Saturday of the Fifth Week of Eastertide

Year of Saint Joseph

Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia The Joy of Love"

Month of May Dedicated to Our Lady and a “Marathon” of Prayer to End the Pandemic 

Other saints: Blessed Christian de Cherge and the Martyrs of Algeria (1994-1996); Blessed Catherine of Saint Augustine (1632-1668); Blessed John Sullivan (1861-1933); Blessed Aloysius Rabata (c.1443-1490); Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary over the entire Order of Preachers

Readings of the Day

RB: Prologue 45-50

Mass: Acts 16:1-10; Resp Ps 100; Jn 15:18-21

Know that the Lord is God; He made us, His we are.

MARY, QUEEN OF MARTYRS,

PRAY FOR US.

We conclude today the Prologue of the Holy Rule of Saint Benedict. At the same time, we remember the Martyrs of Algeria, nineteen individuals slain in Algeria between 1994 and 1996 during the Algerian Civil War. Seven of them were Trappist monks from the Atlas Abbey of Tibhirine. Along with the conclusion of the Prologue, I include words from one of the martyred monks, Christophe Lebreton, from his journal Born from the Gaze of God: The Tibhirine Journal of a Martyr Monk (1993-1996). They reveal, among other things, his faithfulness to the Holy Rule.

We live together in a land of hope. We cultivate it. We are dwellers in your house. We live there. We pray there. We abide there until its time to die. We live together in your hand. Who could dislodge us from this blatant happiness?

(May 7, 1995, p. 151)

Therefore we intend to establish a school of the Lord's service. In drawing up its regulations, we hope to set down nothing harsh, nothing burdensome. The good of all concerned, however, may prompt us to a little strictness in order to amend our faults and safeguard love. Do not be daunted immediately by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation. It is bound to be narrow at the outset. But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God's commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love. Never swerving from his instructions, then, but faithfully observing his teaching in the monastery until death, we shall through patience share in the sufferings of Christ that we may deserve also to share in his kingdom. Amen.

(Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue 45-50)

BLESSED CHRISTIAN DE CHERGE AND THE MARTYRS OF ALGERIA,

BLESSED CATHERINE OF SAINT AUGUSTINE,

BLESSED JOHN SULLIVAN,

BLESSED ALOYSIUS RABATA,

SAINT JOSEPH, PATRON OF THE POOR,

MARY, MOTHER OF MERCY,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Blessed Christian de Cherge and the Monks of Atlas through the hand of Sister Suzanne, ocso.

© Gertrude Feick 2021