Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)

Acts of the Apostles

Many signs and wonders were done among the people at the hands of the apostles. They were all together in Solomon's portico.
None of the others dared to join them, but the people esteemed them.
Yet more than ever, believers in the Lord, great numbers of men and women, were added to them.
Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them.
A large number of people from the towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem also gathered, bringing the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.

Psalms

Let the house of Israel say,
"His mercy endures forever."
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
Let those who fear the LORD say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.
O LORD, grant salvation!
O LORD, grant prosperity!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD;
we bless you from the house of the LORD.
The LORD is God, and he has given us light.

Book of Revelation

I, John, your brother, who share with you the distress, the kingdom, and the endurance we have in Jesus, found myself on the island called Patmos because I proclaimed God's word and gave testimony to Jesus.
I was caught up in spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a voice as loud as a trumpet,
which said, "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."
Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and when I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands
and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, wearing an ankle-length robe, with a gold sash around his chest.
When I caught sight of him, I fell down at his feet as though dead. He touched me with his right hand and said, "Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last,
the one who lives. Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I hold the keys to death and the netherworld.
Write down, therefore, what you have seen, and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, «Peace be with you.»
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
(Jesus) said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."
Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe."
Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of (his) disciples that are not written in this book.
But these are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

St. Benedict Menni(Priest († 1914))

Saint Benedict Menni Priest, O.H., Founder of the Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1841-1914) Benedict Menni was a faithful follower of Saint John of God and, through his words and deeds, was a herald of the Gospel and prophet of hospitality.His origins and Hospitaller vocation Benedict was born in Milan on March 11, 1841 and baptized the same day. He was named Angelo Ercole - Ercole being Italian for "Hercules." He was the fifth of fifteen children born to Luigi Menni and Luisa Figini. His warm and hospitable home gave him the support and stimulus he needed to develop character and virtues. God's call came early on: faithful to his conscience, he gave up a good position in a bank, and with his selfless attitude to the suffering he volunteered to work as a stretcher-bearer to assist the soldiers wounded on the battlefield at Magenta, near Milan. The spirit of dedication and self-denial of the Brothers of St John of God attracted our future saint, and at the age of nineteen he applied to enter the Hospitaller Order. Taking the name Benedict, he was consecrated to God and caring for the sick.His Hospitaller formation and mission Benedict's vocation as Hospitaller was revealed through his care for the wounded and ill. Not only did he place himself at the service of all, but he was loyal to his superiors. At the time, Spain - the cradle of the Hospitaller Order - was embroiled in political strife with open hostility to all religious orders, and the work of St. John of God was in jeopardy. Taking the bull by the horns - taking the helm of the ship - St. Benedict stepped in to fill crucial responsibilities and rejuvenated the order. Being sent to Spain in 1867, St. Benedict both restored the order of St. John of God and founded the Congregation of the Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.Restoration of the Hospitaller Order Sent to Spain by the Prior General of the Order, Fr Giovanni M. Alfieri, who always supported him, and with the blessing of Pope Visitor and Prior General of the Order Pius IX, even before he left Rome Benedict Menni demonstrated a will of iron and a determined spirit. Only a few months after his arrival in Spain he set up his first children's hospital in Barcelona (1867), marking the beginning of his extraordinary work of restoration, which he was to carry through over the next 36 years. From the first moment, thanks to his commitment to his vocation, numerous generous followers rallied around him, and it was through them that he was able to guarantee continuity to his new Hospitaller institutions that were springing up in Spain, Portugal and Mexico, to spread subsequently throughout the New World.Foundation of the Hospitaller Sisters When he arrived in Granada (1878), Benedict Menni came in contact with two young women, Maria Josefa Recio and Maria Angtistias Gimenez, who set up a new women's hospital specifically to provide psychiatric care in 1881. The Mother House of the "Congregation of the Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus" was founded at Ciempozuelos, Madrid and received the approval of the Holy See in 1901. Six words summarize their identity in the Hospitaller service: "pray, work, endure, suffer, a love God and silence". The new institution soon spread its wings by becoming established in several countries in Europe and Latin America, and later on in Africa and Asia. Today, as the Congregation celebrates the canonization of its founder, Benedict Menni, the Sisters are present in 24 countries, with over 100 Hospitaller centres.Visitor and Prior General of the Order Benedict Menni's opera magna spread, at the request of the Holy See, to the whole Order when he was appointed Apostolic Visitor (1909-1911) and subsequently Prior General (1911), which he had to resign one year later as a result of misunderstandings and for health reasons. He spent the last two years of his life in humility and purification, and died a holy death at Dinan, France, on 24 April 1914. His mortal remains were taken by the Spanish Brothers to Ciempozuelos, and today are venerated under the high altar in the Founders' Chapel in the Hospitaller Sisters' Mother House there.In the glory of the saints The process for St. Benedict's canonization opened from 1945-1947 in the diocese of Madrid, where he is buried. On May 11, 1982 the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints recognized Benedict's virtues as heroic, and assigned to him the posthumous title of "Venerable." Following the official acceptance of the miraculous healing of Asuncion Cacho thanks to St. Benedict's intercession, Fr. Benedict was proclaimed "Blessed" in St. Peter's Basilica on June 23, 1985, and "Saint" on November 21, 1999 by Pope John Paul II.

