Vigils Reading - 6th Sunday of Easter
2026-05-10
A reading from
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
◊◊◊
If you love me, said Christ, keep my commandments. I have commanded
you to love one another and to treat one another as I have treated you. To love
me is to obey these commands, to submit to me your beloved. And I will ask the
father, and he will give you another Counselor. This promise shows once again
Christ’s consideration. Because his disciples did not yet know who he was, it was
likely that they would greatly miss his companionship, his teaching, his actual
physical presence, and be completely disconsolate when he had gone. Therefore
he said: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, meaning
another like himself.
They received the Spirit after Christ had purified them by his sacrifice.
The Spirit did not come down on them while Christ was still with them, because
this sacrifice had not yet been offered. But when sin had been blotted out and
the disciples, sent out to face danger, were preparing themselves for the battle,
they needed the Holy Spirit’s coming to encourage them. If you ask why the
Spirit did not come immediately after the resurrection, this was in order to
increase their gratitude for receiving him by increasing their desire. They were
troubled by nothing as long as Christ was with them, but when his departure
had left them desolate and very much afraid, they would be most eager to
receive the Spirit.
He will remain with you, Christ said, meaning his presence with you will
not be ended by death. But since there was a danger that hearing of a Counselor
might lead them to expect another incarnation and to think they would be able
to see the Holy Spirit, he corrected this idea saying: The world cannot receive
him because it does not see him. For he will not be with you in the same way as I
am, but will dwell in your very souls, He will be in you.
Christ called him the Spirit of truth because the Spirit would help them to
understand the types of the old law. By He will be with you he meant, He will be
with you as I am with you, but he also hinted at the difference between them,
namely, that the Spirit would not suffer as he had done, nor would he ever
depart…
He said that the Spirit was another like himself, that he would not leave
them, that he would come to them just as he himself had come, and that he
would remain in them. Yet even this did not drive away their sadness, for they
still wanted Christ himself and his companionship. So to satisfy them he said: I
will not leave you orphans; I will come back to you. Do not be afraid, for when I
promised to send you another counselor I did not mean that I was going to
abandon you for ever, nor by saying that he would remain with you did I mean
that I would not see you again. Of course I also will come to you; I will not leave
you orphans.

Vigils Reading - Holy Abbots of Cluny
2026-05-11
A reading from a letter of St Bernard to Pope Eugenius, on behalf of
PETER THE VENERABLE
◊◊◊
It would be silly for me to write you on behalf of the Lord Abbot of Cluny,
to act as if I wanted to befriend a man whom the entire world befriends. But
although he does not need me to write on his behalf, I am nevertheless doing so
in order to satisfy my affection for him, for this purpose alone and no other.
Although I cannot accompany him in body I shall be with him in spirit on his
pilgrimage to Rome. Nothing can separate us, not the height of the Alps, nor the
cold of the snows, nor the long distance of the journey. And I am present to him
now, stretching out my hand to him in this letter. He cannot go anywhere
without me because I am so much in his debt for the favor of his friendship. But
his favor itself acquits me of the debt, for what was a duty has become a
pleasure.
Honor this man as an honorable member of Christ’s body. He is a vessel
fit for all honorable employment, a vessel full of grace and truth, full of all
manner of good things. Send him back with joy to rejoice the hearts of many by
his return. Show him great favor, so that when he returns we may all receive of
his fullness. He should, of course, find no difficulty in obtaining from you
anything he asks for in the name of the Lord Jesus. For, if you do not know it, he
it is that holds out his hands to the poor of our Order; he it is that freely and
frequently, as far as he may without offending his own people, supports our
brethren from the possessions of his monastery.
But let me explain why I say “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” It is because
I fear and suspect he may ask to be released from the rule of his monastery; and
no one who knows him would consider this a petition made in the name of
Jesus. I am very much mistaken if he is not more self-effacing than usual, if he
has not become more perfect since he last saw you, although it is well known
that almost from the first instant of assuming office he reformed his Order in
many ways, in the matter, for instance, of fasting, silence, and costly and curious
clothing.

Vigils Reading
2026-05-12
A reading from “Lumen Gentium” of
THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
◊◊◊
The Lord Jesus, having prayed at length to the Father, called to himself
those he desired and appointed twelve to be with him, whom he might send to
preach the kingdom of God. These Apostles he established in the form of a
College or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter who was
chosen from amongst them. He sent them first of all to the children of Israel and
then to all peoples, so that, sharing in his power, they might make all peoples his
disciples and sanctify and govern them. Thus they would spread the Church,
administer it under the guidance of the Lord, and shepherd it until the end of
the world. They were fully confirmed in this mission on the day of Pentecost
according to the Lord’s promise: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit
descends on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
So, just as by the Lord’s decree St Peter and the rest of the Apostles
constitute a unique apostolic College, so the Roman Pontiff, Peter’s successor,
and the Bishops, the successors of the Apostles, are related with and united to
one another. By ancient discipline the Bishops throughout the whole world lived
in communion with one another and with the Roman Pontiff in a bond of unity,
charity and peace; they also held Councils in order to settle together, in a
decision rendered balanced and equitable by the advice of many, all questions of
major importance.
Both these facts show clearly the collegiate character and structure of the
episcopal order, which is confirmed by the holding of Ecumenical Councils in
the course of the centuries. Indeed, pointing to it also quite clearly is the custom,
dating from very early times, of summoning a number of Bishops to take part in
the elevation of one newly chosen to the highest sacerdotal office. A man is
made a member of the episcopal body by sacramental consecration and
hierarchical communion with the head and members of the College.
This College, composed of many members, is the expression of the
diversity and universality of the People of God. It also shows the unity of the
flock of Christ because it is assembled under one head. In it the Bishops, whilst
loyally respecting the primacy and preeminence of their head, exercise their
own proper authority for the good of their faithful and of the whole Church,
whose organic structure and harmony are strengthened by the continued
influence of the Holy Spirit.
The supreme authority over the whole Church, which this College
possesses, is exercised in a solemn way in an Ecumenical Council. Every
Ecumenical Council is confirmed or at least recognized as such by the successor
of Peter and it is the prerogative of the Roman Pontiff to convoke such Councils,
to preside over them and to confirm them.

