine and we are the branches. 

 

Thursday (John 15) Remaining close to Jesus will allow us to share complete joy with one another. 

 

Friday (John 15) Jesus once again proves his love to his friends by saying that the true friend, the Good Shepherd, will lay down his life for his friends.  

 

Saturday (John 14) However, even with the love of Jesus, his followers will experience hatred in this world, but as his friends and as God’s elect, their harm can never really harm the souls of a believer.

 

Saints of the Week

 

May 3: Philip and James, Apostles (first century), were present to Jesus throughout his entire ministry. Philip was named as being explicitly called. James is called the Lesser to distinguish him from James of Zebedee. Little is known of these founders of our faith.

 

May 4: Joseph Mary Rubio, S.J., priest (1864-1929), is a Jesuit known as the Apostle of Madrid. He worked with the poor bringing them the Spiritual Exercises and spiritual direction and he established local trade schools.  

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• May 3, 1945. American troops take over Innsbruck, Austria. Theology studies at the Canisianum resume a few months later. 
• May 4, 1902. The death of Charles Sommervogel, historian of the Society and editor of the bibliography of all publications of the Jesuits from the beginnings of the Society onward. 
• May 5, 1782. At Coimbra, Sebastian Carvahlo, Marquis de Pombal, a cruel persecutor of the Society in Portugal, died in disgrace and exile. His body remained unburied fifty years, till Father Philip Delvaux performed the last rites in 1832. 
• May 6, 1816. Letter of John Adams to Thomas Jefferson mentioning the Jesuits. "If any congregation of men could merit eternal perdition on earth and in hell, it is the company of Loyola." 
• May 7, 1547. Letter of St. Ignatius to the scholastics at Coimbra on Religious Perfection. 
• May 8, 1853. The death of Jan Roothan, the 21st general of the Society, who promoted the central role of the Spiritual Exercises in the work of the Society after the restoration. 
• May 9, 1758. The 19th General Congregation opened, the last of the Old Society. It elected Lorenzo Ricci as general.

El Dios de la Hospitalidad Amplia: Quinto Domingo de Pascua de 2026

                                       El Dios de la Hospitalidad Amplia:

Quinto Domingo de Pascua de 2026

3 de mayo de 2026

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Hechos 6:1-7; Salmo 33; 1 Pedro 2:4-9; Juan 14:1-12

 

Este reconfortante pasaje del Evangelio se utiliza en muchos funerales porque nos recuerda que cada uno de nosotros tiene un lugar en el mundo de Dios. Podemos conservar nuestra plena identidad humana y, aun así, ser conocidos por Dios y por los demás en el vasto mundo venidero. El pasaje nos dice: Pertenecemos a Él. Somos hijos de Dios y Él nos conoce. También nos recuerda que, aunque creamos no conocer el camino, Dios se acuerda de nosotros y nos acoge con los brazos abiertos.

 

La idea de estar con Dios en múltiples moradas sirve como ejemplo de la hospitalidad que debemos brindarnos unos a otros aquí en la Tierra. Tenemos un Dios grandioso y debemos crecer en esta imagen más amplia de Dios. Gran parte de nuestro lenguaje de oración se ha centrado en el Cristo que «fue», es decir, Jesús de Nazaret. Recurrimos a las antiguas Escrituras en busca de comprensión y guía, y podemos perder de vista al Cristo que «es»: el Cristo que «es» hoy y el Cristo que está «adelante». El «Cuerpo de Cristo» cósmico, del cual formas parte, ha estado evolucionando en tamaño y conciencia durante más de 2000 años.

 

Cuando comprendemos que formamos parte de esta gran comunidad de fe, nuestra mentalidad cambia, pasando de una actitud restrictiva a una más abierta e inclusiva. Aunque nuestra fe sea pequeña, tenemos un Dios grande. Al participar de la Eucaristía, nos conmueve su hospitalidad celestial. Juntos, avanzamos hacia una forma de pensar y percibir más amplia y completa. Nuestra capacidad de compasión y empatía aumenta.

 

Nuestra vida de oración ya no puede centrarse en el auto-mejoramiento ni en una experiencia de «Jesús y yo». Ya no puedo estar ensimismado ni aislado, porque, como comunidad, desarrollamos una vida espiritual colectiva. Nuestra vida espiritual siempre se basa en ser parte de una comunidad. Pensamos, sentimos y actuamos como el «Cuerpo de Cristo». Dejamos de vernos como individuos que viven vidas separadas. A través de la Resurrección, somos nuevas criaturas y parte de algo mucho más grande.

