{"ok":true,"date":"2027-05-09","dateKey":"05-09","liturgicalDay":"Sunday after the Ascension","rank":"Semi-Double Sunday","color":"white","quoteOfTheDay":{"text":"In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection against our enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross joy of spirit, in the cross the height of virtue, in the cross the perfection of sanctity.","author":"Thomas à Kempis","source":"Of the Imitation of Christ, Book II, chapter 12, §2","treasuryHref":"/wisdom#in-the-cross-is-salvation","category":"Confidence and Daily Self-Denial"},"season":"Eastertide","novenas":[{"title":"Novena to the Holy Ghost","feast":"Pentecost","day":3,"totalDays":9,"startIsoDate":"2027-05-07","feastIsoDate":"2027-05-16","intention":"Ask the Holy Ghost for truth, fortitude, docility, and zeal without novelty or disorder.","prayer":null,"practice":"Pray for light to obey the truth already known and for courage to confess the Faith publicly.","sources":[]}],"octaveContexts":[{"liturgicalDay":"Within the Privileged Octave of the Ascension","rank":"Privileged Octave of the Third Order","color":"white","sourceNotes":["St. Andrew Daily Missal, Division of the Ecclesiastical Year, p. ix."]}],"subject":"City of God in Exile: Sunday after the Ascension - 2027-05-09","previewText":"Sunday after the Ascension. Hold the Traditions. Resist innovation that claims continuity while contradicting what was handed down.","plainText":"CITY OF GOD IN EXILE\nSunday after the Ascension\n2027-05-09 - Eastertide - Semi-Double Sunday - white\nPLAIN-LANGUAGE GUIDE FOR TODAY\nSunday after the Ascension is the principal observance today. The calendar also preserves St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor on this date. The secondary saint panel below comes from that secondary observance. That material adds another traditional lesson for the date; it does not replace the principal observance.\nAscension: Christ's return to the Father in His glorified humanity forty days after the Resurrection.\nTract: in a source title, a written commentary or treatise; in the Mass, the same word can name a solemn chant sung in place of the Alleluia during penitential seasons.\nDoctor of the Church: a saint formally recognized for teaching the Catholic Faith with exceptional depth and lasting value.\nTODAY IN THE ROMAN YEAR\nChrist is risen, has ascended in His glorified humanity, and reigns in Heaven. The Church and her members still suffer on earth, but their trials do not overturn His victory. Christian hope is therefore more than an encouraging feeling: it trusts Christ's promise of resurrection and eternal life and gives the faithful a reason to persevere in obedience today. With Mary, enter Advent by choosing the hidden approval of God before the notice of the world. Ask Our Lady for a hidden beginning. Offer the whole day to God through her, including the parts that no one else will see or praise.\n\n\"Mary was singularly hidden during her life.\"\nSt. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 2\n\nSt. Louis de Montfort begins by placing Our Lady where the world does not know how to look. Her life is not built around display. The greatest creature God made is content to be known by Him, to receive His will without constructing an audience, and to let the mystery of Christ occupy the place that self-love continually seeks for itself.\n\nA new formation in true devotion must therefore begin with hiddenness. Do not ask first how devotion will make you feel or how it will appear. Ask which faithful act can be performed today for God alone. Our Lady will teach you that a soul loses nothing by disappearing from human notice when Jesus Christ is being formed within it.\n\nOCTAVE CONTEXT\nWithin the Privileged Octave of the Ascension - Privileged Octave of the Third Order\n\nPRACTICE\nRead John 15:26-16:4. Ask for grace to state necessary truths calmly, without fear or hostility.\n\nQUOTE OF THE DAY\n\"In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection against our enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross joy of spirit, in the cross the height of virtue, in the cross the perfection of sanctity.\"\nThomas à Kempis, Of the Imitation of Christ, Book II, chapter 12, §2\n\nNOVENA IN PROGRESS\nNovena to the Holy Ghost - Day 3 of 9\nPreparing for Pentecost on 2027-05-16.\nAsk the Holy Ghost for truth, fortitude, docility, and zeal without novelty or disorder.\n\nPray for light to obey the truth already known and for courage to confess the Faith publicly.\n\nROMAN MARTYROLOGY - May 9\nAt Nazianzus, the birthday of St. Gregory, bishop and doctor of the church, surnamed the Theologian, because of his remarkable knowledge of divinity. At Constantinople, he restored the Catholic faith, which was fast waning, and repressed the rising heresies. — At Rome, St. Hennas, mentioned by the apostle St. Paul in the epistle to the Romans. Generously sacrificing himself, he became an offering acceptable to God, and adorned with virtues took his departure for the heavenly kingdom. — In Persia, three hundred and ten holy martyrs. — At Caglio, on the Flaminian road, the passion of St. Gerontius, bishop of Cervia. — In the castle of Windisch, the decease of St. Beatus, confessor. — At Constantinople, the translation of the apostle St. Andrew and the evangelist St. Luke, out of Achaia, and of Timothy, disciple of the blessed apostle Paul, from Ephesus. The body of St. Andrew, long after, was conveyed to Amalfi, where it is honored by the pious concourse of the faithful. From his tomb continually issues a liquid which heals diseases. — At Rome, also, the translation of St. Jerome, priest and doctor of the Church, from Bethlehem of Juda, to the basilica of St. Mary of the manger. — At Bari, in Apulia, the translation likewise of the holy bishop Nicholas, from Myra, a town of Lycia.