Vigils Reading - Our Lady of Fatima
2026-05-13
A reading from
POPE ST JOHN PAUL II
◊◊◊
Since the time when Jesus, dying on the cross, said to John: “Behold your
Mother“, since the time when “the disciple took her into his home”, the mystery
of Mary’s spiritual motherhood had its fulfillment in history with an amplitude
without boundaries. Motherhood means concern for her son’s life. Now, if Mary
is the mother of all people, her concern for human life is universal in scope…
The spiritual motherhood of Mary is therefore participation in the power of the
Holy Spirit, the One who “gives life.” It is with the humble service of the one who
says of herself: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord“.
In the light of the mystery of Mary’s spiritual motherhood, let us
understand the extraordinary message, which began to resonate in the world by
Fatima since May 13, 1917 and lasted for five months until October 13 of the
same year. If the Church has embraced the message of Fatima it is mainly
because it contains a truth and a call, which in their essential content is the truth
and the call of the Gospel itself.
“Repent and believe in the Gospel“, these are the first words of the
Messiah addressed to humanity. The message of Fatima is in its core a call to
conversion and penance… The call to repentance is maternal and at the same
time, strong and determined. The love that “rejoices in the truth“, knows how to
be outspoken and determined… Can the Mother, who with all the power of her
love, which fosters in the Holy Spirit and desires the salvation of every person,
keep quiet about what undermines the very foundations of this salvation? No,
she cannot!
The Immaculate Heart of Mary, opened by the word: “Woman, behold
your son“, meets spiritually with the Heart of the Son opened by the soldier’s
lance. Mary’s Heart was opened by the same love for mortals and for the world,
with which Christ has loved humanity and the world, offering Himself on the
Cross for them. To consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of the Mother
means returning beneath the Cross of her Son. More it means consecrating this
world to the pierced Heart of the Savior, bringing the very source of his
redemption. Redemption is always greater than the sin of man and the “sin of
the world.”… The Heart of the Mother is aware of this, as no one else in the
whole universe, visible and invisible…
The Mother of Christ calls us and invites us to join the Church of the living
God in the consecration of the world, this reliance by which the world,
humanity, nations, all people are offered to the Eternal Father with the power of
Christ’s redemption. They are offered in the pierced Heart of the Redeemer on
the Cross…
The appeal of the Lady of Fatima is so deeply rooted in the Gospel and in
the whole of tradition that the Church feels committed by this message. Yes, we
can truly say: “Blessed are you, daughter, in front of the Most High God above
all women on earth!”… Yes, here and throughout the Church, in the heart of
every man and in the whole world you are blessed Mary, our sweet Mother!

Vigils Reading - St Matthias
2026-05-14
A reading from
ST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN
◊◊◊
<The feast of St Matthias> is the only day which is to be celebrated with
mingled feelings of joy and pain. It records the fall as well as the election of an
Apostle. St Matthias was chosen in place of the traitor Judas. In the history of
the latter we have the warning recorded in very deed, which our Lord in the text
gives us in word, “Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
And doubtless many were the warnings such as this, addressed by our Lord to
the wretched man who in the end betrayed him.
The reflection which rises in the mind on a consideration of the election of
St Matthias, is this: how easily God may affect His purposes without us, and put
others in our place, if we are disobedient to Him. It often happens that those
who have long been in His favor grow secure and presuming. They think their
salvation certain, and their service necessary to Him who has graciously
accepted it. Now, this feeling of self-importance is repressed all through the
Scriptures, and especially by the events we commemorate today.
What solemn overpowering thoughts must have crowded on St Matthias,
when he received the greetings of the eleven Apostles, and took his seat among
them as their brother! His very election was a witness against himself if he did
not fulfill it. And such surely will ours be in our degree. We take the place of
others who have gone before, as Matthias did; we are “baptized for the dead,”
filling up the ranks of soldiers, some of whom, indeed, have fought a good fight,
but many of whom in every age have made void their calling. Many are called,
few are chosen. The monuments of sin and unbelief are set up around us. The
casting away of the Jews was the reconciling of the Gentiles. The fall of one
nation is the conversion of another. The Church loses old branches and gains
new. God works according to His own inscrutable pleasure…
Thus the Christian of every age is but the successor of the lost and of the
dead. How long we of this country shall be put in trust with Gospel, we know
not; but while we have the privilege, assuredly we do but stand in the place of
Christians who have either utterly fallen away, or are so corrupted as scarcely to
let their light shine before others. We are at present witnesses of the Truth; and
our very glory is our warning. By the superstitions, the profanities, the
indifference, the unbelief of the world called “Christian”, we are called upon to
be lowly-minded while we preach aloud, and to tremble while we rejoice. Let us
then, as a Church and as individuals, one and all, look to Him who alone can
keep us from falling. Let us with single heart look up to Christ our Saviour, and
put ourselves into His hands, from whom all our strength and wisdom is
derived.

Vigils Reading - St Pachomius
2026-05-15
A reading from
THOMAS MERTON
◊◊◊
Obedience is the distinctive factor of the new [communal] monasticism of
St Pachomius. The whole Pachomian structure is [actually] built on obedience,
[which] is not just the docility of the hermit to a director, but the lifelong
obedience of the subject to the superior, as well as of the son to the Father. It
implies a real concept of self-emptying and subjection, a real renunciation of
one’s own freedom, “for keeps.” Accordingly, all are to obey the Rule, superiors
and subjects. No one in the monastery is to follow his own will. [Even] the heads
of houses and their assistants, [for example,] had to weave a certain number of
baskets in a certain time, as a norm for the others to meet…
However, the superior must command, and he is to be obeyed as God.
Furthermore, the brethren are to obey one another, but above all the superiors.
In commanding, the superior himself obeys God who wants him to command
according to the Rule. All must obey meekly and willingly, without murmuring.
Unwillingness and resistance show lack of faith and seriously affect the spiritual
vitality of the mystery of the common life. It is not just an individual defect, it
affects the community.
Obedience is the highest value—with charity—in the common life. It is
“greater than sacrifices.” That is to say that emphasis is systematically placed on
what is enjoined by obedience, over what may be inspired by our own
spontaneous religious desires, however good [they may be in and of
themselves]. This is another fundamental principle [of communal monastic
life,] of cenobitism. What is enjoined in the name of the community…leads to
life much more surely and effectively than what is merely suggested by
individual inspiration…
To illustrate the importance this, Pachomius burned 500 mats that had
been woven by the cook in the kitchen, while he was cooking. He had been
ordered to cook only, not ordered to weave mats. Work over and above what was
one’s duty was not acceptable, because it was outside obedience. Hence, works
of extra sacrifice are acceptable only when the approval of obedience brings
them within the ambit of the common will and the common life. When a good
work, of personal choice, is approved by the superior, then it becomes part of
the common spiritual striving and merit of the community—it becomes a work
of Christ. But any work, however good, that is deliberately kept out of and apart
from the common life stream, ceases to be a work of Christ. Hence it is not
blessed. Hence it is a potential danger, to the individual and to the community.
Lastly, obedience is according to the Rule: there is no longer any purely
subjective and arbitrary command permitted. In commanding, the superior
must himself obey the Abba, the founder, and carry on the founder’s will… The
Rule represents the personal thought and desire of Abba Pachomius, and is not
a mere legal document.
Thus, obedience, for Pachomius, strikes deep into the heart of the
“mystery” of common life. If superiors do their own will and inferiors merely
comply with that will, then there is not yet a religious mystery. This [mystery]
is constituted by the participation of all in the sacrifice and obedience of
Christ, in His self-emptying. All have renounced their will. When this
happens in a community, the Holy Spirit then breathes in and through all its
members.

