Monday, April 1, 2019

APRIL

Lush and blooming vistas beckon us to take to the road and to explore. As we itch to go out and travel more in springtime, let us reflect on the mixed blessings. Interconnected communities and beautiful scenery are often coupled with air pollution, consumption of scarce petroleum, congestion, excessive mobility, and noise.

Overview of April[1]

The month of April is dedicated to The Holy Spirit. The end of Lent, the Sacred Triddum, and the beginning of the Easter fall in April this year. During the first twenty days we are in Lent which is represented by the liturgical color purple — a symbol of penance, mortification and the sorrow of a contrite heart. Then we enter into the Easter in which the color changes to white, the color of light, a symbol of joy, purity, and innocence.

After our solemn commemoration of the last days and death of Our Lord we will spend the month of April celebrating. As Spring breaks forth even nature will join us as buds and blooms begin to surface and we spend this month basking in the joy of the Resurrection. We continue throughout the entire month our cry, "Christ is risen, Christ is truly risen." The Feast of Divine Mercy offers us the opportunity to begin again as though we were newly baptized. The unfathomable mercy of God is made manifest today if we but accept His most gracious offer. Easter is the feast of feasts, the unalloyed joy and gladness of all Christians. This truly is "the day that the Lord has made." From Sunday to Sunday, from year to year, the Easters of this earth will lead us to that blessed day on which Christ has promised that He will come again with glory to take us with Him into the kingdom of His Father.

· The saints that we will focus on this month — those who have already shared in the rewards of the Resurrection — are St. Francis of Paola (April 2), St. Isidore (April 4), St. Vincent Ferrer (April 5), St. Stanislaus (April 11), St. Martin I (April 13), St. Bernadette (April 16), St. Catherine of Siena (April 29) and St. Pius V (April 30).

· The feast of St. John Baptist de la Salle (April 7) falls on Sunday so is superseded the Sunday liturgy. The feasts of St. Anselm (April 21), St. George and St. Adalbert (April 23), St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen (April 24), St. Mark (April 25), Our Lady of Good Counsel (April 26) and St. Louis Mary de Montfort and St. Peter Chanel (April 28) are superseded by the Easter Week liturgy.

April is also:[2]

· Autism Awareness Month

· Jazz Appreciation Month

· Garden Month

· Month of the Military Child

APRIL 1 Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

ALL FOOLS DAY

Joshua, Chapter 10, Verse 1-2

¹ Now when Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, heard that Joshua had captured Ai and put it under the ban, and had done to that city and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made their peace with Israel, remaining among them, ² there was great fear abroad, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, greater even than Ai, and all its men were warriors.

Gibeon was going to get a beat down by the Canaanite Kings because it had aligned with Israel. Joshua showed he was a man of virtue by coming to the aid of Gibeon even if the treaty was by trickery. Often you can tell the character of a person by how they treat their past enemies and how they respond to overwhelming odds. Israel the smallest of nations came to the defense of Gibeon to fight an enemy five times larger, but the faith of Joshua and his army multiplied their numbers. Faith is always a great multiplier in overcoming odds take the story of Glen Cunningham who beat the odds to go on to compete at the Olympics.

Glenn Verniss Cunningham (August 4, 1909 – March 10, 1988) was an American distance runner and athlete considered by many the greatest American miler of all time. Cunningham was nicknamed the "Kansas Flyer", the "Elkhart Express" and the "Iron Horse of Kansas".

Cunningham's legs were very badly burned in an explosion caused when someone accidentally put gasoline instead of kerosene in the can at his schoolhouse when he was eight and his brother Floyd was thirteen. Floyd died in the fire. When the doctors recommended amputating Glenn's legs, he was so distressed his parents would not allow it. The doctors predicted he might never walk normally again. He had lost all the flesh on his knees and shins and all the toes on his left foot. Also, his transverse arch was practically destroyed. However, his great determination, coupled with hours upon hours of a new type of therapy, enabled him to gradually regain the ability to walk and to proceed to run. It was in the early summer of 1919 when he first tried to walk again, roughly two years after the accident. He had a positive attitude as well as a strong religious faith. His favorite Bible verse was Isaiah 40:31:

"But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

He competed in both the 1932 Summer Olympics as well as the 1936 Summer Olympics. While on the ship traveling from the U.S. to Germany, he was voted "Most Popular Athlete" by his fellow Olympians.

