MONDAY APRIL 5
Angel Monday

Let us be guided by Pope Francis as we reflect on the profound meaning of this day that immediately follows the Lord’s Pasch: “The Monday after Easter is called ‘Angel Monday,’ according to a very beautiful tradition that corresponds to the biblical sources on the Resurrection. The Gospels tell us (cf. Mt 28:1-10, Mk 16:1-7; Lk 24:1-12) that when the women went to the tomb, they found it open. They were afraid they would not be able to enter because the tomb had been closed with a large stone. Instead, it was open; and from inside, a voice told them that Jesus was not there, but had risen. For the first time, the words were spoken: ‘He has risen.’”
The Evangelists tell us that this first announcement was given by the angels, that is, God’s messengers. There is a meaning to this angelic presence: just as an angel, Gabriel, had announced the Incarnation of the Word, so a human word alone was not enough to announce the Resurrection for the first time. A superior being was needed to communicate such a shocking, utterly incredible reality that perhaps no human being would have dared to proclaim it. After this first announcement, the community of disciples began to repeat: “The Lord has truly risen, and he has appeared to Simon” (Lk 24:34). This is a beautiful proclamation. We can all say it together now: “The Lord has truly risen.” This first proclamation - “The Lord has truly risen” - required an intelligence superior to that of human beings.
Today is a festive day of celebration and fellowship, usually spent with family. It is a family day. After celebrating Easter, we feel the need to gather once again with our loved ones and friends to celebrate. Because fraternity is the fruit of Christ’s Pasch, who through his death and resurrection defeated the sin that separated human beings from God, people from themselves, and people from their brothers and sisters.
Christ’s Resurrection brought something else into the world: the newness of dialogue and relationships, a newness that for Christians has become a responsibility. Indeed, Jesus said: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35). That is why we cannot withdraw into our private lives or our own group; we are called to work for the common good and to care for our brothers and sisters, especially those who are weaker and marginalized. Only fraternity can guarantee lasting peace, defeat poverty, quell tensions and wars, and eradicate corruption and crime. May the angel who tells us, “He is risen,” help us to live out fraternity, the newness of dialogue and relationships, and concern for the common good.

For further reading:
• On Your Word – (March-April 2021 Missal)
• With Living Water

WEDNESDAY, 7 APRIL
Beginning of the Novena to Saint Bernadette

“If we had faith, we would see the good God in everything,” said Bernadette Soubirous, the visionary of Lourdes.
Let us pray to her in the days leading up to her feast day, so that she may teach us to keep in our hearts the certainty that the risen Lord accompanies us in every step we take.

For further reading:
• Lourdes. Novenas to Saint Bernadette
• Saint Bernadette. One of us

SUNDAY, 11 APRIL
Second Sunday of Easter – Divine Mercy Sunday

The Second Sunday of Easter is also Divine Mercy Sunday. Today too, we make the cry “He is risen!” resound loudly, because Divine Mercy is the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to all humanity, which at times seems lost and dominated by the power of evil, selfishness, and fear. In this context, the invocation that Providence suggested through Saint Faustina Kowalska is a great source of help and consolation: “Jesus, I trust in you.”
On this day, we can obtain the plenary indulgence attached to the feast of Divine Mercy.

Here are the conditions for obtaining it:
1. Conversion of heart and rejection of any attachment to sin, even venial sin;
2. Individual confession within the previous 7 days or (if not in mortal sin) the following 7 days;
On Divine Mercy Sunday: 
3. Receive Eucharistic Communion;
4. Pray the Creed and the Our Father;
5. Pray for the Pope’s intentions (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be);
6. Recite a pious invocation in honor of Divine Mercy (e.g., “Jesus, I trust in you!”).

Let us pray with the words of Saint John Paul II, who on August 17, 2002, in Kraków, entrusted the fate of the world to Divine Mercy:

“God, merciful Father,
who revealed Your love in Your Son Jesus Christ,
and You poured it out upon us in the Holy Spirit, the Consoler,
Today we entrust to You the destinies of the world and of every person.
Bend down over us sinners,
heal our weakness,
you defeat every evil,
grant that all the inhabitants of the earth
may they experience your mercy,
so that in You, One and Triune God,
may they always find the source of hope.
Eternal Father,
for the sorrowful Passion and Resurrection of your Son,
have mercy on us and on the whole world! Amen.”

For further reading:
• Jesus, I trust in you
• Saint Faustina and Divine Mercy
• The Hour of Divine Mercy

Saint Gemma Galgani

Saint Gemma Galgani is an example of what it means to nurture in one’s heart the cry that accompanies us this week: “He is risen!”, and therefore to live “as those risen from the dead.”

She was born on March 12, 1878, in the province of Lucca. During a period of illness, Gemma read the biography of Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows and was comforted by visions of the Saint, her spiritual guide, and of her guardian angel.

On June 8, 1900, after receiving the Eucharist, Jesus appeared to her, announcing a very great grace: Gemma felt the weight of sins, but had a vision of Mary, her guardian angel, and Jesus: from Jesus’ wounds, blood no longer flowed, but flames that touched Gemma’s hands, feet, and heart. Her pains lasted until 3 p.m. on Friday, the solemn feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From that evening on, every week Jesus called Gemma to be his collaborator in the work of salvation, joining her to all his physical and spiritual sufferings. At noon on April 11, 1903, Holy Saturday, the bells announced Christ’s resurrection, and Gemma fell asleep in the Lord.

For further reading:
• Saint Gemma Galgani. Let me tell you about myself