Vigils Reading
2026-05-16
A reading from “On the Sacraments” by
ST AMBROSE
◊◊◊
You were asked: ‘Do you believe in God the Father almighty?’ You replied:
‘I believe’, and you were immersed: that is, buried. You were asked for a second
time: ‘Do you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and in his Cross?’ You replied: ‘I
believe’, and you were immersed: which means that you were buried with
Christ. For one who is buried with Christ rises again with Christ. You were asked
a third time: ‘Do you believe also in the Holy Spirit?’ You replied: ‘I believe’, and
you were immersed a third time, so that the threefold confession might absolve
the manifold lapses of the past.
We can give you an illustration of this. The holy Apostle Peter appeared to
lapse through human weakness during the Lord’s Passion. To wipe out and
absolve the fault of his denial, he was asked by Christ three times if he loved
him. Peter replied: Lord, you know that I love you. He answered three times so
as to be absolved three times.
Thus the Father forgives sin, so does the Son, and so does the Holy Spirit.
Do not be surprised that we are baptized in one name: in the name, that is, of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; because Christ spoke of only one
name where there is one substance, one divinity, one majesty. This is the name
of which it is written: In this must all find salvation. It is in this name that you
have all been saved, that you have been restored to the grace of life.
So the Apostle exclaims, as you have just heard in the reading, Whoever is
baptized, is baptized in the death of Jesus. What does in the death mean? It
means that just as Christ died, so you will taste death; that just as Christ died to
sin and lives to God, so through the Sacrament of Baptism you are dead to the
old enticements of sin and have risen again through the grace of Christ. This is a
death, then, not in the reality of bodily death, but in likeness. When you are
immersed, you receive the likeness of death and burial, you receive the
Sacrament of his Cross; because Christ hung upon the Cross and his body was
fastened to it by the nails. So you are crucified with him.
The font has the shape and appearance of a sort of tomb. When we believe
in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we are received and immersed in it;
that is, we are restored to life. You also receive the myrrh, that is, the chrism,
over your heads. Why over your heads? Because the faculties of the wise man
are situated in his head, says Solomon. Wisdom without grace is inert; but
when wisdom receives grace, then its work begins to move toward fulfillment.
This is called regeneration.
What is regeneration? You can read in the Acts of the Apostles that a verse
from the second Psalm, You are my son, today I have begotten you, seems to
refer to the Resurrection. That is why he is also called The firstborn from the
dead. For what is resurrection except that we rise from death to life? So it is in
Baptism, which is an image of death: when you are immersed and rise up again,
there, certainly, is an image of the Resurrection. So as Christ’s Resurrection is
interpreted by the Apostle as a regeneration, so also this resurrection from the
font is a regeneration.

Skema: 7th Week of Easter
2026-05-17
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
7th Week of Easter

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (II)
May 17 – 23, 2026

Sun
17
Mon
18
Tue
19
Wed
20
Thu
21
Fri
22
Sat
23

Office
Ascension of the Lord
Easter Weekday
Easter Weekday
Easter Weekday
Easter Weekday
Easter Weekday
Easter Weekday

Vigils
Eph 4:1-24
Acts 25:1-27
Acts 26:1-32
Acts 27:1-20
Acts 27:21-44
Acts 28: 1-14
Acts 28:15-31

Lauds
Dan 7:9-14
1 Jn 2:24-27
1 Jn 3:4-10
1 Jn 3:19-24
1 Jn 4:7-12
1 Jn 5:1-5
1 Jn 5:13-21

Mass
58
297
298
299
300
301
302

1st
Acts 1:1-11
Acts 19:1-8
Acts 20:17-27
Acts 20:28-38
Acts 22:30; 23:6-11
Acts 25:13b-21
Acts 28:16-20, 30-31

2nd
Eph 1:17-23

Gospel
Matt 28:16-20
John 16:29-33
John 17:1-11a
John 17:11b-19
John 17:20-26
John 21:15-19
John 21:20-25

Vespers
Eph 2:1-10
1 Jn 2:28-3:3
1 Jn 3:11-18
1 Jn 4:1-6
1 Jn 4:13-21
1 Jn 5:6-12
Rom 8:9:17

Ascension of the Lord
2026-05-17
A reading from
ST GREGORY OF NYSSA 1
◊◊◊
The Gospel describes the Lord’s life upon earth and his return to heaven. But the sublime prophet David, as though unencumbered by the weight of his body, rose above himself to mingle with the heavenly powers and record for us their words as they accompanied the Master when he came down from heaven. Ordering the angels on earth entrusted with the care of human life to raise the gates, they cried: Lift up your gates, you princes; be lifted up you everlasting doors. Let the King of glory enter.
But because wherever he is, he who contains all things in himself makes himself like those who receive him, not only becoming a man among men, but also when among angels conforming his nature to theirs, the gatekeepers asked: Who is this King of glory? He is the strong one, they were told, mighty in battle, the one who is to grapple with and overthrow the captor of the human race who has the power of death. When this last enemy has been destroyed, he will restore us to freedom and peace.
Now the mystery of Christ’s death is fulfilled, victory is won, and the Cross, the sign of triumph, is raised on high. He who gives us the noble gifts of life and a kingdom has ascended into heaven, leading captivity captive. Therefore the same command is repeated. Once more the gates of heaven must open for him. Our guardian angels, who have now become his escorts, order them to be flung wide so that he may enter and regain his former glory.
But he is not recognized in the soiled garments of our life, in clothes reddened by the winepress of human sin. Again the escorting angels are asked: Who is this King of glory? The answer is no longer, The strong one, mighty in battle, but, The lord of hosts, he who has gained power over the whole universe, who has recapitulated all things in himself who is above all things, who has restored all creation to its former state: He is the King of glory.
You see how much David has added to our joy in this feast and contributed to the gladness of the Church. Therefore as far as we can let us imitate the prophet by our love for God, by gentleness and by patience with those who hate us. Let the prophet’s teaching help us to live in a way pleasing to God in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
1
St Gregory of Nyssa, On the Ascension (Jaeger 9.1.323-327); Word in Season III, 1st ed. Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Eastertide Year II.

