5th Sunday of EasterOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Saints Philip and James, Apostles) Philip was born at Bethsaida and started as a disciple of John the Baptist. After the Baptist’s death he followed Christ.James the son of Alphaeus is called “James the Less”, to distinguish him from James the son of Zebedee. James “the brother of the Lord” ruled the Church at Jerusalem; wrote an epistle; led an austere life; and converted many Jews to the Faith. He was crowned with martyrdom in the year 62.Jerome held these two Jameses to be the same person, and this was certainly the prevailing opinion when the feast of Philip and James was instituted in 560. Nowadays scholars prefer to divide them, in which case we might think of today as being the feast of Philip and James and James.

Saint Athanasius, Bishop, DoctorOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassSaint Athanasius (295 - 373) He was born in Alexandria. He assisted Bishop Alexander at the Council of Nicaea and later succeeded him as bishop. He fought hard against Arianism all his life, undergoing many sufferings and spending a total of 17 years in exile. He wrote outstanding works to explain and defend orthodoxy.Athanasius’s passion for the truth seems tactless to many of us today, to the point where some Catholic devotional works even express embarrassment over it. This is grotesque. Before we congratulate ourselves on being more gentle and civilised than Athanasius and his contemporaries, we should look at the lack of charity that characterizes academic controversies today (from string theory to global warming) and the way that some of the participants are willing to use any weapon that comes to hand, from legal persecution to accusations of madness to actual assault. The matters in dispute with the Arians were more important than any of these scientific questions. They were vital to the very nature of Christianity, and, as Cardinal Newman put it, the trouble was that at that time the laity tended to be champions of orthodoxy while their bishops (seduced by closeness to imperial power) tended not to be. The further trouble (adds Henry Chadwick) is that the whole thing became tangled up with matters of power, organization and authority, and with cultural differences between East and West. Athanasius was accused of treason and murder, embezzlement and sacrilege. In the fight against him, any weapon would do.Arianism taught that the Son was created by the Father and in no way equal to him. This was in many ways a “purer” and more “spiritual” approach to religion, since it did not force God to undergo the undignified experience of being made of meat. Islam is essentially Arian, granting Jesus a miraculous birth, miracles, death (though not crucifixion) and a resurrection, but all as a matter of God demonstrating his power by committing more spectacular miracles than usual. Arianism leaves an infinite gap between God and man, and ultimately destroys the Gospel, leaving it either as a fake or as a cruel parody. It leaves the door open to Manichaeism, which mixes Zoroastrian, Buddhist and Gnostic elements into Christianity, so that God is good but creation is bad (or at best, a mistake) and the work of an evil anti-God. Only by being orthodox and insisting on the identity of the divine natures of the Father and the Son and the Spirit can we truly understand the goodness of creation and the love of God, and live according to them.See also the article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia.

Saint Mark, EvangelistOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassSt Mark the Evangelist He was a cousin of Barnabas and accompanied the apostle Paul on his first missionary journey; later he followed him to Rome. He was a disciple of Peter, and his gospel is told from Peter’s point of view. He is credited with founding the Church in Alexandria. His body was stolen from Alexandria in 828 (though some say that the wrong bones were stolen) and taken to Venice, which adopted him as its patron saint. See the article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia.(ANZAC Day) Every year on the 25th of April, Turks, Australians, and New Zealanders gather for a special dawn service at Gallipoli to commemorate the battle there.A speech by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1934:“Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives: you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore, rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.”A speech by Richard Casey, Baron Casey, governor-general of Australia, in 1967:“We left the Gallipoli Peninsula fighting against the Turks and losing thousands of people but with a great admiration and appreciation for the Turkish nation and its unmatched love for its country. All Australians love Mehmetcik as if they are their own sons. Their bravery, love for its country and people, their irresistible majesty and courage in the trenches, and their love for their country is admired by all Anzacs and those are traits which should be taken as an example by all humanity. With gratitude and respect to Mehmetçik.”

Friday of the 4th week of Eastertide, or Saint Joseph the Worker Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Joseph the Worker) The feast of Saint Joseph the Worker is not a mere Catholic copying of the Communist First of May – any more than Christmas is a mere copy of the pagan feast of Saturnalia. The dates are taken over, for obvious reasons; but the content is radically different.The Christian view of work is the opposite of the materialist view. A worker such as St Joseph is not a mere lump of labour – “1.00 human work units.” He is a person. He is created in God’s own image, and just as creation is an activity of God, so creation is an activity of the worker. The work we do echoes the glorious work that God has done. It may not be wasted; or abused; or improperly paid; or directed to wrong or pointless ends. To do any of these things is not oppression, it is sacrilege. The glory of the present economic system is when it gives so many, of whatever class, the chance to build and create something worthwhile, whether from their own resources, or in collaboration with others, or by attracting investment from others. But its shame is when that does not happen: when people are coerced, by greed or by poverty, into being “lumps of labour.” Whether the labour is arduous or not makes no difference; whether it is richly paid or not makes no difference.Because she must combat the anti-humanist Communist heresy the Church is sometimes thought to be on the side of capital. Reading the successive Papal encyclicals on labour and society, from Rerum Novarum (1891) onwards, will soon dispel that illusion. The enemies of the Church have no reason to read them; all too often we feel too comfortable in our present economic state and refrain from reading them also.See the Wikipedia article on Catholic social teaching.