\n\nGOSPEL OF THE DAY\nThe Spirit of truth shall give testimony of me.\nSunday after the Ascension - John 15:26-27; 16:1-4\n\"Yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God.\"\nDo not be surprised when fidelity is misread. Our Lord warned His friends gently beforehand so they would not be scandalized.\n\nTHE CHURCH'S READING OF THE GOSPEL\nWhat This Gospel Teaches\nChrist prepares His disciples for persecution without taking away their peace.\nThe Holy Ghost gives testimony to Christ through the Church's faithful witness.\nError corrected: The fear of persecution that tempts the soul to silence truth.\n- Where does this error tempt me in practice?\n- What act does this Gospel require of me today?\n\nHIGHLIGHTED SAINT\nSunday after the Ascension\nWitness under the promise of the Paraclete.\nThe Sunday after the Ascension keeps the Church between the Lord's departure and the coming of the Holy Ghost.\nOur Lord promises the Paraclete and warns of persecution, teaching that Catholic witness must be truthful, patient, and strengthened from above, not built on human approval.\nLive this interval faithfully. Christ has ascended, but He has not abandoned His Church; witness must wait upon the Paraclete.\nSECONDARY SAINT ASSIGNED TO THIS DATE\nSt. Gregory Nazianzen\nThe Theologian, restorer of Catholic faith at Constantinople.\nSt. Gregory Nazianzen, bishop and Doctor of the Church, is surnamed the Theologian because of his remarkable knowledge of divinity.\nAt Constantinople he restored the Catholic faith when it was fast waning and repressed the rising heresies.\nAsk St. Gregory for speech worthy of holy mysteries. Theology is safest when wonder and exact doctrine kneel together. Today, speak of God with more reverence and less carelessness.\nBREVIARY WITNESS\nThe Paraclete shall give testimony.\nMatins - Sunday after the Ascension\n- The Sunday after the Ascension keeps the Church waiting for the Holy Ghost while hearing Christ's warning of persecution.\n- Its witness teaches that faithful testimony depends on the Paraclete: the truth must be confessed, but with strength received from above.\nDo not let opposition surprise you. Christ foretold it and promised the Spirit of truth to strengthen His witnesses.\nInstruction from the Breviary\nThe Breviary witness for Sunday after the Ascension is part of the Church's daily teaching. It should not be read as a list of isolated facts. In the Divine Office, Scripture, the lives of the saints, doctrine, and the Church's prayer are placed together so that the mind learns what the Church remembers and the heart learns how a Catholic ought to judge and live.\nToday's witness is gathered under The Paraclete shall give testimony.. Its first point is this: The Sunday after the Ascension keeps the Church waiting for the Holy Ghost while hearing Christ's warning of persecution. Its next point develops the lesson: Its witness teaches that faithful testimony depends on the Paraclete: the truth must be confessed, but with strength received from above.\nThe practical instruction is: Do not let opposition surprise you. Christ foretold it and promised the Spirit of truth to strengthen His witnesses. Ask what truth is being guarded, what virtue is being praised, and what danger or forgetfulness is being corrected. In this way the Breviary becomes instruction for the present day rather than information that is quickly passed over.\n- What truth does this Breviary witness teach or defend?\n- What virtue does the Church place before me through it?\n- What judgment or action should change because I have received this lesson?\n\nFROM MATINS\nThe Spirit of truth and witness under hatred.\nMatins - Third Nocturn - Sunday after the Ascension\nSt. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo\n\"The Spirit of truth... shall testify of Me.\"\n- The Breviary keeps the Church between Ascension and Pentecost, hearing Christ promise the Comforter and warn His disciples of persecution.\n- St. Augustine teaches that the world which hates Christ also persecutes His holy ones, yet the disciples are what they are by the grace of God.\n- The Spirit of truth gives irrefragable testimony to Christ and converts even some who had seen and hated, drawing them into the faith that worketh by love.\nWait for Pentecost without softness. The Ascended Lord does not hide the world's hatred, but promises the Spirit of truth so that witness may remain clear, charitable, and unconquered.\nTHE PILGRIM'S SPIRITUAL CONFERENCE\nHold the Traditions\nThe Church places this truth before you today: Apostolic tradition is not nostalgia. It is the handing down of what the Church received from Christ and the Apostles. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. Tradition protects the faithful from the tyranny of the present moment and from teachers who mistake novelty for life.\nThe grace to be practiced is Patient witness under the Holy Ghost, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Imitate Mary's humility by allowing God, rather than human notice, to be the sufficient witness of a good act.\nThere is also an enemy to recognize: Resist innovation that claims continuity while contradicting what was handed down. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing patient witness under the Holy Ghost when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.\nDo the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Receive obscurity without treating it as rejection. Hidden fidelity is precious before God. Perform the least noticed duty with the same care you would give it under the eyes of the whole household.\nThe Church's witness: this truth manifests the Church's mark of apostolic; the witness placed beside it is St. Paul.\nYour resolution before God: Read John 15:26-16:4. Ask for grace to state necessary truths calmly, without fear or hostility.\nCarry this word: Christ prepares His witnesses for opposition and promises the Holy Ghost to strengthen them.\nTHE PILGRIM'S MIRROR\n\"I had liefer be poor with Thee, than rich without Thee.\"\nThomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book III, chapter 59, p. 173\nOlder English: “liefer” means “rather.”\nNo created success compensates for separation from Christ. Prefer His friendship, His truth, and His Cross to every advantage gained by compromise.\n\nTemptation often presents the price first and hides the loss. It tells you what obedience may cost in comfort, reputation, companionship, or opportunity, while concealing the poverty of possessing these things without peace with God. Look beyond the immediate bargain and choose with eternity in view.\nToday's Practice: Refuse every compromise made for comfort, gain, or human respect.\nDAILY EXAMEN\nAsk whether you sought to be seen, thanked, or vindicated. Place that hunger quietly into Mary's hands.\n- For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?\n- What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?\n- What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?\nPRAYER\nO Lord Jesus Christ, keep me from surprise or bitterness when truth is opposed. Grant me patient courage while I await and obey the Spirit of truth.\nDAILY RULE FOR THE PILGRIM\nA brief rule to keep every day:\nBegin with morning prayer\nAdore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.\nKeep the Angelus\nPause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.\nSeek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament\nAttend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.\nReturn to Jesus and Mary\nUse frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.\nPray the Rosary\nKeep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.\nEnd with night prayer and examen\nGive thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.\nCONTINUE STUDY\nHold the Traditions and Refuse the Innovators: https://cityofgodinexile.com/scripture-treasury/2-thessalonians-2-14-15-hold-the-traditions-and-refuse-the-innovators?entered=1\nOpen this day in the Sacred Calendar: https://cityofgodinexile.com/sacred-calendar?date=2027-05-09&entered=1\nOpen this day's Daily Pilgrimage: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch?date=2027-05-09&entered=1\nBrowse the Formation Index: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch/formation?entered=1","html":"<!doctype html>\n<html lang=\"en\">\n  <head>\n    <meta charSet=\"utf-8\" />\n    <meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width, initial-scale=1\" />\n    <title>City of God in Exile: Sunday after the Ascension - 2027-05-09</title>\n  </head>\n  <body style=\"margin: 0; padding: 0; background: #0b1423;\">\n    <div style=\"display: none; max-height: 0; overflow: hidden; opacity: 0;\">\n      Sunday after the Ascension. Hold the Traditions. Resist innovation that claims continuity while contradicting what was handed down.\n    </div>\n    <table role=\"presentation\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" style=\"background: #0b1423; padding: 28px 12px;\">\n      <tr>\n        <td align=\"center\">\n          <table role=\"presentation\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" style=\"max-width: 680px; background: #12213a; border: 1px solid #c8a766;\">\n            <tr>\n              <td style=\"padding: 0; background: #061124;\">\n                <img src=\"https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-pilgrimage-email-st-james-header.png\" alt=\"City of God in Exile Daily Pilgrimage\" width=\"680\" style=\"display: block; width: 100%; max-width: 680px; height: auto; border: 0;\" />\n              </td>\n            </tr>\n            <tr>\n              <td style=\"padding: 28px 26px 18px; background: #12213a; border-bottom: 3px solid #b99645;\">\n                <p style=\"margin: 0 0 10px; color: #d9bd73; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.5px; text-transform: uppercase;\">City of God in Exile</p>\n                <h1 style=\"margin: 0; color: #fff7df; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 34px; line-height: 1.05;\">Sunday after the Ascension</h1>\n                <p style=\"margin: 12px 0 0; color: #dfcfaa; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.45;\">2027-05-09 - Eastertide - Semi-Double Sunday - white</p>\n              </td>\n            </tr>\n            <tr>\n              <td style=\"padding: 0 26px 26px; background: #12213a;\">\n                <div style=\"background: #f8efd9; padding: 1px 22px 28px;\">\n                <blockquote style=\"margin: 20px 0 0; padding: 14px 16px; border-left: 3px solid #8c682a; background: #efe0bc; color: #24180d; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.45;\">&ldquo;Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not.