 

Como parte de nuestra Eucaristía y nuestra vida de fe, estamos llamados a adoptar una forma de pensar más elevada. Esto lo escuchamos el Domingo de Pascua en Colosenses 3, cuando Pablo nos exhorta con estas palabras: «Si, pues, habéis resucitado con Cristo, buscad las cosas de arriba, donde está Cristo sentado a la derecha de Dios. Pensad en las cosas de arriba, no en las de la tierra». Nuestra tarea en esta vida es darnos cuenta de que nuestras inhibiciones, adoctrinamientos y hábitos nos impiden reconocer la presencia de Dios entre nosotros. Esta conciencia de lo que nos frena es crucial para derribar esas formidables barreras, esas ilusiones profundamente arraigadas. Nuestra transformación nos lleva a una evolución hacia una estructura más compleja, hacia una forma de pensar más elevada, hacia una realidad en la que existen más lugares donde habitar de los que imaginamos posibles.

 

Este pasaje es ciertamente reconfortante para los funerales, pero significa mucho más. Está pensado para el presente. Significa que podemos experimentar la plenitud de la vida hoy. ¿Qué es la salvación sino el permiso para «disfrutar de la plenitud de la vida» durante la vida en la tierra, ya que continuará creciendo conscientemente para siempre con Dios en el cielo, en esas muchas moradas? Este es un Dios que nos da tal espacio para transmitir a otros lo que recibimos: una hospitalidad generosa donde todos son bienvenidos, donde todos pertenecen, porque este gran Dios dice: «Todos, Todos, Todos».

 

Lecturas bíblicas para la Misa diaria

Lunes: (Hechos 14) Cuando gentiles y judíos en Iconio estaban a punto de atacar a Pablo y Bernabé, huyeron a Listra, donde Pablo sanó a un hombre cojo.

 

Martes: (Hechos 14) La multitud comenzó a creer en Pablo y Bernabé como dioses, pero ellos protestaron y contaron la historia de Cristo. Poco después, la oposición a Pablo aumentó y fue apedreado. Partieron hacia Derbe para fortalecer a los discípulos en aquellas ciudades y animarlos en sus momentos de dificultad.

 

Miércoles: (Hechos 15) Algunos de los judíos que se oponían a Pablo plantearon la cuestión de la circuncisión y la observancia de las leyes mosaicas. De camino a Jerusalén, donde buscaban el consejo de los apóstoles, les contaban a todos sobre la conversión de los gentiles.

 

Jueves: (Hechos 15) Después de mucho debate, Pedro y Santiago decidieron que no se impondrían más restricciones a los gentiles.

 

Viernes (Hechos 15) Los apóstoles y los presbíteros escogieron representantes y los enviaron a Pablo y Bernabé para anunciarles que los gentiles eran bienvenidos a la fe sin ninguna dificultad adicional. El pueblo se alegró enormemente con la buena noticia.

 

Sábado (Hechos 13) En Derbe y Listra, Pablo oyó hablar de un hombre llamado Timoteo, muy estimado por los creyentes. Pablo lo hizo circuncidar y juntos viajaron a Macedonia para proclamar las buenas nuevas.

 

Evangelio: 

Lunes: (Juan 14) En el Discurso de Despedida, Jesús les asegura a sus discípulos que permanecerá con ellos si guardan sus mandamientos de amarse los unos a los otros.

Martes: (Juan 14) Para rematar su mensaje de consuelo, les dice que les enviará un defensor para enseñarles y recordarles todo lo que les dijo.

 

Miércoles (Juan 15): Jesús les deja su paz eterna, la cual les ayudará a sobrellevar muchos momentos difíciles. Esta paz nos permitirá permanecer cerca de él, de forma natural, pues él es la vid y nosotros las ramas.

 

Jueves (Juan 15) Permanecer cerca de Jesús nos permitirá compartir una alegría plena unos con otros.

 

El viernes (Juan 15), Jesús vuelve a demostrar su amor a sus amigos diciendo que el verdadero amigo, el Buen Pastor, dará su vida por ellos.

 

Sábado (Juan 14) Sin embargo, incluso con el amor de Jesús, sus seguidores experimentarán odio en este mundo, pero como sus amigos y como elegidos de Dios, su daño nunca podrá dañar realmente las almas de un creyente.

