Monday of the Third Week of Easter
Featured Saints
St. Leo IX, Pope (†1054). As Bishop of Toul, France, he ardently defended the rights of the Church. Elected Pope, he convoked several synods to reform the clergy and eradicate simony.
St. Alphege, bishop and martyr (†1012). He was Bishop of Canterbury at the time of the Danish invasion of England. When he refused to abandon his flock, he was imprisoned and brutally murdered for refusing to pay his own ransom with alms collected from the poor.
St. Geroldus, hermit (†circa 978). A nobleman from Saxony, he led a life of penance and prayer in the region of Vorarlberg, in the Bavarian Alps.
Blessed Bernard, penitent (†1182). To expiate for the sins of his youth, he set out on pilgrimage to the Holy Land barefoot and with frugal provisions; he died in the Abbey of Saint-Bertin, France.
St. Mappalicus and companions, martyrs (†250). Killed during the Decian persecution for refusing to sacrifice to idols.
St. Martha of Persia, virgin and martyr (†341). Suffered martyrdom one day after her father Pusai in ancient Persia during the persecutions of King Shapur II.
Blessed James Duckett, martyr (†1602). Imprisoned for selling Catholic books, he was hanged
after nine years in prison, during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Acts 6:8-15
Stephen, filled with grace and power, was working great wonders and signs among the people. Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen, Cyreneans, and Alexandrians, and people from Cilicia and Asia, came forward and debated with Stephen, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. Then they instigated some men to say, “We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.” They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, accosted him, seized him, and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They presented false witnesses who testified, “This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him claim that this Jesus the Nazorean will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.” All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 119:23-24, 26-27, 29-30 (R.1ab)
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Though princes meet and talk against me,
your servant meditates on your statutes.
Yes, your decrees are my delight;
they are my counselors. R.
I declared my ways, and you answered me;
teach me your statutes.
Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds. R.
Remove from me the way of falsehood,
and favor me with your law.
The way of truth I have chosen;
I have set your ordinances before me. R.
Gospel – Jn 6:22-29
[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw Him walking on the sea.]
The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found Him across the sea they said to Him,
“Rabbi, when did You get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for Me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on Him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
So they said to Him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one He sent.”
I read about Blessed Bernard the Penitent…a wonderful individual. Someone truly sorry for his sins (whatever they were).