Lent: April 4th
Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent; Optional Memorial of Saint Isidore, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Other Commemorations: St. Francisco Marto (RM)
MASS READINGS
April 04, 2022 (Readings on USCCB website)
COLLECT PRAYER
Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent: O God, by whose wondrous grace we are enriched with every blessing, grant us so to pass from former ways to newness of life, that we may be made ready for the glory of the heavenly Kingdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
Optional Memorial of Saint Isidore: Graciously hear the prayers, O Lord, which we make in commemoration of Saint Isidore, that your Church may be aided by his intercession, just as she has been instructed by his heavenly teaching. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
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Entrance Antiphon, Cf. Ps 56 (55):2:
Have mercy on me, O God, for people assail me; they fight me all day long and oppress me.
Today we begin the fifth and final full week of Lent. In previous times the crosses and statues in church were veiled at this time to indicate Passion Time. Now the liturgical readings, day after day, tell of the lowering storm clouds that next week will break open. Today’s ancient Lenten readings taught the penitents (and teach us) that every sin is adultery to God—and is pardonable by Christ. —The Vatican II Weekday Missal
St. Isidore, who succeeded his brother St. Leander as Archbishop of Seville, was one of the great bishops of the seventh century. He was proficient in all brances of knowledge and was regarded as one of the most learned men of his time; with Cassiodorus and Boethius he was one of the thinkers whose writings were most studied in the Middle Ages, St. Isidore died in 636. Pope Innocent XIII canonized him in 1722 and proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church.
Meditation
In early Christian biblical commentary, the innocent Susanna of today’s first Mass reading was presented as a type of the unjustly persecuted Church. Thus the assignment of the Susanna story to today’s liturgy is particularly appropriate given today’s statio at St. Chrysogonus, who, like Sebastian and George, was a soldier-martyr of the Diocletian persecution in the early fourth century. Veneration of St. Chrysogonus was so widespread in Rome that his name was inscribed in the Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I). Chrysogonus conformed himself to the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary by offering his own life in witness to the grace of God that had transformed him. So did St. John Fisher, who provides the second selection in today’s Office of Readings. Fisher reminds Lenten pilgrims that the imitation of Christ, while perfected in martyrdom, also takes place in many other ways: “All who have embarked on true contrition and penance for the sins they have committed, and are firmly resolved not to commit sins again for the future but to persevere constantly in that pursuit of virtues which they have now begun, all these become sharers in [Christ’s] holy and eternal sacrifice.”
—George Weigel, Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches
St. Isidore of Seville
Saint Isidore, bishop of Seville and Doctor of the Church, had the phenomenal versatility of a Leonardo da Vinci. Like that famous Renaissance genius, he had an amazing store of information, including, among other things, a knowledge of history, science, natural history, literature, and philosophy.
Isidore's parents gave four children to the Church: Leander, Fulgentius, and Isidore became bishops, Florentina became an abbess; all four were eventually canonized saints. Born about 560 at Cartagena, Spain, Isidore was educated by his elder brother, Archbishop Leander, in the cathedral school of Seville. He had always been a poor student until one day, when he was skipping school, he sat down near the edge of a spring and noticed some grooves worn into the rock. Discovering that the grooves were caused by the constant flow of water, he decided that, similarly, the continual repetition of lessons might make a permanent impression on his memory. After that, Isidore disciplined himself to long hours of study, and in a short time he mastered Latin, Hebrew, and Greek.
On March 13, 599, after Leander's death, Isidore succeeded to the see of Seville. The Visigoths (Germanic invaders) had controlled Spain for several centuries, and at that time their barbarous influence was threatening to destroy Spanish civilization. By using every educational and religious means at his disposal, Isidore converted the Visigoths from Arianism to Catholicism, thus unifying the faith of the nation. He also helped to eradicate the acephalite heresy (it professed that the human and divine natures in Christ are identical), encouraged monasticism, and strengthened religious discipline everywhere. Isidore guided the course of three synods and presided over the Fourth Council of Toledo, held in 633. There it was decided, under Isidore's influence, to establish a school in each diocese where the clergy could be trained in the liberal arts, and in Hebrew, Greek, medicine, and law.
Isidore was the first Christian writer to attempt compiling a summation of universal knowledge, an encyclopedia. His work, called Etymologies or Origins contained in compact form all the knowledge of his age. It preserved many fragments of classical learning in a way that was intelligible to the Germanic peoples of his time. This contribution to the field of education gained for Isidore the title "Schoolmaster of the Middle Ages," and until the middle of the sixteenth century his Origins remained a favorite textbook. He also rendered a great service to the Church in Spain by completing the Mozarabic missal and breviary begun by Saint Leander.
Isidore was as outstanding in the practice of charity and mortification as he was in the cultivation of knowledge. His house was continually crowded with the poor of the countryside. Shortly before he died, he went to church and, covering himself with sackcloth, had ashes placed on his head. Thus dressed as a penitent, he prayed earnestly for the forgiveness of his sins and gave all his possessions to the poor. He died a short time later, on April 4, 636.
—The Lives of the Saints for every day of the year, Vol. 1: January-April
Patronage: computer technicians; computer users; computers; the Internet; schoolchildren; students; Cartagena, Spain
Symbols and Representation: Bees; bishop holding a pen while surrounded by a swarm of bees; bishop standing near a beehive; old bishop with a prince at his feet; pen; priest or bishop with pen and book; with Saint Leander, Saint Fulgentius, and Saint Florentina; with his Etymologia.
Highlights and Things to Do:
- Read more about St. Isidore:
- For those who speak or read Latin and are fascinated by words you might take a look at The Etymologies.
- From the Catholic Culture library, Pope Benedict XVI's audience text: St. Isidore.
St. Francisco Marto
Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three children, Portuguese shepherds from Aljustrel, received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. At that time, Europe was involved in an extremely bloody war. Portugal itself was in political turmoil, having overthrown its monarchy in 1910; the government disbanded religious organizations soon after.
At the first appearance, Mary asked the children to return to that spot on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months. She also asked them to learn to read and write and to pray the rosary “to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.” They were to pray for sinners and for the conversion of Russia, which had recently overthrown Czar Nicholas II and was soon to fall under communism. Up to 90,000 people gathered for Mary’s final apparition on October 13, 1917.
Less than two years later, Francisco died of influenza in his family home. He was buried in the parish cemetery and then re-buried in the Fatima basilica in 1952. Jacinta died of influenza in Lisbon, offering her suffering for the conversion of sinners, peace in the world and the Holy Father. She was re-buried in the Fatima basilica in 1951. Their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, became a Carmelite nun and was still living when Jacinta and Francisco were beatified in 2000. Sister Lucia died five years later. The shrine of Our Lady of Fatima is visited by up to 20 million people a year.
—Excerpted from Saint of the Day: Lives, Lessons and Feast by Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.
Highlights and Things to Do:
- Learn more about St. Francisco:
- Visit virtually the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Fatima, Portugal.
- Read online Fatima in Lucia's Own Words.
- Catholic Cuisine for some food ideas for St. Francisco.