Thursday of the 4th week of Eastertide, or Saint Pius V, Pope Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Pope St Pius V (1504 - 1572)) He was born near the Italian town of Alexandria, on the Adriatic, and joined the Dominicans and taught theology. He was made a bishop and fought to reform the moral laxity of the clergy. He was elected Pope in 1566. He strenuously promoted the Catholic Reformation that was started by the Council of Trent. He encouraged missionary work and reformed the liturgy. See the articles in the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia.(Saint Marie of the Incarnation (1599-1672)) Born in Tours, France, Marie married and had a son before her husband, Claude Martin, died. He left behind a struggling business that Marie was able to make profitable before selling. Free to pursue her religious inclinations, she experienced a mystical vision on 24 March 1620, that set her on a new path of devotional intensity. After working with a Spiritual Director for many years, she decided to enter the Ursuline Convent in Tours to try her vocation. She abandoned her son to the care of her family, but the emotional pain of the separation would remain with her. Later, when her son become a monk, they corresponded candidly about their spiritual and emotional trials.Sometime near 1638, Marie de l’Incarnation was guided by visions to go to Canada and found a convent. Marie, along with two Ursulines and Madame de la Peltrie, landed at Québec City in August 1639. They managed to found the first hospital in Canada as well as an Ursuline Congregation. She was canonized by Pope Francis on 3 April 2014. See the article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia.(Our Lady, Mother of Africa) North Africa gave the Church many saints, such as Monica and Augustine, and many important theologians. It remained Christian until the Arab invasions.The first Christian Bishop of Algiers in modern times, Bishop Antoine-Adolphe Dupuch, was appointed in 1838 to minister to the French colonists who lived in Algeria, but felt called by God to restore Christianity to the whole population, hoping that in time it would spread from Algeria to the whole of Africa.At the beginning, Bishop Dupuch found it impossible to build a church because the local population was hostile to the French. He went back to France for assistance. The Sodality of Our Lady in Lyon offered to the bishop a bronze statue of the Immaculate Conception with the understanding that she would be the Protectress of both the Muslims and the natives. It was brought from France in 1840 and was entrusted to the Cistercian monks of Staueli. Later, Cardinal Lavigiers, founder of the White Sisters, enshrined it in the new basilica at Algiers, where in 1876 the image was crowned. This bronze statue, very dark in colour, is known as Our Lady of Africa.Pilgrims began to come to venerate the image where the lame, the blind, and the crippled were miraculously healed, and sailors came also to beg for protection of their long and perilous voyages. At this and other North African shrines the veneration given to Mary by Muslims is very marked. This feast commemorates the crowning of the Algiers statue. See the full article at the web site of the basilica.

Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin, DoctorOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassSt Catherine of Siena (1347 - 1380) Catherine was born in Siena and, seeking perfection, entered the Third Order of the Dominicans when she was still in her teens. In 1370 she was commanded by a vision to leave her secluded life and enter the public life of the world. She wrote letters to many major public figures and carried on a long correspondence with Pope Gregory XI, urging him to reform the clergy and the administration of the Papal States. She burned with the love of God and her neighbour. As an ambassador she brought peace and harmony between cities. She fought hard to defend the liberty and rights of the Popes and did much for the renewal of religious life. She also dictated books full of sound doctrine and spiritual inspiration. She died on 29 April 1380. In 1970 Pope Paul VI declared her a Doctor of the Church.

