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Read: John 6:22-29 |
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We dedicate this website to the Generous Heart of Mother Mary |
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Today’s Bible Reading
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St. Pachomius was born about 292 in the Upeer Thebaid in Egypt and was inducted into the Emperor's army as a twenty-year-old. The great kindness of Christians at Thebes toward the soldiers became embedded in his mind and led to his conversion after his discharge. After being baptized, he became a disciple of an anchorite, Palemon, and took the habit. The two of them led a life of extreme austerity and total dedication to God; they combined manual labor with unceasing prayer both day and night. Later, Pachomius felt called to build a monastery on the banks of the Nile at Tabennisi; so about 318 Palemon helped him build a cell there and even remained with him for a while. In a short time some one hundred monks joined him and Pachomius organized them on principles of community living. So prevalent did the desire to emulate the life of Pachomius and his monks become, that the holy man was obliged to establish ten other monasteries for men and two nunneries for women. Before his death in 346, there were seven thousand monks in his houses, and his Order lasted in the East until the 11th century. St. Pachomius was the first monk to organize hermits into groups and write down a Rule for them. Both St. Basil and St. Benedict drew from his Rule in setting forth their own more famous ones. Hence, though St. Anthony is usually regarded as the founder of Christian monasticism, it was really St. Pachomius who began monasticism as we know it today. Other saints whose feast day is May 9th are St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Beatus.
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DAILY HIGHLIGHTS |
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Prayer of St. Gertrude the great dictated by Our Lady to release 1,000 Souls from Purgatory each time it is said. The prayer was extend to include living sinners which would alleviate the indebtedness accrued to them during their lives. “Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.” St. Gertrude the Great was born in Germany in 1263. She was a Benedictine Nun, and meditated on the Passion of Christ, which many times brought floods of tears to her eyes. She did many penances, and Our Lady appeared to her many times. Her holy Soul passed away in 1334. November 16 is her Feast Day. |
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“Stephen, filled with grace and power, was working great wonders and signs among the people.” Acts of the Apostles But Easter is a season when we look for signs of a new life of grace such as Stephen offered to his contemporaries even if skeptics thought he was crazy. Yesterday, I had such an experience of grace, courtesy of my colleague Don Doll S.J. and five of our wonderful graduating students. The students were seeking the opportunity to give a year of their lives to serve the poor worldwide by working as journalism interns for Jesuit Refugee Services under a program that Fr. Doll has begun. Instead of applying for corporate jobs, they would tell the stories of people in desperate need and their helpers. This is not a gig for someone interested in resume building.
As I listened to one after another of them speaking so earnestly how they want to contribute to the Jesuit mission they have learned here, I thought of Stephen and his signs. Suddenly I realized that I was witnessing hope and renewal in action – young adults who reminded me that the “new life” of Easter is about living our faith in a profound way as all five of our applicants wish to do. Then I asked myself, don’t we all have such an obligation to become such symbols of renewal for others? People who think success means making bundles of money could write my graduates off as nut cases rather than signs of hope and renewal – but I know who the real nut cases are. Alleluia! |