John Gregory provides the commentary for the Fourth Sunday after Easter from Father George Leo Haydock found in many Douay-Rheims version of the New Testament. How ironic when false prophets and antipopes are trying to justify the Jews in their sin, when Bishop Bernard Fellay ignores this after years of resisting in order to now compromise with the devil - that we have this wonderful Gospel of St. John the Evangelist on the truth. Our Lord foretold many times that the Jews would be a stubborn lot and indeed that has proven true for still today they brag about rejecting Him and expect faithful Catholics to tow their line rather than God's. More proof they answer to the prince of the world and not to the Son of God Who alone provides eternal happiness, re-emphasized so many times, especially in today's Gospel where Jesus promises He will always be with His children for He will not leave His apostles shorthanded. No, as promised, He will send His Spirit, the Holy Ghost which proves the
Filioque of the Creed as we see in today's commentary for the Fourth Sunday after Easter in
Promise of the Paraclete
Father Benedict Hughes, CMRI, Rector of St. Joseph's Minor Seminary in Rathdrum, Idaho at the City of Mary presents a thirteen-minute sermon recorded two years ago and made available through Traditional Catholic Sermons for the Fourth Sunday after Easter, also known as "
Cantáte Sunday" after the Introit
"Cantáte Domino", which means "Sing to the Lord" and which Father addresses how we are now preparing for the Advocate as Christ promises that through thick and thin, He will be with us always for He will send His Spirit. Father provides encouragement, especially to parents who often consider their greatest cross is their children who have strayed from the true Faith. He reminds them that God judges the effort, not the results and equates the courageous efforts of missionaries who strove to convert so many and never saw the fruits of their efforts, but that they gave it their all. He urges all to not give up hope and to realize, as Jesus affirms, that there will always be
The Joys and Sufferings of Life. Father also provides a sermon on a devout servant of Mary and how we can also be devoted slaves of Our Lady with
St. Louis de Montfort and True Devotion
Bishop Daniel Dolan offers a potpourri of saints for this day in relating the lives and virtues of four saints, beginning with St. Paul of the Cross, the persevering servant of the Lord who bore his sufferings with great joy and was rewarded as was the holy martyr St. Vitalis who has a commemoration this day as well as remembering St. Peter Chanel, and of course the holy slave of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Louis Marie de Montfort who fought Jansenism and founded the Company of Mary as well as the Sisters of Wisdom in spreading the holy Faith and providing a foundation for future generations of faithful Catholics. His Excellency provides this tableau of holy men whom we celebrate for
Saints honored on April 28
This year we bookend the week with Doctors of the Church with Sunday's feast of St. Anselm and today's feast of St. Peter Canisius. This Dutch-born Jesuit priest played a key role in the landmark dogmatic and canonical Council of Trent and in debating the Protestant heresies while whirling through his native Netherlands and Germany, Austria, Bohemia and Poland. He was a great eloquent preacher sought by prince and pauper alike. He served as mediator between Holy Roman Emperors and Popes. He also founded the University of Fribourg in 1580. One of his most famous works was "Manual of Catholics" and he is referred to as the "Second Apostle of Germany," giving way only to the great Saint Boniface as the "First Apostle of Germany." Because of his efforts, the counter-reformation was a resounding success in Bavaria. He was truly the Windmill of Wisdom.
There are many devotions we can practice throughout the day, but one of the most efficacious of these, besides the holy Rosary, is the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary which Karl D. Keller is anxious to share with all. There are various versions - long ones and short ones - dedicated to Our Lady and it is the intention here to share the approved devotion with
Nihil Obstat and
Imprimatur from over a century ago with readers. Here Karl presents the second hour of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Lauds, which means "Praise." It is much shorter than Matins and can be said at the appointed hour of 3 a.m. but if one needs sleep it can be added after Matins or at dawn before Prime or, if one so desires, to say it continually with the other hours in succession.
Lauds
April 25 is the feast of the holy Evangelist Saint Mark, represented by the Angelic Lion foreseen in the Old Testament by the Prophet Ezechiel when the latter received a glorious vision of the four Evangelists and their purpose which comprised the entire first chapter of the Prophesy of Ezechiel. These winged creatures, who many believe were angels in the prophet's vision, foresaw St. Matthew depicted as a human angel, St. Mark as the winged lion - or, in heraldic terms, a griffin, St. Luke as the winged ox, and St. John as the glorious eagle all with the purpose of spreading the news of the Messiah Who sat upon the throne of Heaven. It is said St. Mark received his moniker, if you will, from his description of St. John the Baptist of whom the evangelist begins his gospel in St. Mark 1: 2-3, "As it is written in Isaias the prophet: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare the way before thee. A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight His paths." John Gregory cites the Catholic Encyclopedia's claim that St. Mark wrote from St. Peter's point of view for he wrote what was preached by Simon-Peter, Petrus - the Rock upon which Christ established His only true Church on earth for all time as He promised and as was foretold in the Old Covenant. Holy Griffin of the Gospels
In Book Four of Chapter Thirty-Nine of the Prophesies and Revelations of the holy mystic St. Bridget of Sweden, the Blessed Virgin Mother speaks with her divine Son how much the bride - St. Bridget - is like a lamb that places so much trust in the lion (Christ) that she is willing to put her head in His mouth. St. Bridget hears Christ's answer and His request to His Mother to explain further of the reasons why this is good as Our Lady illustrates the meaning to the bride of how the lion and the lamb tie is so perfectly, and how God permits some things to happen because of human ingratitude and impatience that otherwise would not happen to them.
This Lion ain't lyin'!
Griff Ruby presents part four of his series and points out that many do not realize how important it is for the salvation of one's soul to understand what being Catholic truly means. It is not just doing as one is told without realizing that what one may be instructed to do is wrong. That is how dictators and despots rise to power, that is how heresies spread, that is how the Great Apostasy implanted itself in the fabric of the Church and society in our times. It wasn't as important to souls as it should be and many sloughed it off as, "oh, well" when the pull of the world, the flesh and the devil occupied their every waking moment instead of God and things of Heaven. That and the fact that Catholics simply took for granted they knew their faith. Let's be honest. If we did, would Vatican Two really have seen the light of day? Back then we could blame it on the Bishops and
periti but 50 years later those who still cling to the conciliar clutches have no excuses. Griff explains in part four
Your Duty to Know
His Excellency Bishop Mark Pivarunas, CMRI focuses on the mystery of the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and the stark contrast of the awe and reverence afforded the True Presence of Our Lord and Savior compared with the travesty of the Novus Ordo with atrocities galore that not only scandalize but veer greatly from what was set in stone at the dogmatic Council of Trent. His Excellency details the reason why true priests take such caution and reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, something so sorely missing today in the Novus Ordo lodges, which only reinforce the Traditional Catholic stance that what the Conciliar church offers is invalid and totally null and void as is obvious in.
True Reverence for the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar
April 21st is the traditional feast of the holy Doctor of the Church and Bishop Saint Anselm who was a crusader against lay investiture, fiercely loyal to Rome and to his vocation as a priest who loved his flocks. They rewarded him by fiercely standing behind him against mighty temporal kings. He was a Frenchman who conquered the Brits with love. He was the father of Scholastic Theology. He was the holy doctor from Piedmont whose writings and teachings became an important barometer for another Doctor of the Church - the angelic doctor St. Thomas Aquinas a little over a century later. St. Anselm was the uncompromising Archbishop of Canterbury in the middle ages who lived 76 years and is known best as the
Father of Scholasticism.
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