Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

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

Saints: Saint Asaph (6th century); Blessed Edmund Rice (1762-1844); Saint Richard Reynolds (-1535); Saint Angelus (1185-c.1220)

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Prologue 21-32

Mass: Acts 8:26-40; Resp Ps 66; Jn 6:44-51

Bless our God, you peoples.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

PRAY FOR US.

I am the bread of life.

(Jn 6:48)

As reminded by a brother, May 3 was the anniversary of the death of Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur (1866-1914), a French laywoman whose cause for canonization is currently underway. Put simply, Elisabeth was remarkable, for among other things, her faith, her devotion to her husband, for her acceptance of others, and for her life given over to service of others, all while undergoing her own ill health and suffering. I first read Salt and Light: The Spiritual Journey of Elisabeth and Felix Leseur and was led, then, to her diary, The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur: The Woman Whose Goodness Changed Her Husband from Atheist to Priest. I have quoted from both before, most recently from the latter just yesterday. Inspired once again by Elisabeth's witness to the faith, I turn to her diary once again. There is one section, Daily Thoughts (1899-1906), that the reader can open and be astounded by this woman. Were my daily thoughts so deep. For some days you will see, as perhaps you did yesterday, just what I am talking about. It seems too, that I often find wisdom related to our readings of the day. By God's grace I am what I am (RB Prologue 31/1 Cor 15:10).

The Eucharist truly acts within us to transform us, almost without our knowing it-as bread and wine, human nourishment, strengthens all our body and blood without our being aware of it. By His contact and the grace He leaves in us, Christ gives us moral health and creates for us another soul. It is not in vain that we lean for a moment upon His heart and confide to Him our burden of suffering, weakness, and anguish.

(E. Leseur, The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur: The Woman Whose Goodness Changed Her Husband from Atheist to Priest, p. 176)

How can we not try to give when we have received so much? How can we not love when infinite Love has renewed and transformed our life?

(ibid. p. 158)

SAINT ASAPH,

BLESSED EDMUND RICE,

SAINT RICHARD REYNOLDS,

SAINT ANGELUS,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: Beauty abounds here, there, and everywhere. 

© Gertrude Feick 2022