April is the Month of the Holy Eucharist

April comes in with a bang this year with Holy Week. Let us observe the best Holy Week we can, so as to obtain mercy, not wrath for the world. Let us not forget the precious unborn, as they go to their own crosses, on Good Friday. And let us make ourselves deserving of the Solemnity of Solemnities, Easter Sunday. We then have the wonderful Octave of Easter, traditionally a time of great joy and feasting…for we have seen the suffering, the self-denial and the Holy Cross, leading ultimately to the ineffable Resurrection!

This month, we also celebrate the feast of Divine Mercy (Quasimodo Sunday in the trad), the Major Rogation Day and Good Shepherd Sunday in the new.

As for the month of the Holy Eucharist, what can we do to honor this greatest of heavenly gifts? We must begin to see everything through the lens of the Signs of the Times. One thing one might consider is this: Do I know anyone among friends or family who is receiving Holy Communion unworthily? If so, what can I do to defend our Blessed Lord and help this person to a greater life of holiness? Perhaps some instruction on Easter Duty, proper reception of Communion and examination of conscience, would be a good place to start. Obviously, we always proceed with prayer and discernment. We may do well to consider these words of genius…

“Let us not shun and suppress the earnest words of the calling voices, or those who are our executioners today may be our accusers once again tomorrow, because we silenced the truth.”

Father Alfred Delp, German Martyr under Hitler

Does it hurt us more to be vocal or to be silent?

Please see our LENT button to the right, which includes full meditations on the Sorrowful Mysteries, with a concluding thesis. Great wishes for a most blessed Holy Week and Easter Sunday!

Your friendly trad calendar: Month of April

March is the Month of Saint Joseph

The icon above is so sweet, how it portrays the Child Jesus’ love and affection for His Foster-Father, whose feast we celebrate this month on the 19th. May we further our own love for Saint Joseph during his month of March, as we also embark on the Season of Lent.

Ash Wednesday is the 2nd of the month-we begin Lent by contemplating our mortality and performing penance. There has never been a time in our lives when the world has needed more prayer and penance, so let us observe this Lent as well as we can, without stressing ourselves too much. When we stress ourselves, it has an immediate affect on those around us. As Saint Paul reminded us in the Quinquagesima Epistle:

“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing…And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.”

1 Corinthians 13:1

Adding to the penitential spirit of Lent, we have the Ember Days on the 9th, 11th and 12th. This is a time to pray and offer for blessings and mercy upon the coming season of Spring.

We remember the great event of The Annunciation of the Lord on the 25th. Some other notable saints which March celebrates are: 20th-century Saint, Katherine Drexel…martyrs invoked in the Canon, Felicity & Perpetua…Doctors of the Church Saint Thomas Aquinas, Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem and Saint John Damascene…our beloved Saint Patrick and Saint Gabriel the Archangel, just prior to The Annunciation. Let us give special mention to Saint Isidore the Farmer, who we particularly like here at Nomen Christi Apostolate!

What may we do this month to honor our dear Saint Joseph? Of course, last year was the Year of Saint Joseph. Maybe we could gain some inspiration from those former indulgences.

Finally, let us pray for peace, especially in the Ukraine. But remember, we live in an illusory world, where nothing is what it seems and the truth is often not what we are told. There is always more to the story. There is always information we are not privy to. But let us not forget the World Wars already waging…the war upon the unborn and the vulnerable…and the war upon freedom combined with the Covid bioweapon and the “Mystery Injection” being touted as a vaccine. Of course we never despair-we trust in the Most Holy Trinity, because we are God’s children and we know He loves us!

Here is your traditional Month of March calendar. Lenten blessings to all…

Saint Joseph icon at etsy.com.