Sunday, May 3, 2020, Fourth Sunday of Easter
• Acts 2:14A, 36-41
• Ps 23: 1-3A, 3B4, 5, 6
• 1 Pt 2:20B-25
• Jn 10:1-10
By Marc Massery
Have you ever been lost? Or among strangers, far away and homesick? In circumstances like these, nothing will bring you consolation like seeing the face or hearing the voice of someone you know and love.
Blessed Hanna Chrzanowska, whose feast day is celebrated on April 28th, was born in Warsaw, Poland, on Oct. 7 1902, to a wealthy family, with whom she enjoyed an idyllic childhood. Hanna knew about the nursing profession even as a child, because her maternal aunt, Zofia Szlenkier, who was a well-known philanthropist and founded a paediatric hospital in Warsaw, had studied nursing herself at St. Thomas’ School of Nursing in London, England. When Hanna became ill as a child, and needed to go to hospital, she was admitted to her aunt’s paediatric hospital.
By Annemarie Thimons
For Katie and Adam Luangkhot, devotion to the Divine Mercy played a significant part in their relationship. The couple credits a daily recitation of the Divine Mercy Chaplet with how they came together. While discerning marriage, they made pilgrimages to the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
With the Marian Helpers Center being shorthanded during the pandemic, thankfully the Marian Fathers live just a few hundred yards away, so they can help without technically leaving home. Among the Marian “helpers” are (clockwise from the top left) Fr. Diego Maximino, MIC; Br. Jason Lewis, MIC; Fr. John Larson, MIC; and Fr. Mariusz Jarzabek, MIC.
By Marc Massery
During the coronavirus pandemic, it’s been all hands on deck here at the Marian Helpers Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
By Marc Massery
April 26, 2020, Third Sunday of Easter
•Acts 2:14, 22-33
•Psalms 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
•1 Peter 1:17-21
•Luke 24:13-35
By Chris Sparks
In this time without public Masses, there’s one truth of our faith that’s been ringing in my ears.
Obedience is better than sacrifice.
Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obedience to the LORD’s command?
Obedience is better than sacrifice,
to listen, better than the fat of rams (1 Sam 15:22).
By Chris Sparks
The most powerful thing in creation, by the will of God, is a person’s free will.
Much of the evil and suffering we see in the world today comes from choices made, sometimes by people many thousands of years ago, and sometimes by us today, at this moment. The consequences of free will are second only to God’s own actions in their power.
Why?
After artist Michelle Ryan realized her painting of the Divine Mercy Image should be signed “Jesus, I trust in You,” she added the signature and blessed the Image on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 19, 2020. She also touched up areas that had faded from the previous week’s storms. “We were blessed with a beautiful, sunny, 60 degree day!”
By Terry Peloquin
HOLY MASS ON THE LITURICAL FEAST OF DIVINE MERCY — HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia
Second Sunday of Easter, 19 April 2020
By Marc Massery
Turn to any page of St. Faustina's Diary, and you'll find spiritual gems, like this one:
Today, the Lord came to me and said, My daughter, help Me to save souls. You will go to a dying sinner, and you will continue to recite the chaplet, and in this way you will obtain for him trust in My mercy, for he is already in despair (Diary, 1797).
One of the biggest grossing faith films from the past year, “Love and Mercy: Faustina,” is now available in countries around the world via video-on-demand.
For information on how to watch it, please visit LoveAndMercyMovie.com.
By Harry A. Mooney
I’m a widower with seven children. My third son, Daniel, was afflicted with juvenile onset diabetes when he was 14, and his mother died when he was 17. Those two events changed him — his personality and his outlook on life — and he never fully accepted either one of them.
