DAILY LITURGY

Click Here to go
GOSPEL and Reflections for the days below

Friday, April 23: Easter Weekday and
Feast of Saint George, Martyr and
Feast of Saint Adalbert, Bishop and Martyr

First Reading: Acts 9: 1-20
Psalms: Psalm 117: 1-2 and Mark 16: 15
Gospel Reading: John 6: 52-59

      Born near the end of the third century, Saint George became a great Roman soldier, being elevated to tribune for his bravery by the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Though he had been born of Christian parents, George did not become a Christian until he realized the atrocities being done to the Christians by his emperor. George openly rebuked Diocletian and begged the emperor to follow Jesus. For his efforts George was thrown into prison and eventually beheaded by the evil emperor around 303 AD. He became the icon for the Christian cause as his courage reinforced fortitude in every Christian. He has always been depicted as the great dragon-slayer - defeating the devil in the same vein as Saint Michael except George was upon a horse, garbed in Roman armor. Legend of his exploits spread throughout Europe and many miracles were attributed to his intercession after his death by those pilgrims who visited his tomb. Devotion to St. George was one of the most ancient and wide spread in the early Church. His fame prompted England to choose him as her patron saint and his feast was declared a national holiday there in the 13th Century. He is the patron saint of soldiers and Boy Scouts.

      Born during the dark ages and the great turmoil in Rome, Saint Adalbert of Magdeburg became a monk in the St. Maximin Monastery in Treves, Italy. With the demise of the Theophylact family influence, the Holy Roman Empire was resurrected with the election of Otto I who dispatched Adalbert to Russia to convert the Russian subjects of the newly-converted Russian princess Olga who had been baptized in Constantinople. However her pagan son Svyatoslav rejected his mother's faith and wrestled the crown from her in 961. He tried to kill the missionaries but most escaped including Adalbert who fled west toward Kiev where some were captured and killed, but Adalbert managed to elude his captors and returend to Mainz where he spent four years in Otto's court. In 962 the Emperor appointed him the first archbishop of Magdeburg in Saxony where Adalbert would have jurisdiction over the Slavs. For the next nineteen years Adalbert evangelized and baptized the Slavic people as well as reforming religious congregations in his diocese. While visiting Merseburg in 981, a group of pagans ganged up on the bishop and killed him, making Adalbert a martyr of the Church.

Saturday, April 24: Easter Weekday and
Feast of Saint Fidelis of Sigmaren, Priest, Religious and Martyr

First Reading: Acts 9: 31-42
Psalms: Psalm 116: 12-17
Gospel Reading: John 6: 60-69

     This saint was one of many who God rose up during the "Century of Saints" to counter the Protestant Revolt of the 16th Century. Saint Fidelis was born in Sigmaringen, France in 1577 of noble parents. Always devout to the sacraments, Fidelis became a Capuchin monk, embracing a life of austerity and prayer. The Congregation of Propaganda appointed him to go to Switzerland to save as many souls as possible from the growing heresy of Calvinism. While preaching in Sevis, Switzerland a Calvinist fanatic shot at him, but he would not be deterred. After his sermon, a mob of Protestants confronted him, headed by a Calvinist minister who ordered him to renounce his faith. Fidelis replied, "I came to refute your errors, not to embrace them. I will never renounce Catholic doctrine, which is the truth of all ages, and I fear not death." Incensed, the Calvinists pierced him through with their scabbards. He died for the true faith and Jesus Christ.

SUNDAY, April 25: FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
World Day of Prayer for Vocations

This year the Fourth Sunday of Easter supersedes the feast of SAINT MARK, Evangelist which is normally observed on April 25th.

     Converted by Saint Peter after Jesus ascended into Heaven, Saint Mark accompanied Peter to Rome, becoming Peter's secretary as Peter recounted the life of Christ for Mark to record in Greek for the Gentiles. Mark is noted for the vivid images he portrayed of Christ's personality to give us a better insight into the Son of God, such as "He embraced...the little children." After Peter's death, Mark was dispatched to Egypt where he found the Church of Alexandria and was responsible for large numbers of converts. He was the father of the anchorites, the early hermits, and he set up a great Christian school to educate the populace. Upset with his influence, heathens captured him, dragging him over rough hewn stones and flinging him into a dark prison cell. There, consoled by Angels through a magnificent vision of Jesus, Mark lovingly embraced his death in true love for Christ and His followers. Mark is represented as a lion since his gospel begins with Saint John the Baptist as the "voice of one crying in the wilderness."

First Reading: Acts 2: 14, 36-41
Psalms: Psalm 23: 1-6
Second Reading:1 Peter 2: 20-25 Gospel Reading: John 10: 1-10

Monday, April 26: Fourth Monday of Easter

First Reading: Acts 11: 1-18
Psalms: Psalm 41: 3; 42: 2-3; 43: 3-4
Gospel Reading: John 10: 11-18