Easter Weekday
2026-05-18
A reading from
ST MAXIMUS OF TURIN 2
◊◊◊
Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Our Lord blossomed afresh when he rose from the tomb, and he bore fruit when he ascended to heaven. As a flower he burgeoned from the depths of the earth; as the fruit he took his place on his lofty throne. Enduring the torment of the Cross alone, he is that grain which he himself describes; surrounded by his Apostles, now unshakable in their faith, he is the fruit. In his converse with his disciples during those forty days after his Resurrection, he taught them the fullness of mature wisdom, and reaped from them an abundant harvest by the life-giving power of his words.
Then he ascended to heaven, bringing his Father the fruits of his incarnate life, and leaving in his disciples the seed of holiness. Just as the eagle leaves the low lying ground, makes for the heights, and climbs high to heaven, in like manner our Saviour left the lower regions, made for the heights of Paradise, and reached heaven’s highest summit.
But what of the fact that an eagle often steals its prey by carrying off what belongs to another? Even so, our Saviour did something not unlike that, for in a manner of speaking he stole his prey when he snatched the manhood he had assumed from the jaws of hell and carried it off to heaven, freeing the human race from slavery to an alien prince, that is, from the power of the devil, and leading it captive into a higher captivity. As the prophet says, Ascending on high he led captivity captive; he gave gifts to men.
The undoubted meaning of these words is this: that since the devil held the human race captive, our Lord, by wresting it from him, took it captive himself and as the prophet tells us led that very captivity to the heights of heaven. Both captivities do indeed bear the same name, but they differ one from the other. The devil’s captivity means enslavement; Christ’s, on the contrary, means restoration to freedom.
2
St Maximus of Turin, Sermon 56, 1-2 (CCL 23:224-225); Word in Season III, 1st ed. Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Eastertide Year II.

Easter Weekday
2026-05-19
A reading from
ST AUGUSTINE 3
◊◊◊
The Lord said, I tell you the truth: it is for your own good that I am going away, because unless I go the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go I will send him to you.
In other words, it is to your advantage that I should be taken from you as I am now, in the condition of a servant. Now indeed I dwell among you as the Word made flesh; but I do not want you to go on loving me with a merely natural affection, content with baby’s milk and lacking any ambition to leave the nursery. It is for your own good that I am going away, because unless I do the Advocate will not come to you. So far I have given you nothing but children’s food. Unless I wean you, you will never have any appetite for solid meat. As long as you cling to my bodily presence in a purely natural way you will remain incapable of receiving the Holy Spirit.
A question arises, however: when the Lord said that he had to go before the Advocate could come to the disciples, and that if he went he would send him to them, did he mean that it was impossible for him to send the Holy Spirit while he was still on earth? Surely no one would make such an assertion. He had never left the dwelling-place of the Spirit; nor had he come from the Father in such a way as no longer to be with the Father. Besides, how could it have been impossible for Christ to send the Holy Spirit while he was yet on earth, when we know he had received the abiding presence of the Spirit at his Baptism? In fact, we know that he and the Holy Spirit were inseparable.
What this Gospel passage means is that the disciples could not receive the Holy Spirit as long as they only knew Christ according to the flesh. Hence the assertion made by the Apostle Paul after he himself had received the Holy Spirit: Even if we used to think of Christ according to the flesh, we do so no longer. When we know the incarnate Word spiritually, our knowledge even of his flesh becomes more than merely according to the flesh. This, without any doubt, is the lesson their good Master wanted to give the disciples when he told them he was going away for their own good, otherwise the Advocate would not come to them.
The withdrawal of Christ’s bodily presence from his disciples meant not only that the Holy Spirit would come to them, but that the Father and the Son would also dwell with them in a spiritual manner. Christ’s departure did not mean that the Holy Spirit would simply take his place. It meant rather that together with Christ the Spirit would make his home in the hearts of the disciples. If this were not so, what would become of our Lord’s promise to be with his disciples always, to the end of time?
And what of that other saying of his, The Father and I will come to him and make our home with him? The fact is that our Lord promised to send the Holy Spirit in such a way that he himself would always remain with his disciples. And when through the coming of the Spirit their purely natural and human affections had become spiritualised, then they would be capable of the indwelling of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
3
St Augustine, Commentary on John’s Gospel, 94.4-5 (PL 35:1869-1870);Word in Season III, 1st ed.
Monday of the Sixth Week in Eastertide Year II.

Easter Weekday
2026-05-20
A reading from
ST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 4
◊◊◊
Christ’s going to the Father is at once a source of sorrow because it involves his absence, and of joy because it involves his presence. And out of the doctrine of his Resurrection and Ascension spring those Christian paradoxes, often spoken of in Scripture, that we are sorrowing yet always rejoicing; as having nothing yet possessing all things.
This, indeed, is our state at present; we have lost Christ and we have found him; we see him not, yet we discern him. We embrace his feet, yet he says, Touch me not. How is this? It is thus: we have lost the sensible and conscious perception of him; we cannot look on him, hear him, converse with him, follow him from place to place; but we enjoy the spiritual, immaterial, inward, mental, real sight and possession of him; a possession more real and more present than that which the Apostles had in the days of his flesh, because it is spiritual, because it is invisible. When he says that he should go away, and come again and abide forever, he is speaking not merely of his omnipresent, divine nature, but of his human nature. As being Christ he says that he, the incarnate mediator, shall be with his Church forever.
But again, you may be led to explain his declaration thus: ‘He has come again, but in his Spirit; that is, his Spirit has come instead of him; and when it is said that he is with us, this only means that his Spirit is with us.’
No one, doubtless, can deny this most gracious and consolatory truth, that the Holy Spirit has come; but why has he come? To supply Christ’s absence
or to accomplish his presence? Surely to make him present. Let us not suppose that God the Holy Spirit comes in such sense that God the Son remains away. No; he has not so come that Christ does not come, but rather he comes that Christ may come in his coming. Through the Holy Spirit we have communion with Father and Son. In Christ we are built together, says St Paul, for a dwelling place of God through the Spirit. You are the temple of God, the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Thus the Holy Spirit does not take the place of Christ in the soul, but secures that place for Christ. St Paul insists much on this presence of Christ in those who have his Spirit. Do you not know, he says, that your bodies are the members of Christ? By one Spirit we are all baptized one body… you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it?
The Holy Spirit, then, vouchsafes to come to us, that by his coming Christ may come to us, not carnally or visibly, but may enter into us. And thus he is both present and absent, absent in that he has left the earth, present in that he has not left the faithful soul; or, as he says himself: The world sees me no more, but you see me.
4
John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, VI, 121-127; Word in Season III, 2nd ed.

