Catholic Culture
Easter: May 4th
Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
MASS READINGS
May 04, 2016 (Readings on USCCB website)
COLLECT PRAYER
Grant, we pray, O Lord, that, as we celebrate in mystery the solemnities of your Son's Resurrection, so, too, we may be worthy to rejoice at his coming with all the Saints. 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.
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Recipes (1)
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Activities (3)
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Prayers (4)
- Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven)
- May Pilgrimages
- Easter Season II Table Blessing 3
- Prayers for the Easter Season
Old Calendar: St. Monica, widow; St. Florian (Hist)
According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, this was the feast of St. Monica, widow, Third Class. Her feast in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite is celebrated on August 27.
Historically today is the feast of St. Florian, a Roman military officer stationed at Noricum (Austria) who openly declared himself a Christian during the persecution of co-Emperor Diocletian.
St. Florian
The St. Florian commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on May 4th, was an officer of the Roman army, who occupied a high administrative post in Noricum, now part of Austria, and who suffered death for the Faith in the days of Diocletian. His legendary "Acts" state that he gave himself up at Lorch to the soldiers of Aquilinus, the governor, when they were rounding up the Christians, and after making a bold confession, he was twice scourged, half-flayed alive, set on fire, and finally thrown into the river Enns with a stone around his neck. His body, recovered and buried by a pious woman, was eventually removed to the Augustinian Abbey of St. Florian, near Linz. It is said to have been at a later date translated to Rome, and Pope Lucius III, in 1138, gave some of the saint's relics to King Casimir of Poland and to the Bishop of Cracow. Since that time, St. Florian has been regarded as a patron of Poland as well as of Linz, Upper Austria and of firemen. There has been popular devotion to St. Florian in many parts of central Europe, and the tradition as to his martyrdom, not far from the spot where the Enns flows into the Danube, is ancient and reliable. Many miracles of healing are attributed to his intercession and he is invoked as a powerful protector in danger from fire or water.
Patron: Austria and Poland; firefighters.
Things to Do:
- Read more about St. Florian here.
The Word Among Us
Meditation: Acts 17:15, 2218:1
6th Week of Easter
What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you. (Acts 17:23)
In the opening paragraph of his encyclical Faith and Reason, Pope John Paul II wrote: Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself. Todays first reading depicts the Athenians as a people who earnestly desired to rise to that contemplation of truth, and it tells us how Paul offered them the good news as a way to strengthen their faith wing.
In the time of Paul, the city of Athens was full of temples and shrines to various deities. Using human reason, the Greeks came to the correct, but incomplete, conclusion that there was a vast spiritual realm that we cant fully see or comprehend. Their society was built on the idea that a people would thrive so long as they kept the gods happy and be punished if they did not. So a sense of fear became a built-in part of their spirituality. They were so anxious about keeping every single god happy that they erected a shrine—probably several, according to archaeologists—to an Unknown God, in case they had left anyone out (Acts 17:23).
Notice how gracious Paul is—and how smart. Instead of accusing the Greeks of idolatry, he commends their search for the truth. Then he uses their concept of an unknown god to introduce a new idea: this god has made himself known—and he is the one true God! Not only that, but he has stepped out of the shadows to walk with us.
Recalling this story highlights the miracle of the Incarnation, the miracle of God making himself known to us in a personal way. God saw our longing for the truth, so he sent Jesus to come be with us and to show us the truth. He is no longer unknown. In everything he said and did, especially in his cross and resurrection, Jesus revealed the invisible, all-powerful God. And wonder of wonders, he showed us that God is our Father, our Redeemer, and our Friend!
Thank you, Jesus, for showing me the face of God. Help me know how close you are today.
Psalm 148:1-2, 11-14
John 16:12-15