St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen(Martyr (1577-1622))

Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen Capuchin Priest and Martyr (1577-1622) St. Fidelis was born in Sigmaringen, Southern Germany to a noble family in 1577. He frequently received the sacraments, visited the sick and the poor, and spent hours praying at the altar. For a time, he followed the legal profession and was remarkable for his advocacy of the poor and his respectful language towards opponents. Finding it difficult to become both a rich lawyer and a good Christian, Fidelis entered the Capuchin Order. True to his calling, he embraced a life of austerity and prayer, performing voluntary self-disciplines for the sake of all suffering souls. Having been sent to Switzerland by the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, Father Fidelis braved every peril and drew souls from Calvinism to the Church founded by Jesus Himself. When preaching at Seewis im Práttigau, he was shot by Calvinist nationalists. Undeterred, Fr. Fidelis continued preaching, and was lynched. When Fr. Fidelis refused to apostate, the lynch mob hacked and cut him to death with swords. Death did not stop Fr. Fidelis' love. A martyr, he reigns in heaven with our Lord forever. In recognition of his heroic virtues and the miracles proceeding from his intercession, Pope Benedict XIV canonized St. Fidelis on June 29, 1746.

Bl. Maria Elisabetta Hesselblad (1870-1957)()

BLESSED MARIA ELISABETTA HESSELBLAD (1870-1957) Maria Elisabetta Hesselblad was born in the little village of Faglavik, in the province of Alvsborg, Sweden on June 4, 1870. The following month, she was baptized and received into the Reformed Church of Sweden in her parish in Hundene. She was the fifth of thirteen children born to Augusto Roberto Hesselblad and Cajsa Pettesdotter Dag. Her childhood was lived out in various places because economic difficulties forced the family to move on several occasions. In 1886, in order to make a living and to support her family, she went to work first of all in Karlosborg and then in the United States of America. She went to nursing school at the Roosevelt hospital in New York and dedicated herself to home care of the sick. This meant that she continually had to make many sacrifices, which did not do her health any good, but certainly helped her soul to flourish. The contact she had with so many sick Catholics and her thirst for truth helped to keep alive in her heart her search for the true flock of Christ. Through prayer, personal study and a deep daughterly devotion to the Mother of the Redeemer, she was decisively led to the Catholic Church and, on the 15 August 1902, in the Convent of the Visitation in Washington, she received conditional baptism from Fr. Giovani Giorgio Hagen, S.J., who also became her spiritual director. Looking back on that moment of grace, she wrote, "In an instant the love of God was poured over me. I understood that I could respond to that love only through sacrifice and a love prepared to suffer for His glory and for the Church. Without hesitation I offered Him my life, and my will to follow Him on the Way of the Cross." Two days later, she was nourished by the Eucharist, and then she left for Europe. In Rome, she received the Sacrament of Confirmation, and she clearly perceived that she was to dedicate herself to the unity of Christians. She also visited the church and house of Saint Bridget of Sweden (+ 1373), and came away with a deep and lasting impression: "It is in this place that I want you to serve me." She returned to the United States, and her fragile health notwithstanding, she left everything on 25 March 1904 to settle in Rome at the Casa di Santa Brigida, receiving a wonderful welcome from the Carmelite Nuns who lived there. In silence and in prayer, she made great progress in knowledge and love of Christ. She fostered devotion to Saint Bridget and Saint Catherine of Sweden, and nourished a growing concern for her people and the Church. In 1906, Pope Saint Pius X allowed her to take the habit of the Order of the Most Holy Saviour of Saint Bridget and profess vows as a spiritual daughter of the Swedish saint. In the years that followed, she strove to bring back to Rome the Order of the Most Holy Saviour, and to that end she visited the few existing Brigettine monasteries in Europe, an experience that brought joys, disappointments and no concrete help. Her dream of bringing to birth a Brigettine community in Rome that was made up of members coming from monasteries of ancient observance, was not realized. However Divine Providence, in ways that were quite unexpected, enabled a new branch to grow from the ancient Brigettine trunk. In fact, on the 9 November 1911, the Servant of God welcomed three young English postulants and refounded the Order of the Most Holy Saviour of Saint Bridget, whose particular mission was to pray and work, especially for the unity of Scandinavian Christians with the Catholic Church. In 1931, she experienced the great joy