Read entire reflection online >>> May 22: Saint Rita of Cascia—Optional Memorial 1386–1457 Patron Saint of abuse victims, impossible causes, sickness, wounds, parenthood, and widows Invoked against marital problems, fighting and discord, and infertility Canonized by Pope Leo XIII on May 24, 1900 Liturgical Color: White Quote: Dear brothers and sisters, the worldwide devotion to Saint Rita is symbolized by the rose. It is to be hoped that the life of everyone devoted to her will...

Read entire reflection online >>> May 21: Saint Christopher Magallanes, Priest and Martyr and Companions, Martyrs—Optional Memorial 1869–1927 Venerated especially in Mexico Invoked against government persecution Canonized by Pope John Paul II on May 21, 2000 Liturgical Color: Red Quote: “The Church … had peace and was built up; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it was multiplied” (Acts 9: 31). We can well apply this passage from the Acts...

Read entire reflection online >>> May 20: Saint Bernardine of Siena, Priest—Optional Memorial 1380–1444 Patron Saint of public relations, public speaking, and advertisers Invoked against gambling addictions and chest problems Canonized by Pope Nicholas V on May 24, 1450 Liturgical Color: White Quote: The name of Jesus is the splendor of preachers, because it causes His Word to be proclaimed and heard with glowing splendor. Whence, do you think, came the great, sudden, and shining...

Read entire reflection online >>> Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church—Memorial Celebrated the Monday after Pentecost Liturgical Color: White Quote: Indeed, the Mother standing beneath the cross (cf. Jn 19:25), accepted her Son’s testament of love and welcomed all people in the person of the beloved disciple as sons and daughters to be reborn unto life eternal. She thus became the tender Mother of the Church which Christ begot on the cross handing on the Spirit. Christ, in...

Read entire reflection online >>> Pentecost Sunday—Solemnity Liturgical Color: Red Quote: When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as...

Read entire reflection online >>> May 18: Saint John I, Pope and Martyr—Optional Memorial c. Late Fifth Century–526 Invoked against temptations toward false unity and acceptance of heresy Pre-Congregation canonization Liturgical Color: Red Quote: Who does not envy the happiness of a martyr in his dungeon, when he beholds the inward joy, peace, and sentiments of charity with which he closes his eyes to this world! And much more when he contemplates in spirit the glory with which...

Read entire reflection online >>> May 15: Saint Isidore—USA Optional Memorial c. 1070–c. 1130 Patron Saint of Madrid, farms, farmers, bricklayers, and rural communities Invoked against the death of a child Canonized by Pope Gregory XV, March 12, 1622 Liturgical Color: White Quote: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. ~Matthew 6:33 Prayer: Saint Isidore, you were born into poverty and worked by the sweat of your...

Read entire reflection online >>> May 14: Saint Matthias the Apostle—Feast First Century Patron Saint of alcoholics, carpenters, and tailors Invoked against smallpox Pre-Congregation canonization Liturgical Color: Red Quote: After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his...

Read entire reflection online >>> May 13: Our Lady of Fátima—Optional Memorial 1916–1917 Liturgical Color: White Quote: Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration… The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and...

Read entire reflection online >>> May 12: Saint Pancras, Martyr—Optional Memorial c. 289–c. 304 Patron Saint of children, jobs, and health Invoked against cramps, false witnesses, headaches, and perjury Pre-Congregation canonization Liturgical Color: Red Quote: In the same place, on the Aurelian road, the holy martyr Pancratius, who, at fourteen years of age, endured martyrdom by decapitation under Diocletian. Also, at Rome, Saint Denis, uncle of the same blessed Pancratius....

Read entire reflection online >>> May 12: Saints Nereus and Achilleus, Martyrs—Optional Memorial Died c. 98 Pre-Congregation canonization Liturgical Color: Red Quote: Nereus and Achilleus the martyrs joined the army and carried out the cruel orders of the tyrant, obeying his will continually out of fear. Then came a miracle of faith. They suddenly gave up their savagery, they were converted, they fled the camp of their evil leader, throwing away their shields, armor, and bloody...

Read entire reflection online >>> May 10: Saint Damien de Veuster of Molokai, Priest—USA Optional Memorial 1840–1889 Patron Saint of outcasts and those suffering from leprosy Canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009 Liturgical Color: White Quote: Dear brother, I continue happy and content and even though I am very sick, I only want to fulfill the will of the Good God….I am still able, though not without some difficulty, to stand every day at the altar where I never...