Easter Weekday
2026-05-21
A reading from
ST CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA 5
◊◊◊
As the reason for his departure, our Lord mentioned his desire to open the way for our ascent to the heavenly places and to prepare a safe passage for us by making smooth the road that had previously been impassable. For heaven was then completely inaccessible to us – human foot had never trodden that pure and holy country of the angels. It was Christ who first prepared the way for our ascent there. By offering himself to God the Father as the first-fruits of all who are dead and buried, he gave us a way of entry into heaven and was himself the first man the inhabitants of heaven ever saw.
The angels in heaven, knowing nothing of the sacred and profound mystery of the incarnation, were astonished at his coming and almost thrown into confusion by an event so strange and unheard of. Who is this coming from Edom? they asked; that is, from the earth. But the Spirit did not leave the heavenly throng ignorant of the wonderful wisdom of God the Father. Commanding them to open the gates of heaven in honor of the king and master of the universe, he cried out: Lift up your gates, you princes, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, that the king of glory may come in.
And so our Lord Jesus Christ has opened up for us a new and living way, as Paul says, not by entering a sanctuary made with hands, but by entering heaven itself to appear before God on our behalf. For Christ has not ascended in order to make his own appearance before God the Father.
He was, is, and ever will be in the Father and in the sight of him from whom he receives his being, for he is his Father’s unfailing joy. But now the Word, who had never before been clothed in human nature, has ascended as a man to show himself in a strange and unfamiliar fashion. And he has done this on our account and in our name, so that being like us, though with his power as the Son, and hearing the command, Sit at my right hand, as a member of our race, he might transmit to all of us the glory of being children of God.
As man then he appeared before the Father on our behalf, to enable us whom original sin had excluded from his presence to see the Father’s face once more. As the Son he took his seat to enable us as sons through him to be called children of God. So Paul, who claims to speak for Christ, teaching that the whole human race has a share in the events of Christ’s life, says that God has raised us up with him and enthroned us with him in heaven. To Christ as the Son by nature belongs the prerogative of sitting at the Father’s side; this honor can rightly and truly be ascribed to him alone.
Yet because his having become man means that he sits there as one who is in all respects like ourselves, as well as being as we believe God from God, in some mysterious way he passes this honor on to us.
5
St Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on St John’s Gospel, 9 (PG 74:182-183);Word in Season III, 2nd ed.

Easter Weekday
2026-05-22
A reading from
ST LEO THE GREAT 6
◊◊◊
After the blessed and glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, when the divine power in three days raised the true Temple of God…on this very day, dearly beloved, the number of the forty holy days is completed. While the Lord draws out the time of his bodily presence, our faith in his Resurrection is being strengthened by the necessary signs. The Death of Christ had greatly disturbed the hearts of the disciples. When the holy women, as the Gospel story has told us, proclaimed that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb, the sepulcher was empty, and that angels were witnesses of the living Lord, their words seemed to the Apostles and other disciples as pure nonsense.
The Spirit of Truth would by no means have permitted this wavering in human weakness to enter the hearts of his preachers, if their trembling anxiety and questioning delay were not to have established the foundations of our faith. Consequently, it was our doubts, our danger, that was being considered in the Apostles. We, in the guise of the Apostles, were being instructed against the slanders of the wicked and the proofs of earthly wisdom. Let us give thanks for necessary slowness of the Holy Fathers. They doubted so that we need not doubt.
These days, dearly beloved, between the Resurrection of the Lord and his Ascension provided the opportunity to confirm great mysteries, to reveal great secrets. In these days the Holy Spirit was poured into all the Apostles by the breath of the Lord; and to blessed Peter above all the others, after the keys of the kingdom, the care of the Lord’s sheep is entrusted. Through all this time which
went by between the Resurrection of the Lord and his Ascension, the providence of God took thought for this: that they should recognize the Lord Jesus Christ as truly risen, who was truly born, truly suffered, and truly died.
The result was that not only were they not afflicted with sadness but were filled with great joy when the Lord went into the heights of heaven. Truly it was a great and indescribable source of rejoicing when, in the sight of the heavenly multitudes, the nature of our human race ascended over the dignity of all heavenly creatures, to pass the angelic orders and to be raised beyond the heights of archangels. In its ascension it did not stop at any other height until this same nature was received at the seat of the eternal Father, to be associated on the throne of the glory of that One to whose nature it was joined in the Son.
Since the Ascension of Christ is our elevation, and since, where the glory of the Head has preceded its, there hope for the body is also invited, let us exult, dearly beloved, with worthy joy and be glad with a holy thanksgiving.
Today we are established not only as possessors of Paradise, but we have even penetrated the heights of the heavens in Christ, prepared more fully for it through the indescribable grace of Christ which we had lost through the ill will of the devil. Those whom the violent enemy threw down from the happiness of our first dwelling, the Son of God has placed, incorporated within himself, at the right hand of the Father, the Son of God who lives and reigns with God the Father Almighty and with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
6
St Leo the Great, Sermon 73; FoC 93 (1996) tr. Freeland & Conway.