of receiving the Holy See's permission to have permanent use of the church and house of Saint Bridget in Rome. These became the centre of activity for the Order which, driven on by its missionary zeal, also established foundations in India (1937). During and after the Second World War, the Servant of God performed great works of charity on behalf of the poor and those who suffered because of racial laws. She promoted a movement for peace that involved catholics and non-catholics; she multiplied her ecumenical endeavours; and for many people who belonged to other religions or other christian confessions, she was part of their journey towards the Catholic Church. From the very beginning of her Foundation, she was particularly attentive to the formation of her spiritual daughters, for whom she was both a mother and a guide. She implored them to live in close union with God, to have a fervent desire to be conformed to our Divine Saviour, to possess a great love for the Church and the Roman Pontiff, and to pray constantly that there be only one flock and one shepherd, adding, "This is the prime goal of our vocation." She also devoted herself to fostering a unity of spirit within the Order. "The Lord has called us from different nations," she wrote, "but we must be united with one heart and one soul. In the divine Heart of Jesus we will always meet one another and there we seek our strength to face the difficulties of life. May we be strengthened to practice the beautiful virtues of charity, humility and patience. Then our religious life will be the antechamber to Heaven." On other occasions she said, "Our religious houses must be formed after the example of Nazareth: prayer, work, sacrifice. The human heart can aspire to nothing greater." Throughout her life, she remained faithful to what she had written in 1904: "Dear Lord, I do not ask to see the path. In darkness, in anguish and in fear, I will hang on tightly to your hand and I will close my eyes, so that you know how much trust I place in you, Spouse of my soul." Hope in God and in His providence supported her in every moment, especially in times of testing, solitude and the cross. She put the things of Heaven before the things of earth, God's will before her own, the good of her neighbour before her own benefit. Contemplating the infinite love of the Son of God, who sacrificed Himself for our salvation, she fed the flame of love in her heart, as manifested by the goodness of her works. Repeatedly to her daughters she said, "We must nourish a great love for God and our neighbors; a strong love, an ardent love, a love that burns away imperfections, a love that gently bears an act of impatience, or a bitter word, a love that lets an inadvertence or act of neglect pass without comment, a love that lends itself readily to an act of charity." The Servant of God was like a garden in which the sun of charity brought to bloom the flowers of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. She was filled with care and concern for her Sisters, for the poor, the sick, the persecuted Jewish people, for priests, for the children to whom she taught Christian doctrine, for her family and for the people of Sweden and Rome. She was a humble Sister and most obliging to all who sought her help. She always felt a sense of duty and great joy in sharing with others the gifts she had received from the Lord, and this she did with gentleness, graciousness and simplicity. She was prudent in her work for the Kingdom of God, in her speaking, acting, advising and correcting. She had great respect for the religious freedom of non-christians and non-catholics, whom she received gladly under her roof. She practiced justice towards God and neighbour, temperance, self-control, reserve, detachment from the honours and things of the world, humility, chastity, obedience, fortitude in tribulation, perseverance in her praise and service of God, and faithfulness to her religious consecration. She walked with God, clinging to the cross of Christ, who was her companion from the days of her youth. "For me," she said, "the way of the Cross has been the most beautiful of all because on this path I have met and known my Lord and Saviour." Unremittingly, her physical suffering went hand in hand with her moral suffering. The cross became particularly heavy and painful during the final years of her life, when the Holy See prepared the Canonical Visit of her Order as her health got progressively worse. In prayer and peaceful submission to God's will, she prepared herself for the final meeting with the Divine Spouse, who called her to Himself in the early hours of April 24, 1957. The reputation for holiness which surrounded her in life increased after her death; and almost immediately, the Vicariate of Rome began the cause for Beatification. She was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II on April 9, 2000 at Rome.

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Category: Mass by Year / Catholic Missal 2022 / Catholic Missal of april 2022