In 1934, he set the world record for the mile run at 4:06.8, which stood for three years.^{^[3]}

Become this Easter an Iron Horse for the Lord!

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Prayer. GRANT, we beseecli Thee, Almighty God, that, keeping with yearly devotion these sacred observances, we may please Thee both in body and mind.

EPISTLE, in. Kings iii. 16-28.

In those days: There came two women that were harlots to King Solomon, and stood before him: and one of them said: I beseech thee, my lord, I and this woman dwelt in one house, and I was delivered of a child with her in the chamber. And the third day after that I was delivered, she also was delivered, and we were together, and no other person with us in the house, only we two. And this woman s child died in the night: for in her sleep she overlaid him. And rising in the dead time of the night, she took my child from my side, while I thy hand maid was asleep, and laid it in her bosom: and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold it was dead: but considering him more diligently when it was clear day, I found that it was not mine which I bore. And the other woman answered: It is not so as thou sayest, but thy child is dead, and mine is alive. On the contrary, she said: Thou liest: for my child liveth, and thy child is dead. And in this manner, they strove before the king. Then said the king: This one saith: My child is alive, and thy child is dead. And the other answereth: nay, but thy child is dead, and mine liveth. The king therefore said: Bring me a sword. And when they had brought a sword before the king, divide, said he, the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. But the woman whose child was alive, said to the king (for her bowels were moved upon her child): I beseech thee, my lord, give her the child alive, and do not kill it. But the other said: Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. The king answered, and said: Give the living child to this woman, and let it not be killed, for she is the mother thereof. And all Israel heard the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king, seeing that the wisdom of God was in him to judgment.

GOSPEL. John ii. 13-25.

At that time: the Pasch of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple them that sold oxen and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting. And when He had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, He drove them all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers He poured out, and the tables He overthrew. And to them that sold doves He said: Take these things hence, and make not the house of My Father a house of traffic. And His disciples remembered that it was written: The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up. The Jews therefore answered, and said to Him: What sign dost Thou show unto us, seeing Thou dost these things?

Jesus answered, and said to them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said: Six and forty years was this temple in building, and wilt Thou raise it up in three days?

But He spoke of the temple of His body. When therefore He was risen again from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture, and the word that Jesus had said. Now when He was at Jerusalem at the Pasch, upon the festival-day, many believed in His name, seeing His signs which He did. But Jesus did not trust Himself unto them, for that He knew all men, and because He needed not that any should give testimony of man: for He knew what was in man.

Lenten Calendar[4]

Read: The Seven Penitential Psalms, Day Six:

We return to the penitential psalms we explored last week.

(During times when we wish to express repentance and especially during Lent, it is customary to pray the seven penitential psalms. The penitential designation of these psalms dates from the seventh century. Prayerfully reciting these psalms will help us to recognize our sinfulness, express our sorrow and ask for God’s forgiveness.)

Today we will focus on Psalm 130.

Reflect: Read a reflection of Psalm 130—Prayer for Pardon and Mercy. Pray “Out of the depths I call to you, LORD; Lord, hear my cry! May your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.” (Ps 130:1-2)

Act: From great depths of his soul, the psalmist cries out to the Lord in anguish. But he waits for the Lord, he looks for the Lord, and he hopes in the Lord.

The Tree of Knowledge[5]

Meditation - The Tree of Knowledge and the Cross. The sin that was wrought through the tree was undone by the obedience of the tree, obedience to God whereby the Son of man was nailed to the tree, destroying the knowledge of evil, and bringing in and conferring the knowledge of good; and evil is disobedience to God, as obedience to God is good. And therefore the Word says through Isaiah the prophet, foretelling what was to come to pass in the future—for it was because they told the future that they were "prophets"—the Word says through him as follows: I refuse not, and do not gainsay, my back have I delivered to blows and my cheeks to buffets, and I have not turned away my face from the contumely of them that spat. [Is. 50, 6] So by obedience, whereby He obeyed unto death, hanging on the tree, He undid the old disobedience wrought in the tree. And because He is Himself the Word of God Almighty, who in His invisible form pervades us universally in the whole world, and encompasses both its length and breadth and height and depth—for by God's Word everything is disposed and administered—the Son of God was also crucified in these, imprinted in the form of a cross on the universe; for He had necessarily, in becoming visible, to bring to light the universality of His cross, in order to show openly through His visible form that activity of His: that it is He who makes bright the height, that is, what is in heaven, and holds the deep, which is in the bowels of the earth, and stretches forth and extends the length from East to West, navigating also the Northern parts and the breadth of the South, and calling in all the dispersed from all sides to the knowledge of the Father. — St. Irenaeus

Things to Do:

· The fasting desired by the Lord is not so much denying oneself food (although this is important) but rather, consists in "Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own." Many families take these words to heart by having an inexpensive, penitential dinner on Fridays in Lent (such as beans and rice) and then giving the extra money to the poor.