Easter Weekday
2026-05-23
A reading from
ST LEO THE GREAT 7
◊◊◊
The faith of the infant Church was increased by the Lord’s Ascension and strengthened by the gift of the Spirit; it was to remain unshaken by fetters and imprisonment, exile and hunger, fire and ravening beasts, and the most refined tortures ever devised by brutal persecutors. Even the blessed Apostles, though they had been strengthened by so many miracles and instructed by so much teaching, took fright at the cruel suffering of the Lord’s Passion and could not accept his Resurrection without hesitation.
Yet they made such progress through his Ascension that they now found joy in what had terrified them before. They were able to fix their minds on Christ’s divinity as he sat at the right hand of the Father, since what was presented to their bodily eyes no longer hindered them from turning all their attention to the realization that he had not left his Father when he came down to earth, nor abandoned his disciples when he ascended into heaven.
The truth is that the Son of Man was revealed as Son of God in a more perfect and transcendent way once he had entered into his Father’s glory. He now began to be indescribably more present in his divinity to those from whom he was further removed in his humanity. A more mature faith enabled their minds to stretch upward to the Son in his equality with the Father; it no longer needed contact with Christ’s tangible body, in which as man he is inferior to the Father.
For while his glorified body retained the same nature, the faith of those who believed in him was now summoned to heights where, as the Father’s equal, the only-begotten Son is reached not by physical handling but by spiritual discernment. This explains why our Lord said to the Church in the person of Mary Magdalene, as she ran forward to cling to him: Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. In other words, I do not want you to come to me corporeally, to recognize me by what your bodily senses tell you; I want you to wait for something higher.
And when the eyes of his disciples, rapt in wonder, followed their ascending Lord to heaven, there stood beside them two angels, in garments of marvelously shining whiteness, who said to them: Men of Galilee, why are you standing looking up to heaven? This Jesus who has been taken from you will come again in the same way as you have seen him going up to heaven. By these words all the Church’s children have been taught to believe that Jesus Christ will come again visibly in the same flesh in which he ascended, and that there can be no doubt concerning the subjection of all things to him who was served by angels from the moment of his birth.
As it was an angel who announced to the blessed Virgin that Christ would be conceived of the Holy Spirit, so too it was the song of heavenly beings that told the shepherds of his virginal birth; and as the first attestations of his rising from the dead were delivered by messengers from on high, so it was the task of angels to proclaim that he would come in the same flesh to judge the world. All these things were intended to make us realize what tremendous angelic powers are to accompany him when he comes to judge, since such mighty spirits ministered to him even when he came to be judged himself.
7
St Leo the Great, Sermon 74, 3-4 (CCL 138A:457-459); Word in Season III, 1st ed.

Skema: 8th Week in Ordinary Time
2026-05-24
Biblical Readings for Office and Mass
8th Week in Ordinary Time

Mass Readings: Sunday (A), Weekdays (II)
May 24 – 30, 2026

Sun
24
Mon
25
Tue
26
Wed
27
Thu
28
Fri
29
Sat
30

Office
Pentecost Sunday
Mary, Mother of the Church
Weekday
St Augustine of Canterbury
Weekday
St Paul VI
Weekday

Vigils
* Special Vigil
Nehemiah 1:1-11
Neh 2:1-20
Neh 3:33-4:17
Neh 5:1-19
Neh 6:1-19
Neh 8:1-4a; 5-6; 8-18

Lauds
Joel 3:1-5
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
Eccles 1:12-18
Eccles 2:1-3
Eccles 2:4-12
Eccles 2:13-17
Eccles 2:18-23

Mass
63
BVM Lect pg 118-138
348
349
350
351
352

1st
Acts 2:1-11
Gen:3:9-15, 20
1 Pet 1:10-16
1 Pet 1:18-25
1 Pet 2:2-5, 9-12
1 Pet 4:7-13
Jude 17, 20b-25

2nd
1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13
Psalm 87[86]: 1-2, 3+5, 6-7

Gospel
John 20:19-23
John 19:25-34
Mark 10:28-31
Mark 10:32-45
Mark 10:46-52
Mark 11:11-26
Mark 11:27-33

Vespers
Gal 5:16-25
Galatians 1:1-10
Gal 1:11-24
Gal 2:1-10
Gal 2:11-14
Gal 2:15-21
1 Cor 2:1-10

* Pentecost Vigil Readings 1) Gen 11:1-9 2) Exod 19:3-8a, 16-20 3) Ezek 36:16-28 4) Acts 2:1-11 5) Rom 8:5-27

Pentecost Sunday
2026-05-24
A reading from
ST AUGUSTINE 1
◊◊◊
The blessed day has dawned for us on which holy Church makes her first radiant appearance to the eyes of faith and sets the hearts of believers on fire. It is the day on which we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit by our Lord Jesus Christ, after he had risen from the dead and ascended into glory.
In the Gospel it is written: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, rivers of living water shall flow from his heart. The evangelist explains these words by adding: Jesus said this about the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive. For the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified. Now the glorification of Jesus took place when he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, but all was not yet accomplished. The Holy Spirit still had to be given; the one who made the promise had to send him. This is precisely what occurred at Pentecost.
After being in the company of his disciples for the forty days following his Resurrection, the Lord ascended into heaven, and on the fiftieth day – the day we are now celebrating – he sent the Holy Spirit. The account is given in Scripture: Suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and there appeared to them tongues like fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them, and they began to speak in other tongues, as the Holy Spirit gave them power of utterance. That wind cleansed the disciples’ hearts, blowing away fleshly thoughts like so much chaff. The fire burnt up their unregenerate desires as if they were straw.
The tongues in which they spoke as the Holy Spirit filled them were a foreshadowing of the Church’s preaching of the Gospel in the tongues of all nations. After the flood, in pride and defiance of the Lord, an impious generation erected a high tower and so brought about the division of the human race into many language groups, each with its own peculiar speech which was unintelligible to the rest of the world.
At Pentecost, by contrast, the humble piety of believers brought all these diverse languages into the unity of the Church. What discord had scattered, love was to gather together. Like the limbs of a single body, the separated members of the human race would be restored to unity by being joined to Christ, their common head, and welded into the oneness of a holy body by the fire of love. Anyone therefore who rejects the gift of peace and withdraws from the fellowship of this unity cuts himself off from the gift of the Holy Spirit.
So then, my fellow members of Christ’s body, you are the fruits of unity and the sons of peace. Keep this day with joy, celebrate it in freedom of spirit, for in you is fulfilled what was foreshadowed in those days when the Holy Spirit came. At that time, whoever received the Holy Spirit spoke in many languages, individual though he was. Now in the same way unity itself speaks through all nations in every tongue. If you yourselves are established in that unity you have the Holy Spirit among you, and nothing can separate you from the Church of Christ which speaks in the languages of every nation of the world.
1
St Augustine, Sermon 271 (PL 38:1245-1246); Word in Season III, 2nd ed.