 

Santos de la semana

 

3 de mayo: Felipe y Santiago, apóstoles (siglo I), acompañaron a Jesús durante todo su ministerio. Se menciona explícitamente que Felipe fue llamado. A Santiago se le llama el Menor para distinguirlo de Santiago de Zebedeo. Poco se sabe de estos fundadores de nuestra fe.

 

4 de mayo: José María Rubio, SJ, sacerdote (1864-1929), es un jesuita conocido como el Apóstol de Madrid. Trabajó con los pobres, impartiéndoles los Ejercicios Espirituales y la dirección espiritual, y fundó escuelas de formación profesional locales.

 

Esta semana en la historia jesuita

 

• 3 de mayo de 1945. Las tropas estadounidenses toman Innsbruck, Austria. Los estudios de teología en el Canisianum se reanudan unos meses después.
• 4 de mayo de 1902. Fallece Charles Sommervogel, historiador de la Compañía y editor de la bibliografía de todas las publicaciones de los jesuitas desde los inicios de la Compañía en adelante.
• 5 de mayo de 1782. En Coímbra, Sebastián Carvahlo, marqués de Pombal, un cruel perseguidor de la Compañía de Jesús en Portugal, murió en desgracia y en el exilio. Su cuerpo permaneció insepulto durante cincuenta años, hasta que el padre Philip Delvaux le administró la extremaunción en 1832.
• 6 de mayo de 1816. Carta de John Adams a Thomas Jefferson mencionando a los jesuitas. «Si alguna congregación de hombres merece la perdición eterna en la tierra y en el infierno, es la compañía de Loyola».
• 7 de mayo de 1547. Carta de San Ignacio a los escolásticos de Coímbra sobre la perfección religiosa.
• 8 de mayo de 1853. Fallece Jan Roothan, el 21.º general de la Sociedad, quien promovió el papel central de los Ejercicios Espirituales en la labor de la Sociedad tras la restauración.
• 9 de mayo de 1758. Se inauguró la 19.ª Congregación General, la última de la Antigua Sociedad. En ella se eligió a Lorenzo Ricci como general.

Photo: the Gate

 

Spirituality: Time

If the entire history of the universe was compressed into one year…

The Big Bang happens on January 1.
The Milky Way forms in May.
Earth appears in September.
Dinosaurs arrive on December 25.
And humans?
We show up in the final seconds of December 31.

All of human history… fits in the blink of cosmic time.

Photo: Stitched in History

 

Spirituality: from Teilhard de Chardin on the Eucharist

As our consciousness expands, it grows into the loving, all embracing consciousness of God. It requires a metanoia to put on a new way of thinking and seeing. It happens over time. Sadly, some people stay locked up in their own personal lives and interests. Others continue to develop wider interests. Humanity will reach a tipping point when there are more people with expanding consciousness than those who are locked up.

Photo: Pope Leo XIV

 

Poem: “Lead,” by Mary Oliver

 Here is a story 

to break your heart. 

Are you willing? 

This winter 

the loons came to our harbor 

and died, one by one, 

of nothing we could see. 

A friend told me 

of one on the shore 

that lifted its head and opened 

the elegant beak and cried out 

in the long, sweet savoring of its life 

which, if you have heard it, 

you know is a sacred thing, 

and for which, if you have not heard it, 

you had better hurry to where 

they still sing. 

And, believe me, tell no one 

just where that is. 

The next morning, 

this loon, speckled 

and iridescent and with a plan 

to fly home 

to some hidden lake, 

was dead on the shore. 

I tell you this 

to break your heart, 

by which I mean only 

that it break open and never close again 

to the rest of the world.

Poem: “An April Rain Song” by Langston Hughes

 Let the rain kiss you.

Let the rain beat upon your head

With silver liquid drops.

Let the rain sing you a lullaby

With its pitty-pat.

The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.

The rain makes running pools in the gutter.

The rain plays a little sleep tune

On our roof at night.

And I love the rain.

Photo: Keep Running

 

Spirituality: from Teilhard de Chardin on the Eucharist

Today's theology needs to undergo a kind of Copernican revolution to deal with the fact that God did not create a fixed and unchanging universe. The universe, Planet Earth, is in process of becoming what it was meant to be.

Photo: the Boston Marathon

 

Spirituality: Bill Plotkin, from the Soulcraft Musings newsletter, December 27, 2024

Humanity—in fact, the entire Earth community—currently exists in such dire circumstances that the most significant, viable, and potent solutions will seem like impossible dreams to most everyone (at first). But this is apparently the way it has always been in our universe. At the greatest moments of transformations—what Thomas Berry calls "moments of grace"—the "impossible" happens....