· Many families give each child one pretzel during Friday dinners in Lent. Remind your children of the spiritual significance of the pretzel.

· Pray the Stations of the Cross today with your family. An excellent version with beautiful meditations composed by our Holy Father is his Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum. Some other recommended versions are: Eucharistic Stations of the Cross, and the more traditional Stations of the Cross written by Saint Alphonsus Liguori can be found in most Catholic bookstores. Here are some guidelines for praying the Stations of the Cross in your home.

· Any of the linked activities (Fun Pretzel Project, Lenten Scrapbook, Candelabrum for Stations of the Cross) are a perfect way for your children to spend their Friday afternoons throughout this season of Lent.

All fool’s Day

April Fools' Day is a light-hearted comedic day of cheer, practical jokes and hoaxes. April Fools' Day has been observed for centuries although its origins remain unclear. It has been suggested that in ancient Roman and Hindu cultures, the day originally marked ‘New Year’s Day’. Although in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII issued the Gregorian calendar which moved New Year’s Day from April 1st to January 1st. It is believed that those who continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on April 1st were referred to as fools, leading to the concept of April 1st representing All Fools’ Day. It has also been suggested that April Fools' Day is related to the vernal equinox, the beginning of spring, when Mother Nature plays sudden weather tricks on people. The custom of April Fools' was brought from Britain to the US centuries ago. Both kids and adults in North America and many European countries including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Poland, Finland, Iceland, and North American countries have developed traditional customs to celebrate the day. These typically include fooling another person and yelling April fools.

April Fool's Day Facts & Quotes

· Traditionally, pranksters shout April Fool as they reveal the joke. In the United Kingdom, jokes can only be played until midday. If someone plays a joke after midday, then they are the April Fool. In Ireland, tradition was to deliver an important letter to a person, who would then deliver the letter to another person, and so on. Once finally opened, the letter would say send the fool further.

· Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Chinese Proverb.

April Fool's Day Top Events and Things to Do

· Stay on guard! You will surely be the victim of a prank during April Fools' Day, so be extra-careful of pranksters looming around you.

· With social media, you can use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to dupe your friends and family. Celebrities too have been fooled on April Fools Day as fake news about marriage, death or other significant events is propelled on social media by fans.

· One of the best ways to fool someone on April Fools' Day is to call them first thing in the morning. This way, they are less likely to realize that it is April Fools' Day. Our top 3 phone call pranks:
1) Breaking news - create a fictional breaking news item about politics, celebrities, events in your city, etc.
2) You're late for work - tell your friend that the time is 11AM and they aren't at work or school yet.
3) Escaped monkey - a monkey from the local zoo is wandering in the backyard. You just saw a news clip of the monkey on the local news

· Watch a hidden-camera or practical joke TV show. Our top 3 picks:
1) Punk’d
2) Just for Laughs: Gags
3) Impractical Jokers

Learn about Atheist Day[6]

Note: This is not an April fool’s punk

Christmas. Basant. Diwali. Eid al-Adha. Easter. Yom Kippur. Vesak. Hanukkah. Ramadan. There is no shortage of religious holidays celebrated every year. According to recent studies, there are approximately 7.1 billion people currently living in this world, 31% of whom are Christians, 23% of whom are Muslims, 13% of whom are Hindus, and almost 7% of whom are Buddhists. There are also millions of other people who follow religions such as Judaism, Jainism, and Spiritism. But what about those of us who do not believe in a god or gods? An estimated 2% of the world’s population does not adhere to any religion. So why don’t they get to have any holidays? Just because 142 million people don’t believe in God, does mean they don’t like to have a good time, right?

Daily Devotions

· Drops of Christ’s Blood

· Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

· Universal Man Plan

· Nivevah 90-Total Consecration Day15

· Manhood of Christ Day 6, Fourth Week.