Tuesday of the 4th week of Eastertide, or Saint Peter Chanel, Priest, Martyr , or Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Priest Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Peter Chanel (1803 - 1841)) He was born in France, at Cuet (near Belley), in 1803. He had been a priest for three years when he was accepted by the Marists, a missionary order. He was sent out to evangelize the island of Futuna in the Pacific, where cannibalism had only recently been banned by the local ruler, Niuliki. At first all went well, and Father Chanel and his lay assistants made many converts; but as he learned the local language and gained the confidence of the people, Niuliki became jealous and fearful; and the baptism of his son and his son’s friends was the last straw. While Father Chanel’s companions were away, Niuliki sent men who set upon him and clubbed him to death. His mission had lasted only three years: he is the first martyr of the South Seas. See the article in Wikipedia.(St Louis Mary Grignion de Montfort (1673 - 1716)) He was born to a poor family in 1673, at Montfort-La-Cane in Brittany, and was ordained at the age of 27. He had a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and wrote a book, The Secret of the Rosary, which is the first work to describe the method by which the Rosary is prayed today. He founded the Company of Mary, a missionary band of men, and the Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Wisdom, a religious institute of women devoted to the poor. See the articles in the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia.(Blessed María Guggiari Echeverría (1925-1959)) She was born in 1925 in the Guairá province of Paraguay, the first of seven children. She was baptized on 28 February 1929.In 1941 she became a member of the Catholic Action movement – despite her parents’ opposition to it – and she dedicated herself to the movement and the care of the poor and the suffering, while also serving as a catechist for children. It was during her time with Catholic Action that she met and fell in love with the medical student Saua Angel and she began to wonder if God wanted her to marry, like the parents of Thérèse of Lisieux, who made vows to remain chaste in the married life. She waited for the Lord’s will to manifest itself. In May 1951 Angel told her that he felt called to the priesthood. She decided to offer whatever assistance he needed, and helped him to hide his plans from his father, who was a Muslim. In April 1952 she bade farewell to Angel, who departed for Madrid for further studies and to continue to discern his vocation. In November he took the decision to study for the priesthood, and this prompted Maria to discern her own call to the religious life. Her parents were strongly opposed, but she entered the Discalced Carmelite Order on 2 February 1955 and received the habit six months later. She took her initial vows on 15 August 1956 along with her new religious name. During her life as a religious she wrote around 48 letters to Angel, now Father Angel.On 7 January 1959 she became ill with infectious hepatitis and was forced to move into a sanatorium to recover. On 28 April 1959, as she was dying, propped on cushions and surrounded by her siblings and parents, she sat up and spoke her final words at 4:10 am: “Jesus, I love you! What a sweet encounter! O Virgin Mary!” She had asked the prioress to read a poem of Teresa of Ávila before she died. She was beatified on 23 June 2018.(Saint Giovanna Beretta Molla)

Monday of the 4th week of EastertideOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Saint Asicus (- c.490)) He was converted to Christianity by St Patrick, who made him bishop of Elphin. He is the patron saint of that diocese. See the article in Wikipedia.(Saint Maughold) Nothing is known of him beyond a legend which makes him a pirate in Ireland, who was told by St Patrick to put to sea in a coracle without oars as a penance for his misdeeds. He landed on the Isle of Man where, after suitable reparation, he was made bishop.(Bl. Hosanna of Kotor OP (1493 - 1565)) Virgin and Lay Dominican.Catherine Kosic was born of Orthodox parents in the country of Montenegro (Yugoslavia) in 1493. As a young girl she was a shepherdess, but wishing to follow Christ more closely she embraced the solitary life, assumed the habit of a Dominican Tertiary and took the name Hosanna. She spent her life in contemplation and prayer for the salvation of the world and became a counselor for many people. She died on April 27, 1565. Blessed Hosanna is invoked especially for church unity.

4th Sunday of EasterOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Our Lady of Good Counsel) (Bl. Robert Anderton (1560 - 1586) and William Marsden (-1586)) Robert Anderton (c. 1560- 1586) was born in either Lancashire or the Isle of Wight or, according to some, the Isle of Man. He graduated from Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1578. Shortly after he went abroad and converted to Roman Catholicism. He entered the English College at Rheims in 1580 and there met William Marsden, a Lancashireman. The two were ordained priest together.After ordination they set sail for England, but were caught in a storm. They prayed that they would be allowed to die on land rather than at sea. Driven ashore on the Isle of Wight by the storm, they were immediately arrested by the authorities. In court at Winchester, they pleaded that they had not violated the law by landing in England, since their landing had been involuntary. They defended their faith and the Pope and acknowledged that they had come to exercise their ministry and reconcile people to God and the Church. This led to their being taken to London, where they were asked to take the Oath of Supremacy, acknowledging Elizabeth as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. They acknowledged the queen as their lawful queen in all secular affairs but refused to swear the Oath. As this was a treasonable offence under the Second Act of Supremacy, they were condemned to death, were returned to the Isle of Wight near the place where they had landed, and were hung, drawn and quartered on 25 April 1586.They were beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929.Portsmouth Ordo

Pope Francis' top diplomats met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on April 19, where the two sides discussed migrants and refugees following months of clashes between U.S. church leaders and the Trump administration over immigration policy and foreign aid.