April 2023 — Overview for the Month
Description
The month of April is dedicated to The Holy Spirit
Highlights
April 25
St. Mark
St. Mark, the author of the second Gospel, was the son of Mary whose house at Jerusalem was the meeting place of Christians.
Recipe of the Month
Paasbrod
The Easter season is perfect a time to try this traditional Easter bread from Holland which will impress your friends and family.
Activity of the Month
Home Altar Hangings
Altar hangings or banners are an excellent project to help older children to know and love the Easter to Pentecost season and to realize its greater significance.
Symbols
The winged lion, ancient symbol of St. Mark, refers to his Gospel, which informs us of the royal dignity of Christ.
Writer of the Christian classic, Cur Deus Homo. This thirty-fourth Archbishop of Canterbury, amid difficulties with royalty, guarded the spiritual independence of the Church (represented by the ship symbol).
Among many diplomatic achievements, St. Catherine is known for effecting a reconciliation between the Florentine people and the Papacy. This emblem refers to her faith and charitableness.
The Spirit of the Lord hath filed the whole earth, alleluia.
Publisher & Date
Catholic Culture, July 26, 2021
The Holy Father's Intentions for the Month of April 2023
For a culture of peace and non violence: We pray for the spread of peace and non violence, by decreasing the use of weapons by States and citizens. (See also http://popesprayerusa.net/popes-intentions/)
Feasts for April 2023
2. PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD'S PASSION, Holy Week3. Monday of Holy Week, Holy Week
4. Tuesday of Holy Week, Holy Week
5. Wednesday of Holy Week, Holy Week
6. Holy Thursday, Triduum
7. Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion, Triduum
8. Holy Saturday, Triduum
9. EASTER SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD, Solemnity
10. MONDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER, Solemnity
11. TUESDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER, Solemnity
12. WEDNESDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER, Solemnity
13. THURSDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER, Solemnity
14. FRIDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER, Solemnity
15. SATURDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER, Solemnity
16. SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER (or SUNDAY OF DIVINE MERCY), Solemnity
21. Anselm, Opt. Mem.
23. THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER, Sunday
24. Fidelis, Opt. Mem.
25. St. Mark, Evangelist, Feast
28. Peter Chanel (NZ, Feast); Louis Mary de Montfort, Opt. Mem.
29. Catherine of Siena, Memorial
30. FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY), Sunday
Focus of the Liturgy The Mass readings for the first Sunday in April follows the Lenten season from Cycle A. The Weekday readings follow the annual Lenten readings. The Triduum and the Easter season readings are annual and remain the same each year.
April 2nd | Year A, Entry: Matthew 21:1-11, Passion: Matthew 26:14--27:66: The reading of the Passion of Our Lord from St. Matthew's Gospel. |
April 9 | Year A, Vigil: Matthew 28:1-10; John 20:1-9: The Gospels recounts the women and the Apostles' visits to the empty tomb of Christ on Easter morning
|
April 16 | Year A B C, John 20:19-31: Jesus appears to the Apostles after the Resurrection, and the relating of the doubt of St. Thomas. |
April 23 | Year A: Luke 24:13-35: They recognized Jesus in the breaking of bread.
|
April 30 | Year A: John 10:1-10: I am the gate for the sheep.
|
Highlights of the Month 
As our Lenten journey comes to a close we prepare to follow Christ all the way to the cross and to witness His glorious Resurrection. Hopefully we have sacrificed and prayed so that we are now able to more fully reap the fruits of a well spent Lent. After our solemn commemoration of the last days and death of Our Lord we will spend the remainder of the month of April celebrating. As Spring breaks forth even nature will join us as buds and blooms begin to surface and we spend this month basking in the joy of the Resurrection. We continue throughout the entire month our cry, "Christ is risen, Christ is truly risen."
The Feast of Divine Mercy offers us the opportunity to begin again as though we were newly baptized. The unfathomable mercy of God is made manifest today if we but accept His most gracious offer. Easter is the feast of feasts, the unalloyed joy and gladness of all Christians. This truly is "the day that the Lord has made." From Sunday to Sunday, from year to year, the Easters of this earth will lead us to that blessed day on which Christ has promised that He will come again with glory to take us with Him into the kingdom of His Father.
The saints that we will focus on this month — those who have already shared in the rewards of the Resurrection are:
St. Anselm (April 21),
St. Mark, Evangelist (April 25),
St. Peter Chanel (April 28),
St. Louis Marie de Montfort, (April 28),
and St. Catherine of Siena (April 29).
These feasts of are superseded by the Holy Week and Easter or Sunday liturgies: St. Francis of Paola (April 2), St. Isidore of Seville (April 4), St. Vincent Ferrer (April 5), St. John Baptist de la Salle (April 7), St. Stanislaus of Cracow (April 11), St. Martin I (April 13), St. George (April 23), St. Adalbert (April 23), St. Pius V (April 30).
A Time of New Life 
April boasts the most solemn and sublime events of human history: the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ – the Paschal mystery. Though the way to the Resurrection was the Via Crucis, the Sacrificial Lamb of God is now and forever Christ our Light, the Eternal high priest of the New Covenant. And his sorrowful mother, the Stabat Mater of Good Friday, is now the jubilant Mother of the Regina Caeli.
We the members of Christ’s Mystical Body exalt in the mystery by which we were redeemed. If in Baptism we were buried with Christ, so also will we share in his resurrection. By his death we were reborn; “by his stripes we were healed.” (Is 53:5) Easter, the epicenter of time, is the event that links time and eternity. It is indeed “the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it.” (Ps 118:24)
This item 12547 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