If you consider the data on such things as current wars, environmental destruction, political-economic corruption, social/racial divisions, and widespread psychological breakdowns, there seems to be little hope for humanity and, by extension, most other members of the biosphere. But if, alternatively, you look at the fact of miracles—moments of grace—throughout the known history of the universe, it will dawn on you that there is and always has been an intelligence or imagination at work much greater than our conscious minds. Given that we cannot rule out moments of grace acting through us in this century and the next, we have no alternative but to proceed as if we ourselves, collectively, can in fact make the difference...

The One Who Asks Us to Receive: The Fourth Sunday of Easter 2026

                                           The One Who Asks Us to Receive:

The Fourth Sunday of Easter 2026 

April 26, 2026

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Acts 2:36-41; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:20-25; John 10:1-10

 

When Peter tells the Israelites that they put Jesus to death, they realized what they had done and asked, “What should we do to remedy our error?” In the second reading, Peter tells us that those who went astray returned to their guardian and shepherd. The Gospel passage tells us that Jesus is the one to be trusted because his care is genuine. He will care for those who want to receive his voice. He knows there are other voices who speak as a shepherd and they repeatedly show they do not have the shepherd’s heart. Jesus offers us life abundant life in its fullness.

 

How do we receive the offer that Jesus makes to us? We are trained in our spiritual life that it is far better to give than to receive. So, we do things like serving, sacrificing, and fitting morally good activities into our schedules. We feel comfortable in this realm, but there is a tension we have to face. Receiving can be much harder than giving and that makes us uncomfortable. We have great and subtle tensions around gift giving as well. When we pray, we ask for grace, which is a gift, and sometimes we are not comfortable receiving the gifts God offers. 

 

Resistance rises for different reasons. Some people say, “I don’t need help. I can do it on my own.” Pride stops us from receiving the fullness of the gift. Or, receiving the gift (or grace) puts us in a position of dependence, and our control issues arise. We are taught self-sufficiency. A primary resistance is a sense of unworthiness where we feel we have not done anything or enough to warrant a gift. Or, perhaps we wonder about the unknown, unforeseen strings that may be attached. Why would God offer me this gift? What further thing will God demand of me? Think about our personal history of receiving compliments. How well do you simply receive the goodwill someone offers?

 

Christ offers us salvation. God offers us new life. We need to see that Christianity is not something that we do, but something that we receive. Why me? Forget about the question and learn to accept the gift. Think about those events in our life where we are offered grace, mercy, or forgiveness. These are all gifts that are undeserved, and none of them are earned. We have to ask ourselves: Do I really want what I ask in prayer? We can also turn to Peter who resisted getting his feet washed. He wanted to be the one who gives, but Jesus insisted that the relationship demanded that Peter received what Jesus offered. Unless you let me serve you, you cannot share in me. The moral of the story is: refusing the gift actually blocks the relationship.

 

Receiving makes us uncomfortable because it makes us vulnerable. A part of our core self is exposed when we are vulnerable, which makes receiving love, forgiveness, or genuine care so difficult, but this is where intimacy begins, and Jesus calls us into deeper friendship, deeper intimacy. We want it and we resist. We have a problem. God does not operate on our time. God does not wait until we are ready or deserving. God is a persistent giver. God will also offer these gifts before we are ready, and we have to ask, “Are we willing to accept what God is freely offering?”

 

The Good Shepherd is offering us new life. We have nothing to prove. There is nothing we can earn. How willing am I to let go of my resistances so I may receive in abundance these gifts that are generously offered even before we ask for them?

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

Monday: (Acts 11) The Apostles include the Gentiles into the community after solemn deliberation. Peter lifts the Jewish dietary laws for them declaring that, “God granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.” 

 

Tuesday: (Acts 11) Those who had been dispersed since the persecution that followed Stephen’s stoning began proclaiming the story of Jesus Christ to their new communities. The number of converts increased dramatically.  

 

Wednesday: (Acts 12) The word of God continued to spread and the number of disciples grew. At Antioch during prayer, the Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

 

Thursday: (Acts 13) In Perga in Pamphylia, Paul stood up and told the story of God’s deliverance of the chosen people from bondage and slavery. God’s work continued in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

 

Friday (Acts 13) The whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord, but strict Jews opposed Paul and Barnabas and claimed they told the wrong story. 

