Project BLACK MAMBA: Backlog

Had 26 April not been the Fourth Sunday of Easter, we would have remembered Pope Saint Marcellinus (d. 304), martyred under the Emperor Diocletian: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day (Sunday)
Mass Readings
The Acts of the Apostles, chapter four, verses eight thru twelve;
Psalm One Hundred Eighteen, verses one, eight & nine, twenty-one thru twenty-three, twenty-six, twenty-eight & twenty-nine;
The First Letter of John, chapter three, verses one & two;
The Gospel according to John, chapter ten, verses eleven thru eighteen.

Urbi et Orbi
This noontide, on the one hundred eighteenth day of the year, I attended by one hundred first Mass. I did not succeed in my Lenten goal of attending Mass every day of that penitential season, but thus far I am meeting or exceeding my annual goals of not missing a single Sunday & attending at least two non-Sundays Masses a week. The year is yet young & I am yet a sinful wretch, so there is much more work to be done.

MMVIII: XXXII
MMIX: XXXIII
MMX: XXXII
MMXI: XXXVII
MMXII: XLV
MMXIII: LXIII
MMXIV: CXXX
MMXV: CI…

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On 27 April we remembered Saint Simeon of Jerusalem (d. c. 107), bishop, martyred under the Emperor Trajan: Martyr-link ūnus, Martyr-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day (Monday)
Personal Reading
The Acts of the Apostles, chapters twenty & twenty-one.

Mass Readings
The Acts of the Apostles, chapter eleven, verses one thru eighteen;
Psalm Forty-two, verses two & three & Psalm Forty-three, verse three & four;
The Gospel according to John, chapter ten, verses one thru ten.

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Today is the optional memorial of Saint Peter Chanel, Priest & Martyr, S.M. (1803-1841), martyred under the priest-king Niuliki: Martyr-link ūnus, Martyr-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Quoth the bulletin:

When the king's son expressed a desire to be baptized, the king dispatched a group of his warriors (to) kill the missionaries. St. Peter was seized & clubbed to death by those he had come to save. His death brought his work to completion—within five months the entire island was converted to Christianity.

'Tis also the optional memorial of Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort, Priest, T.O.S.D. (1673-1716), founder of the Company of Mary, the Daughters of Wisdom, & the Gabrielite Brothers, formally the Brothers of Christian Instruction of St. Gabriel: Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Company, Wikipedia-link Daughters, & Wikipedia-link Brothers.

Scripture of the Day (Today)
Mass Readings
The Acts of the Apostles, chapter eleven, verse nineteen thru twenty-six;
Psalm Eighty-seven, verses one(B) thru seven;
The Gospel according to John, chapter ten, verses twenty-two thru thirty.

Mass Journal: Week 18
Reflection by Matthew Kelly of the Dynamic Catholic Institute

G. K Chesterton wrote, "Christianity has not been tried & found wanting; it has been found difficult & not tried." This is particularly true of Catholicism. Of all the many people I know who have rejected Catholicism, or who are critical of it, I do not know a single person who has truly explored & embraced the Catholic lifestyle. If you humbly open your heart, mind, & soul to the genius of Catholicism, you will not find it wanting.