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,...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 23- Saint George, Martyr—Optional Memorial Died c. 303 Patron Saint of agricultural workers, soldiers, archers, equestrians, chivalry, peacekeeping missions, sheep, shepherds, scouting, England and many other countries, cities, and dioceses Invoked against skin diseases and syphilis Pre-Congregation canonization Liturgical Color: Red Quote: Immediately on the publication of the decree against the churches in Nicomedia, a certain man, not...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 21- Saint Anselm of Canterbury, Bishop and Doctor of the Church—Optional Memorial c. 1033–1109 Especially invoked by scholastic philosophers and in Canterbury Possibly canonized prior to 1170; canonization confirmed by Pope Alexander VI on October 4, 1494 Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Clement XI in 1720 Liturgical Color: White Quote: Man cannot seek God, unless God himself teaches him; nor find him, unless he reveals himself. God...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 13: Saint Martin I, Pope and Martyr—Optional Memorial c. 595–655 Pre-Congregation canonization Invoked by those persecuted by the state Liturgical Color: Red (Purple if Lenten Weekday) Quote: It is now forty-seven days since I have been permitted to wash myself either in cold or warm water. I am quite wasted and chilled, and have had no respite either upon sea or land from the flux which I suffer. My body is broken and spent, and, when I...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 11- Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr—Memorial 1030–1079 Patron Saint of Poland, soldiers in battle, moral order Canonized by Pope Innocent IV on September 17, 1253, in Assisi, Italy Liturgical Color: Red (Purple if Lenten Weekday) Quote: Just as a baptized person comes to Christian maturity by means of this sacrament of Confirmation, so Divine Providence gave to our nation, after its Baptism, the historical moment of Confirmation. Saint...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 8: Annunciation of the Lord—Solemnity Normally celebrated on March 25, but transfered to April 8 due to Holy Week this year Liturgical Color: White Quote: Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. ~Luke 1:38 Prayer: Most glorious and ever-virgin Mary, when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to you to announce the coming of God within your virginal womb, you inquired with humility how this could be. The...

Read entire reflection online >>> Divine Mercy Sunday—Solemnity Eighth Day of of the Octave of Easter Liturgical Color: White Prayer: You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us (#1319). Jesus, I trust in You. Source of content: mycatholic.life Copyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved....

Read entire reflection online >>> April 7: Saint John Baptist de La Salle, Priest—Memorial 1651–1719 Patron Saint of educators Canonized by Pope Leo XIII on May 24, 1900 Liturgical Color: White (Purple if Lenten Weekday) Quote: Indeed, if I had ever thought that the care I was taking of the schoolmasters out of pure charity would ever have made it my duty to live with them, I would have dropped the whole project. For since, naturally speaking, I considered the men whom I was...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 5: Saint Vincent Ferrer, Priest—Optional Memorial c.1350–1419 Patron Saint of builders, plumbers, fishermen, and prisoners Canonized by Pope Calixtus III in 1455 Liturgical Color: White (Purple if Lenten Weekday) Quote: By study of Holy Scripture and by factual experience we know that when any great and heavy affliction is about to come on the world, often some warning sign is shown in the sky or in the upper air. And this happens by the...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 4: Saint Isidore, Bishop and Doctor of the Church—Optional Memorial c.560–636 Patron Saint of computer technicians, the Internet, and students Pre-Congregation canonization Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1722 by Pope Innocent XIII Liturgical Color: White (Purple if Lenten Weekday) Quote: Isidore, a man of great distinction, bishop of the church of Seville, successor and brother of bishop Leander, flourished from the time of Emperor...

Read entire reflection online >>> April 2: Saint Francis of Paola, Hermit—Optional Memorial 1416–1507 Patron Saint of boatmen, mariners, and naval officers Canonized by Pope Leo X on May 1, 1519 Liturgical Color: White (Purple if Lenten Weekday) Quote: Brothers, I most strongly urge you to work for the salvation of your souls with prudence and diligence. Death is certain, and life is short and vanishes like smoke. Therefore you must fix your minds on the passion of our Lord Jesus...

Read entire reflection online >>> Easter Sunday—Solemnity c. 33 A.D. Liturgical Color: White Quote: Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven, exult, let Angel ministers of God exult, let the trumpet of salvation sound aloud our mighty King’s triumph! Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all corners of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness. Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice, arrayed with the...

Read entire reflection online >>> Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion Triduum Liturgical Color: Red Quote: “Let him be crucified!” But he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” They only shouted the louder, “Let him be crucified!” ~Matthew 27:22–23 Prayer: My suffering and sacrificial Lord, You have sanctified this day and endowed it with grace. As I commemorate Your saving sacrifice, draw me into this mystical act of love. Help me to remain prayerful and recollected throughout this...