Read entire reflection online >>> May 10: Saint John of Ávila, Priest and Doctor of the Church—Optional Memorial 1499–1569 Patron Saint of Spanish priests Canonized by Pope Paul VI on May 31, 1970 Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI on October 7, 2012 Liturgical Color: White Quote: I know of nothing better than to meditate on the fact that our Lord, with Whom we are to treat, is both God and man, and to think over the reasons for which He comes down upon the...

Read entire reflection online >>> The Ascension of the Lord—Solemnity Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter or on the Seventh Sunday of Easter Liturgical Color: White Quote: When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you...

Read entire reflection online >>> May 3- Saints Philip and James, Apostles—Feast Saint Philip: c. 4–c. 80 Patron Saint of hatmakers and pastry chefs Saint James: First century BC–c. 62 Patron Saint of pharmacists and the dying Pre-Congregation canonizations Liturgical Color: Red Quote: The next day he decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and told him,...

Read entire reflection online >>> May 1: Saint Joseph the Worker—Optional Memorial Patron Saint of workers Liturgical Color: White Quote: Work was the daily expression of love in the life of the Family of Nazareth. The Gospel specifies the kind of work Joseph did in order to support his family: he was a carpenter. This simple word sums up Joseph’s entire life. For Jesus, these were hidden years, the years to which Luke refers after recounting the episode that occurred in the...

Read entire reflection online >>> May 2- Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor—Memorial c. 296–373 Patron Saint of theologians Pre-Congregation canonization Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568 Liturgical Color: White Quote: Now when Arius and his fellows made these assertions, and shamelessly avowed them, we being assembled with the Bishops of Egypt and Libya, nearly a hundred in number, anathematized both them and their followers. But Eusebius and his...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 30: Saint Pius V, Pope—Optional Memorial 1504–1572 Patron Saint of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith Invoked for the reform and defense of the Church Canonized by Pope Clement XI on May 22, 1712 Liturgical Color: White Quote: From the very first, upon Our elevation to the chief Apostleship, We gladly turned our mind and energies and directed all our thoughts to those matters which concerned the preservation of a pure liturgy, and...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 29: Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church—Memorial 1347–1380 Patron Saint of Europe, Italy, nurses, the sick, and those ridiculed for their piety Invoked against fires, miscarriages, temptations Canonized by Pope Pius II on June 29, 1461 Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI on October 4, 1970 Proclaimed Co-Patron of Europe by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 1999 Liturgical Color: White Quote: Do you not...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 28: Saint Peter Chanel, Priest and Martyr—Optional Memorial 1803–1841 Patron Saint of Oceania Canonized by Pope Pius XII on June 12, 1954 Liturgical Color: Red Quote: It does not matter whether or not I am killed; the religion has taken root on the island; it will not be destroyed by my death, since it comes not from men but from God. ~Saint Peter Chanel Prayer: Saint Peter, God placed the seed of desire in your heart as a youth to give...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 28: Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort, Priest—Optional Memorial 1673–1716 Patron Saint of preachers Canonized by Pope Pius XII on July 20, 1947 Liturgical Color: White Quote: I declare with the saints: Mary is the earthly paradise of Jesus Christ the new Adam, where He became man by the power of the Holy Spirit, in order to accomplish in her wonders beyond our understanding. She is the vast and divine world of God where unutterable marvels...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 25: Saint Mark the Evangelist—Feast c. 12–c. 68 Patron Saint of attorneys, captives, shoemakers, lions, notaries, glass workers, Egypt, and Venice Invoked against impenitence, insect bites, scrofulous & struma diseases Pre-Congregation canonization Liturgical Color: Red Quote: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 24: Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr—Optional Memorial c. 1577–1622 Patron Saint of lawyers and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples Canonized by Pope Benedict XIV in 1746 Liturgical Color: Red Quote: Catholic faith, how stable, how firm you are, how well‐rooted, how well‐founded on a strong rock. Heaven and earth will pass away, but you can never perish. From the beginning the whole world has spoken against you,...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 23- Saint Adalbert, Bishop and Martyr—Optional Memorial c. 956–997 Patron Saint of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic Canonized by Pope Sylvester II in 999 Liturgical Color: Red Quote: Adalbert is that evangelical seed which fell to the earth and died, and has brought forth a manifold harvest in all the nations associated with his mission. This was the case of Bohemia, Hungary, the Poland of the Piast, and also of Pomerania, Gdansk,...