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Daily Readings for:April 22, 2014
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: O God, who have bestowed on us paschal remedies, endow your people with heavenly gifts, so that, possessed of perfect freedom, they may rejoice in heaven over what gladdens them now on earth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

o Cold Glazed Baked Ham

o Fruit Tapioca Parfait

ACTIVITIES

o Easter Breakfast Picnic

o Liturgy of Easter Sunday and the Octave of Easter

o Slovakian Easter Custom

PRAYERS

o Easter Week Table Blessing

o Book of Blessings: Blessing Before and After Meals: Easter Season (2nd Plan)

o Easter Tuesday Prayers

o Easter Prayers (for the Octave of Easter)

o Divine Mercy Novena

o Annunciation Novena

o Book of Blessings: Blessing Before and After Meals: Easter Week (1st Plan)

o Book of Blessings: Blessing Before and After Meals: Easter (1st Plan)

o Novena for the Annunciation

o Victimae Paschali: The Easter Sequence

· Easter: April 22nd

· Easter Tuesday

Old Calendar: Easter Tuesday

The first eight days of the Easter season form the Easter octave and are celebrated as solemnities of the Lord. Each day is another little Easter. The Alleluia verse is repeated throughout the octave: "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. Alleluia!"

Stational Church

The Easter sequence (Victimae paschali) can also be said or sung during the week.

The Gospel continues to relate the story of Christ's resurrection — how Mary Magdalene and the other Mary meet Jesus. Jesus tells them "Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."

During the Easter Season, first reading is from the Acts of the Apostles. Today is Acts 2:36-41. Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost to the Jews: "The whole House of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ....You must repent and....be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." They repented, and 3000 were baptized that day.

Our Easter joy should be overflowing. A wonderful Ukrainian (and Polish and Slovakian) custom is the greeting of one another with the words: Khrystos Voskres (Christ is risen). The answer to this greeting is Voistynu Voskres (He is risen, indeed or He is truly risen). Let us adopt this custom to our English language and show our Easter joy to all.

At Rome, the Station for today is in the basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. The church is impatient to lead her white-robed newly baptized to the Apostle of the Gentiles. Though he is not the foundation of the Church, he is the companion of Peter's labors in Rome, his fellow-martyr, and the preacher of the Gospel to the Gentiles.

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Acts 2:36-41

Tuesday within the Octave of Easter

The promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off. (Acts 2:39)

Imagine you had a friend who was always true to his word. When he said he would help you out, you could be confident that he would be there, steady as a rock. Well, you do have a friend like this: your heavenly Father. He is perfectly faithful in all his ways. And he is completely committed to you.

When Peter spoke to the crowd on the day of Pentecost, he assured them that they were heirs of God’s promise, just as the disciples were. Having come from all over the world to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple, they were clearly “far off” (Acts 2:39). But that distance was no obstacle to God. Just so, we too are far off—separated by the march of time, not the stretch of miles—and that distance is no obstacle, either.

The promise is for you! Today and every day. This year and every year. It never fades. It never diminishes. Salvation is yours. So too is the promise of God’s presence, his guidance, and his consolation. So too is the call to follow him and to imitate him. And so too is the assurance that the Holy Spirit will give you every grace and blessing you need to fulfill this great call. God’s faithfulness means that he will always do everything he promised to do. No sin, no circumstance, no darkness can deter him.

How should we respond to this awesome truth? With praise and thanksgiving, of course! But how about a little curiosity as well? Take some time today to do a little Bible study. Choose any Gospel passage you want, and try to identify some of God’s promises that are embedded in it. Look either for promises he makes in this passage, or for promises of his that are being fulfilled in it. If you want some hints, try reading the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) or some of Jesus’ parables (Mark 4) or the story of Easter (John 20). As you do this study, keep reminding yourself that these promises are for you. They’re yours for the taking—each and every one of them!

“Father, I praise you for your faithfulness. May my heart always rest in the assurance of your love.”

Psalm 33:4-5, 18-20, 22; John 20:11-18