"Just as in one man there is one soul and one body, yet many members; even so the Catholic Church is one body, having many members. The soul that quickens this body is the Holy Spirit; and therefore in the Creed after confessing our belief in the Holy Spirit, we are bid to believe in the Holy Catholic Church." St. Augustine
Today's Meditation
“After the events of the Resurrection and Ascension, Mary entered the Upper Room together with the Apostles to await Pentecost, and was present there as the Mother of the glorified Lord. … Thus there began to develop a special bond between this Mother and the Church. For the infant Church was the fruit of the Cross and Resurrection of her Son. Mary, who from the beginning had given herself without reserve to the person and work of her Son, could not but pour out upon the Church, from the very beginning, her maternal self-giving. After her Son’s departure, her motherhood remains in the Church as maternal mediation: interceding for all her children, the Mother cooperates in the saving work of her Son, the Redeemer of the world. In fact the Council teaches that the ‘motherhood of Mary in the order of grace . . . will last without interruption until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect’. With the redeeming death of her Son, the maternal mediation of the handmaid of the Lord took on a universal dimension, for the work of redemption embraces the whole of humanity.”
—Pope St. John Paul II, p. 129-30
Daily Verse
"But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8
St. Bernard Montjoux
Saint of the Day
St. Bernard of Montjoux (c. 923–1008 A.D.), also known as St. Bernard of Menthon, was born to a wealthy and noble family in the Kingdom of Arles (present day France and Switzerland). As an adult he refused an honorable marriage and determined instead to give his life in service to the Church. He became a priest in northern Italy and spent more than four decades doing missionary work in the Alps. He built schools and churches, and is especially known for aiding travelers. The area where he ministered had an ancient, snowy, and dangerous pass winding through the mountains along which pilgrims traveled to and from Rome. To serve the pilgrims St. Bernard built a hospice at the highest point of the pass, 8,000 feet above sea level. Later he founded another hospice along another smaller pass. St. Bernard obtained papal approval for communities of priests to serve in the hospices, which have generously aided travelers for more than a millennium. The priests and their well-trained dogs (the St. Bernard breed named for the saint) would seek and rescue lost pilgrims. St. Bernard was declared the patron saint of skiers and mountain climbers by Pope Pius XI in 1923. His feast day is celebrated on May 28th.
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Pentecost Sunday
Feast Day
When Jesus ascended into heaven forty days after His resurrection, He instructed the Apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the sending of the Holy Spirit. Ten days later the eleven Apostles, together with the Blessed Virgin Mary, were praying in the Upper Room on the Lord’s Day. The Holy Spirit descended upon them as tongues of fire, as recorded in the second chapter of Acts. Jews from distant lands were gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of the harvest of the first-fruits, which was the closing festival of the Pascal season. The Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, began to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the various languages of the people. Scripture records that through this miracle 3,000 souls were baptized and added to the Church that same day. Because of this, Pentecost is considered the birthday of the Catholic Church.
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Month of Our Lady
Devotion of the Month
In addition to the myriad feast days honoring Our Lady under her many titles and virtues, the entire month of May is especially given to her praise. In the words of Pope Paul VI, May is "a month which the piety of the faithful has long dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God … For this is the month during which Christians, in their churches and their homes, offer the Virgin Mother more fervent and loving acts of homage and veneration; and it is the month in which a greater abundance of God's merciful gifts comes down to us from our Mother's throne."
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Daily Prayers
Prayer for the Dead
In your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust our brothers and sisters.
In this life you embraced them with your tender love;
deliver them now from every evil and bid them eternal rest.
The old order has passed away: welcome them into paradise,
where there will be no sorrow, no weeping or pain,
but fullness of peace and joy with your Son and the Holy
Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
Prayer of Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Prayer for the Holy Father
Almighty and everlasting God, have mercy upon Thy servant, Pope Francis, our Supreme Pontiff, and direct him, according to Thy loving kindness, in the way of eternal salvation; that, of Thy gift, he may ever desire that which is pleasing unto Thee and may accomplish it with all his might. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen. Our Father. Hail Mary.