Project BLACK MAMBA: Eastertide

'Tis the Optional Memorial of Saint Damien de Veuster, Priest, SS.CC. (1840-1889, of Moloka'i): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

He was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium & a members of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary, a missionary religious institute. He won recognition for his ministry from 1973-1889 in the Kingdom of Hawaii to people with leprosy, who were required to live under a government-sanctioned medical quarantine on the island of Moloka'i, on the Kalaupapa Peninsula.

'Tis also the festival of Saint John of Ávila, Priest & Doctor of the Church (1499-1569): Doctor-link ūnus, Doctor-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the festival of Blessed Ivan Merz, Confessor (1896-1928): Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Easter Weekday
The Acts of the Apostles, chapter twelve, verse twenty-four thru chapter thirteen, verse five;
Psalm Sixty-seven, verses two & three, five, & six & eight;
The Gospel according to John, chapter twelve, verses forty-four thru fifty.

Commentary: Easter Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus makes it clear once again that he and the Father are one. God is not a force or an energy or a spiritual presence occupying the deep background of your life; he’s not something that you can tap into when you feel like it. Nor is God a distant supreme being who organized the universe long ago and now leaves it to its own devices.

Rather, God is the Lord. He is the commander, the ruler, the governor, the one who makes a demand and who then involves himself intimately in the affairs of the world.

More to it, this Lord is one. This is, as argued by Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI), a subversive statement, for it undermines anyone or anything else’s claim to be absolute. No country, no president, no prime minister, no culture, no book, no person or political party is absolute—only God. The unity of God, for Jews and Christians, is not simply a theoretical claim; it is an enormously important existential claim. Jesus and the Father are one God who is the Lord of all creation.

Mass Readings—Optional Memorial of St. Damien
The Acts of the Apostles, chapter twenty, verses seventeen, eighteen(a), twenty-eight thru thirty-two, & thirty-six;
Psalm Forty, verses eight(a) & nine(a);
The Gospel according to John, chapter ten, verses eleven thru sixteen.