Easter: May 17th

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MASS READINGS

May 17, 2010 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

Lord, send the power of your Holy Spirit upon us that we may remain faithful and do your will in our daily lives. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Recipes (1)

• Coffee Bread-and-Butter Pudding

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Activities (7)

• Family May Crowning
• Marian Hymn: Bring Flowers of the Fairest
• Mary Garden
• May Day
• May, the Month of Mary
• Religion in the Home for Elementary School: May
• Religion in the Home for Preschool: May

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Prayers (4)

• Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven)
• Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Litany of Loreto)
• Litany of St. Paschal Baylon, Patron of Eucharistic Congresses
• Novena to St. Rita

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Library (3)

• Mirae Caritatis (On The Holy Eucharist) | Pope Leo XIII
• Sacramentum Caritatis | Pope Benedict XVI
• The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church | Synod of Bishops

Blog & Podcasts (0)

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According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Paschal Baylon, who lived and died in the kingdom of Aragon, Spain. He spent his early years as a shepherd and often gave religious instruction to the shepherds on the hills of Aragon. At the age of twenty-four he entered the Franciscan Order and embraced the humble, austere life of a lay brother. He was noted for his devotion to the Holy Eucharist. Pope Leo XIII declared him protector or all Eucharistic Congresses and works. His feast is no longer on the calendar in the United States.

We continue the Novena to the Holy Spirit.

St. Paschal Baylon
Paschal Baylon (named after the day of his birth and death: Pentecost Sunday—Pascha Pentekostes) was a simple, pious shepherd boy who later became an ardent spiritual son of St. Francis and the heavenly patron of adorers of the Most Blessed Sacrament. He belongs to that illustrious circle of saints who, by heroic holiness of life, refurbished the Church's crown that had been desecrated by the heretics of the sixteenth century. He hailed from the Spanish section of Valencia and died at the age of 52. As he lay dead upon the bier, he opened and closed his eyes twice when the sacred species were elevated at the consecration. Leo XIII declared him the heavenly patron of all Eucharistic leagues and societies.

One day Paschal heard the bells of a convent announce the approaching consecration at Mass. Such an ardent longing for God overcame him that, prompted by yearning and love, he involuntarily cried out: "O God, most worthy of all adoration, please let me see You!" Hardly had he uttered the prayer when a glowing star appeared in the sky. As he watched, the heavens opened; the star disappeared and was replaced by a chalice with the Host, flanked by two adoring angels. Christian art has selected this vision to show his chief virtue, viz., love for the most holy Eucharist.

—Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: Cooks; Eucharistic congresses and organizations (proclaimed by Pope Leo XIII); Obado, Bulacan, Phillipines.

Symbols: In adoration before a vision of the Host.

Things to Do:

• Whoever intends to live with the Church must make the holy Eucharist the primary concern of his life. But he can accomplish this only by participating as actively as possible with the priest in offering the Sacrifice and by receiving holy Communion as part of the sacrificial banquet. Receive the Blessed Sacrament today with the desire to fully appreciate this great gift.
  
• Tomie de Paola has a children's book Pascual and the Kitchen Angels that retells some of the goings on in the kitchen with St. Pascal.