Tuesday of the Third week of Easter

Acts of the Apostles

Stephen said to the people, the elders, and the scribes: "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the Holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors.
Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.
You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it."
When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him.
But he, filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together.
They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.
As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them"; and when he said this, he fell asleep.
Now Saul was consenting to his execution.

Psalms

Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety.
You are my rock and my fortress;
for your name's sake you will lead and guide me.
Into your hands I commend my spirit;
you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.
My trust is in the LORD;
I will rejoice and be glad because of your mercy.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your kindness.
You hide them in the shelter of your presence
from the plottings of men.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John

The crowd said to Jesus: "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?
Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"
So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

Bl. Anna Rosa Gattorno(Foundress (1831-1900))

BLESSED ANNA ROSA GATTORNO (1831-1900) "My love, what can I do to make the whole world love you? ... Make use once again of this instrument to renew the faith and the conversion of sinners." This generous outburst, uttered at the feet of her 'Supreme Good' who drew her ever closer to Him constituted the deepest yearning of Anna Rosa Gattorno's heart. Anna Rosa was born in Genoa on October 14, 1831, to an authentically Christian, well-to-do family. She was baptized the same day in the S. Donato parish and was named Anna Rosa Maria Benedetta. Anna Rosa and her five siblings received their first human and spiritual formation from their parents, Francesco and Adelaide Campanella. When Anna Rosa was 12 years old, she was confirmed at S. Maria delle Vigne by Cardinal Archbishop Tadini. As an adolescent, Anna Rosa was educated at home, which was customary for the wealthy. She had a serene and loveable character, and was pious and charitable. She was nonetheless firm and knew how to react to the confrontations of political and anticlerical ideologies. Some members of the Gattorno family were similarly affected. At 21 years old, Anna Rosa married her cousin Gerolamo Custo (November 5, 1852). They moved to Marseilles, but unplanned financial difficulties forced them to move to Genoa. Calamity struck when their first child Carlotta became deaf and dumb after a sudden illness. Gerolamo was unsuccessful abroad and succumbed to a fatal illness (March 9, 1858). The two younger children were deeply affected; and Anna Rosa lost her youngest son a few months later. The calamities marked a radical change in Anna Rosa's life, which she called a "conversion" to the total gift of herself to the Lord, to his love and to love of neighbor. Purified by her trials and strengthened in spirit, she understood the redemptive meaning of suffering. She also discerned a vocation. Under the guidance of her confessor, Fr. Giuseppe Firpo, Anna Rosa made private perpetual vows of chastity and obedience on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in 1858. She made vows of poverty as a Franciscan tertiary in 1861. She received daily communion since 1855. She was anchored to the source of grace and conducted a zealous apostolate. In 1862, she received the gift of hidden stigmata, perceived most intensely on Fridays. Anna Rosa wrote: "I dedicated myself with greater zeal to pious works and to visiting hospitals and the poor sick at home, helping them by meeting their needs as much as I could and serving them in all things." Progressing on this path, she was made president of the "Pious Union of the New Ursulines Daughters of Holy Mary Immaculate," founded by Frassinetti, and was entrusted with the revision of the Rule by Archbishop Charvaz.On that precise occasion (February 1864), she received the inspiration for a new Rule and her own specific Foundation. Anna Rosa's vision was supported by a lay Capuchin saint, Francis of Camporosso, her confessor, and the archbishop of Genoa. She sought confirmation from Pius IX, and was tempted by the thought of being denied and leading a comfortable life. During an audience with the pope on January 3, 1866, he said to begin the foundation and added: "This Institute will spread in all the parts of the world as swiftly as the flight of the dove." She wrote in her Memoirs: "I generously offered them (my children) to God and repeated to him Abraham's words: 'Here I am, ready to do your divine will'.... Having offered myself for his Work, I received immense consolations..." Anna Rosa departed Genoa and founded her new religious family in Piacenza. She named it, "Daughters of St. Anne, Mother of Mary Immaculate" (December 8, 1866). She was clothed on July 26, 1867, and on April 8, 1870, made her religious profession, together with twelve sisters. Fr. Tornatore, a priest of the Congregation of the Mission, collaborated with her in the Institute's development. He was requested to write the Rule and was the Institute's co-founder. Anna Rosa established services for the poor, the sick, the elderly and the abandoned. She provided training and integration for vulnerable girls and opened schools for the children of the poor. She called her daughters "Servants of the poor and ministers of mercy." She instructed them: "Be humble ... only think that you are the least of the Church's servants ... and have the grace to belong to her." Less than ten years after its foundation, the Institute obtained the Decree of Praise in 1876. It gained definitive approval in 1879, and its Rule was confirmed 1892. Mother Anna also worked in Piacenza with Bishop Scalabrini, now beatified, and in particular at the institute for deaf-mutes, which he founded. The Daughters of St. Anne spread rapidly in Italy and abroad. The following words, written by the Foundress, were fulfilled: "Oh my Love! How I feel myself burning with the desire to make you known and loved by all! I would like to attract all the world, to give to all, to appease all ... I would like to go everywhere and shout out for everybody to come and love you." In 1878, Anna Maria sent the first Daughters to Bolivia, then to Brazil, Chile, Peru, Eritrea, France and Spain. In Rome, where she began, she organised boys' and girls' schools for the poor, nursery schools, assistance for the new-born babies of workers in the tobacco factory, houses for former prostitutes, serving women, nurses for home care, etc. There she also had the Generalate built, with its adjacent church. In February 1900, Mother Anna Rosa caught a dangerous form of influenza; and her health rapidly deteriorated. On 4 May, she received the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Two days later, at 9.00 a.m., she died a holy death in the Generalate. Her fame of holiness, which surrounded her during life, increased after her death. At her passing, there were 368 houses and 3,500 sisters carrying out the work. In her roles as wife, mother, religious and Foundress, Rosa Gattorno brought great honor to the "feminine genius." She remained a mother to her own children, who she constantly followed, to the Sisters, and to all the needy, the suffering and the unhappy, in whose souls she saw the face of Christ, poor, wounded and crucified. Her charism present in her other institutes: Sisters of Contemplative Life, Religious Association of Priests, the Secular Institute and the Ecclesial Movement for the Laity, which are active in the Church in almost all the parts of the world. Mother Anna Rosa was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 9, 2000 in Rome.

St. Petronax()

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