Mary, Mother of the Church
2026-05-25
A reading from
FR HUGO RAHNER 2
◊◊◊
The valiant woman [in the Book of Proverbs] as symbolizing both Mary and the Church on the road from Nazareth to Golgotha. The beginning is at the moment of the incarnation in the heart of Mary, at the supreme instant of her acceptance of the task, when she became the mother of the Word. The precious blood that was to redeem the world was her blood, and in this way her road was already marked out, the road through those everyday years, leading direct to Golgotha.
It is to this mystery of her life, and her life already at Nazareth, where love is strong as death, that the Cistercian mystic, Adam of Perseigne, refers when he sees in the moment of the incarnation the fulfillment of the valiant woman: “A Lady full of bravery: she traveled through her mortal life amidst the evil of the world, yet through the majesty of her spirit she surpassed all creation. For it was to her, the valiant woman, that Gabriel was sent — his very name means ‘God’s valiant one.’ Was she not indeed valiant, this woman – Mary, whose love was stronger than death?”
For her acceptance of the incarnation was the acceptance of death. Her blood she gave him, only for him to shed it. And this also is fulfilled in the Church: The Church, like Mary, is the woman who brings Christ into the world, only to be sacrificed upon the altar. Incarnation and death are made one in the Church’s sacraments, for in the sacrificial death, Christ’s body is every day reborn.
Thus the symbol of the valiant woman is fulfilled also in the Church and her vocation on earth: valiant indeed is this great woman of the world, since as the mystical mother of Christ crucified, daily she meets death again. This acceptance of death, in which she follows Mary, is verified in her day-to-day history, her persecutions, and her daily cares. In this she is truly valiant. This is what Epiphanius of Salamis once told his people: “You are the children of that wise and valiant woman, of whom Solomon said; ‘Who shall find a valiant woman?’ This valiant woman, is she not the Church, your mother? for none is braver than she, who every time a persecution is raised against her is ready to go to death for the name of her beloved.”
2
Pantheon Books, 1961, pp. 82-83.

Weekday
2026-05-26
A reading from “The Mirror of Faith” by
WILLIAM OF SAINT-THIERRY 3
◊◊◊
If you feel a natural hesitation when confronted with the more profound mysteries of faith, take courage, Christian soul, and say not contentiously but with loving submission: ‘How can these things be?’ Let your question be a prayer, let it be an expression of love, piety, and humble longing. Seek not to explore the heights of the divine majesty, but to find salvation in the saving deeds of God our Saviour.
Then the Messenger of God’s great design will reply: When the Paraclete comes, whom I shall send you from the Father, he will remind you of everything and teach you all truth. Even as no one knows the thoughts of man except the spirit of the man that is within him, so no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
Hasten therefore to share in the Holy Spirit. He is with you when you call upon him; you can call upon him only because he is already present. When he comes in answer to your prayer, he comes with an abundance of divine blessings. He is the river whose streams give joy to the city of God.
If when he comes he finds you humble, silent, and trembling at the words of God, he will rest upon you and reveal what God the Father has hidden from the wise and the prudent of this world. You will then begin to understand the things holy Wisdom could have told his disciples on earth, but which they were unable to bear until the Spirit of truth came who was to teach them all truth.
We cannot hope to learn from the lips of any man truths that Truth himself could not convey. For he himself has told us: God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth, so those who wish to know him must seek understanding of their faith and perception of its pure and simple truth only through the Holy Spirit.
In the darkness and ignorance of this life the Holy Spirit is the light that enlightens the poor in spirit, the love that draws them on, the sweetness that attracts them, their access to God, the love of the loving. The Spirit is devotion and piety. From one degree of faith to the next the Spirit reveals to believers the justice of God, so that grace follows grace, and the faith that comes from hearing gives place to a faith enlightened by understanding.
3
Blessed William of Saint-Thierry, The Mirror of Faith (PL 180:384); Word in Season III, 1st ed.

St. Augustine of Canterbury
2026-05-27
A reading from Butler’s Lives of the Saints on
ST AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY 4
◊◊◊
When Pope St Gregory the Great decided that the time had come for the evangelization of Anglo-Saxon England, he chose as missionaries some thirty or more monks from his monastery of St Andrew… As their leader he gave them their own prior, Augustine. The party set out from Rome in the year 596; but no sooner had they arrived in Provence than they were assailed with warnings about the ferocity of the Anglo-Saxons and the dangers of the Channel. Greatly discouraged, they persuaded Augustine to return to Rome and obtain leave to abandon the enterprise. St Gregory, however, had received definite assurance that the English were well disposed towards the Christian faith; he therefore sent Augustine back to his brethren with words of encouragement which gave them heart to proceed on their way.
They landed in the Isle of Thanet in the territory of Ethelbert, king of Kent, who was baptized at Pentecost 597. Almost immediately afterwards St Augustine paid a visit to France, where he was consecrated bishop of the English by St Virgilius, metropolitan of Arles. At Christmas of that same year, many of Ethelbert’s subjects were baptized. Augustine sent two of his monks, Laurence and Peter, to Rome to give a full report of his mission, to ask for more helpers and obtain advice on various points. They came back bringing the pallium for Augustine and accompanied by a fresh band of missionaries, amongst whom were St Mellitus, St Justus and St Paulinus…
In Canterbury itself St Augustine rebuilt an ancient church which, with an old wooden house, formed the nucleus for his metropolitan basilica and for the later monastery of Christ Church… Outside the walls of Canterbury he made a monastic foundation, which he dedicated in honour of St Peter and St Paul…
Cut off from much communication with the outside world, the British church clung to certain usages at variance with those of the Roman tradition. St Augustine invited the leading ecclesiastics to meet him at some place just on the confines of Wessex, still known in Bede’s day as Augustine’s Oak. There he urged them to comply with the practices of the rest of Western Christendom, and more especially to co-operate with him in evangelizing the Anglo-Saxons. Fidelity to their local traditions, however, made them unwilling. A second conference proved a said failure. Because St Augustine failed to rise when they arrived, the British bishops decided that he was lacking in humility and would neither listen to him nor acknowledge him as their metropolitan.
The saint’s last years were spent in spreading and consolidating the faith throughout Ethelbert’s realm, and episcopal sees were established at London and Rochester. About seven years after his arrival in England, St Augustine passed to his reward, on May 26, 605.
Butler’s Lives of Saints. Harper, 1991, pp. 158-159.ngland, St Augustine passed to his reward, on May 26, 605.