 

Saturday (Acts 13) The Gentiles were delighted when Paul and Barnabas opened scripture for them and those them of their inclusion as God’s elect. Salvation was accessible to them too.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (John 10) The Good Shepherd tales continues as Jesus describes to his friends the characteristics of a self-interested person who pretends to be a shepherd. The sheep know and trust the voice of the good shepherd. 

 

Tuesday: (John 10) During the feast of the Dedication, Jesus declares he is the good shepherd and that he and the Father are one.

 

Wednesday (John 10) Jesus cries out, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me.” Jesus speaks and acts of behalf of the Father.

 

Thursday (John 13) Jesus makes “I am” statements and he shows he does the work of the Father when after he washes the feet of the disciples, he says, “I am.” 

 

Friday (John 14) In his farewell discourse, Jesus consoles his friends. He tells them that the is going away but will soon return to take away their fear. 

 

Saturday (John 14) He reassures that that since they know the mind and heart of Jesus, they also know the mind and heart of the Father.   

 

Saints of the Week

 

April 28: Peter Chanel, priest, missionary, martyr (1803-1841), is the first martyr of the Pacific South Seas. Originally a parish priest in rural eastern France, he joined the Society of Mary (Marists) to become a missionary in 1831 after a five-year stint teaching in the seminary. At first the missionaries were well-received in the New Hebrides and other Pacific island nations as they recently outlawed cannibalism. The growth of white influence placed Chanel under suspicion, which led to an attack on the missionaries. When the king’s son wanted to be baptized, his anger erupted and Peter was clubbed to death in protest. 

 

April 28: Louis of Montfort, priest (1673-1716), dedicated his life to the care of the poor and the sick as a hospital chaplain in Poitiers, France. He angered the public and the administration when he tried to organize the hospital women's workers into a religious organization. He was let go. He went to Rome where the pope gave him the title "missionary apostolic" so he could preach missions that promoted a Marian and Rosary-based spirituality. He formed the "Priests of the Company of Mary" and the "Daughters of Wisdom."

 

April 29: Catherine of Siena, mystic and doctor of the Church (1347-1380), was the 24^th of 25^th children. At an early age, she had visions of guardian angels and the saints. She became a Third-Order Dominican and persuaded the Pope to return to Rome from Avignon in 1377. She died at age 33 after receiving the stigmata.

 

April 30: Pope Pius V, Pope (1504-1572), is noted for his work in the Counter-Reformation, the Council of Trent, and the standardization of the Roman Rite for mass. He was a fierce conservative who prosecuted eight French bishops for heterodoxy and Elizabeth I for schism. The Holy League he founded defeated the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Lepanto whose success was attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

 

May 1: Joseph the Worker was honored by Pope Pius XII in 1955 in an effort to counteract May Day, a union, worker, and socialist holiday. Many Catholics believe him to be the patron of workers because he is known for his patience, persistence, and hard work as admirable qualities that believers should adopt.

 

May 2: Athanasius, bishop and doctor (295-373), was an Egyptian who attended the Nicene Council in 325. He wrote about Christ's divinity but this caused his exile by non-Christian emperors. He wrote a treatise on the Incarnation and brought monasticism to the West.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• April 26, 1935. Lumen Vitae, center for catechetics and religious formation was founded in Brussels. 
• April 27, 1880. On the occasion of the visit of Jules Ferry, French minister of education, to Amiens, France, shouts were raised under the Jesuit College windows: "Les Jesuites a la guillotine." 
• April 28, 1542. St Ignatius sent Pedro Ribadeneira, aged fifteen, from Rome to Paris for his studies. Pedro had been admitted into the Society in l539 or l540. 
• April 29, 1933. Thomas Ewing Sherman died in New Orleans. An orator on the mission band, he was the son of Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman. He suffered a breakdown, and wanted to leave the Society, but was refused because of his ill health. Before his death he renewed his vows in the Society. 
• April 30, 1585. The landing at Osaka of Fr. Gaspar Coelho. At first the Emperor was favorably disposed towards Christianity. This changed later because of Christianity's attitude toward polygamy. 
• May 1, 1572. At Rome, Pope St. Pius V dies. His decree imposing Choir on the Society was cancelled by his successor, Gregory XIII. 
• May 2, 1706. The death of Jesuit brother G J Kamel. The camellia flower is named after him.