Weekday
2026-05-28
A reading from the dogmatic constitution “Lumen Gentium” from
THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL 5
◊◊◊
On the day of Pentecost when the Son had completed the work on earth assigned to him by the Father, the Holy Spirit was sent to sanctify the Church unceasingly so that through Christ, in the one Spirit, believers would have access to the Father. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life, a fountain of water welling up to give a life that is eternal. Through him the Father gives life to those who were dead because of their sins, and at last raises up their mortal bodies.
Building up and guiding the Church by means of varied gifts, both hierarchical and charismatic, and adorning her with his fruits, the Spirit leads her into all truth and gives her unity in communion and service. The Spirit is perpetually renewing the Church’s youth by the power of the Gospel and leading her to perfect union with her Bridegroom. The Spirit and the bride say to the Lord Jesus: ‘Come!’
The whole Church is thus shown to be a people made one as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one.
The body of believers as a whole, each one of whom has been anointed by the Holy One, cannot err in matters of faith. They demonstrate this special inerrancy of theirs when their supernatural instinct of faith causes all from the Bishops down to the most humble lay person to agree in matters of faith and morals.
Through this instinct of faith, which is awakened and kept alive by the Spirit of truth, the people of God hold indefectibly to the faith once delivered to the Saints; with true insight they penetrate it more deeply and they apply it ever more perfectly in their lives. They do all this under the guidance of the sacred Magisterium of the Church to which they loyally defer, not as to the words of men, but as to the very word of God.
The Holy Spirit sanctifies and guides God’s people and enriches them with virtues through the Sacraments and other ministrations of the Church. He also distributes special graces among believers in every state of life, apportioning his gifts to each one as he wills. By these gifts the Spirit prepares them and makes them eager to undertake various tasks and offices which serve the renewal and building up of the Church. As Scripture says: The power of the Spirit is shown in a particular way in each one for the good of all.
These charisms, the simpler and more widespread as well as the most outstanding, should fill us with a sense of gratitude, for they are especially adapted to the needs of the Church and are of the greatest value to her.
5
Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium 4, 12; Word in Season III, 1st ed.

St. Paul VI
2026-05-29
A reading from The New Catholic Encyclopedia on
POPE ST PAUL VI 6
◊◊◊
He was born with the name of Giovanni Baptista Montini in September 26, 1897. His father, Giorgio was a lawyer, politician and member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. The young Montini was plagued with numerous physical ailments. He was ordained at the age of 22 on May 29, 1920. He was then sent to Rome where he attended the Academy which was geared to the training of diplomats. He began his service of thirty years in the Vatican Secretariat of State. During those years he was also active as a chaplain to the Catholic Students at the University of Rome.
He was named Undersecretary of State in 1924. He served in that office for thirty years. He was named Archbishop of Milan in 1954. He rebuilt churches that had been destroyed during the war and made every effort to win back the working class from Communist influences. Devoted to the disadvantaged, he was a frequent visitor to hospitals, orphanages, homes of the aged and prisons.
After Pope John XXIII was elected and announced the Second Vatican Council, he appointed Montini to the Central Preparatory Commission. He took a very active part in the First Session of the Council in 1962. Pope John died in 1963 and Montini was elected as his successor. It was felt that he would continue the process of the Council. He chose the name of Paul VI and was determined that, like Paul the Apostle, his pontificate would spread the Gospel to the entire world. In his first message as Pope he set forth his agenda: to continue Vatican II, to revise Canon Law, to work for peace and justice at all levels, and to seek Christian Unity.
Paul was well equipped to deal with the Council because of his long experience in the Secretariat of state. He knew the Curia thoroughly. Their actions may not have always pleased him, but they rarely surprised him. He was actively involved in the three sessions of the Council over which he presided. He suggested amendments to several of the documents: ecumenism, missionary activity, revelation, Eastern Catholic Churches and religious liberty.
One issue that he held back from the Council was that of Birth Control. He set up a Commission of Lay people to consider the issue. However eventually he came to his own conclusion and issued the encyclical Humanae Vitae which forbade the use of artificial contraceptives. The encyclical created a crisis in the Church. Paul himself came to refer to the document as “a painful document in our episcopacy”.
The last ten years of his pontificate were difficult for Paul VI. He was more withdrawn and troubled by the negative reaction to Humanae Vitae, the polarity between conservatives and liberals, the massive departure from priestly and religious life, and the lack of vocations. The Pope told Jean Guiton that Archbishop Lefebvre, who defiantly opposed the liturgical reform was “the greatest cross of my pontificate”.
Debilitating arthritis and acute cystitis weakened him in the summer of 1978. On August 6, 1978 he died of a heart attack at Castel Gandolfo. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI and canonized by Pope Francis.
6
New Catholic Encyclopedia – vol. 11 = Catholic University of America – Washington D.C.

Weekday
2026-05-30
A reading from “On the Trinity” by
DIDYMUS THE BLIND 7
◊◊◊
The Holy Spirit renews us in Baptism through his Godhead, which he shares with the Father and the Son. Finding us in a state of deformity, the Spirit restores our original beauty and fills us with his grace, leaving no room for anything unworthy of our love. The Spirit frees us from sin and death, and changes us from the earthly men we were, made of dust and ashes, into spiritual men, sharers in the divine glory, sons and heirs of God the Father, who bear a likeness to the Son and are his coheirs and his brothers, destined to reign with him and to share his glory. In place of earth the Spirit reopens heaven to us and gladly admits us into Paradise, giving us even now greater honor than the angels, and by the holy waters of Baptism extinguishing the unquenchable fires of hell.
We have two conceptions: to the human body we owe our first conception; to the divine Spirit, our second. John says: To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. All who believed in Christ, he says, received power to become children of God, that is, of the Holy Spirit, and to gain kinship with God. To show that their parent was God the Holy Spirit, he adds these words of Christ: I give you this solemn warning, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Visibly, through the ministry of priests, the font gives symbolic birth to our visible bodies. Invisibly, through the ministry of angels, the Spirit of God, whom even the mind’s eye cannot see, baptizes into himself both our souls and bodies, giving them a new birth.
Speaking quite literally, and also in harmony with the words, of water and the Spirit, John the Baptist says of Christ: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Since we are only vessels of clay, we must first be cleansed in water and then hardened by spiritual fire – for God is a consuming fire. We need the Holy Spirit to perfect and renew us, for the fire of the Spirit can also wash us and the water of the Spirit can also melt us down and recast us.
7
Didymus the Blind, On the Trinity, 2.12 (PG 39:667-674); Word in Season III, 1st ed.

LCG Chicago June Meeting 9:00 AM CDT
2026-06-13 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
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