&rdquo;<br /><span style=\"display: inline-block; margin-top: 8px; color: #5d4320; font-size: 14px;\">John 12:35</span></blockquote>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Plain-Language Guide for Today</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Sunday after the Ascension is the principal observance today. The calendar also preserves St. Gregory Nazianzen, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor on this date. The secondary saint panel below comes from that secondary observance. That material adds another traditional lesson for the date; it does not replace the principal observance.</p><dl style=\"margin: 0;\">\n        <dt style=\"margin: 12px 0 3px; color: #5a3a10; font-weight: bold;\">Ascension</dt>\n        <dd style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">Christ&#39;s return to the Father in His glorified humanity forty days after the Resurrection.</dd>\n        <dt style=\"margin: 12px 0 3px; color: #5a3a10; font-weight: bold;\">Tract</dt>\n        <dd style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">in a source title, a written commentary or treatise; in the Mass, the same word can name a solemn chant sung in place of the Alleluia during penitential seasons.</dd>\n        <dt style=\"margin: 12px 0 3px; color: #5a3a10; font-weight: bold;\">Doctor of the Church</dt>\n        <dd style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">a saint formally recognized for teaching the Catholic Faith with exceptional depth and lasting value.</dd></dl></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Today in the Roman Year</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Christ is risen, has ascended in His glorified humanity, and reigns in Heaven. The Church and her members still suffer on earth, but their trials do not overturn His victory. Christian hope is therefore more than an encouraging feeling: it trusts Christ&#39;s promise of resurrection and eternal life and gives the faithful a reason to persevere in obedience today.</p><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">With Mary, enter Advent by choosing the hidden approval of God before the notice of the world.</p><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Ask Our Lady for a hidden beginning. Offer the whole day to God through her, including the parts that no one else will see or praise.</p><blockquote style=\"margin: 14px 0 8px; padding: 12px 14px; border-left: 3px solid #8c682a; background: #efe0bc; color: #24180d; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.45;\">&ldquo;Mary was singularly hidden during her life.&rdquo;</blockquote><p style=\"margin: 0 0 14px; color: #5d4320; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.45;\">St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, <em>True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 2</em></p><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">St. Louis de Montfort begins by placing Our Lady where the world does not know how to look. Her life is not built around display. The greatest creature God made is content to be known by Him, to receive His will without constructing an audience, and to let the mystery of Christ occupy the place that self-love continually seeks for itself.</p><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">A new formation in true devotion must therefore begin with hiddenness. Do not ask first how devotion will make you feel or how it will appear. Ask which faithful act can be performed today for God alone. Our Lady will teach you that a soul loses nothing by disappearing from human notice when Jesus Christ is being formed within it.</p><div style=\"margin-top: 14px; padding: 13px 15px; border-left: 3px solid #8c682a; background: #efe0bc;\"><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Read John 15:26-16:4. Ask for grace to state necessary truths calmly, without fear or hostility.</p></div></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Octave Context</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\">\n    <ul style=\"margin: 0; padding-left: 22px;\">\n      <li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">Within the Privileged Octave of the Ascension - Privileged Octave of the Third Order</li>\n    </ul></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Quote of the Day</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><blockquote style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; padding: 12px 14px; border-left: 3px solid #8c682a; background: #efe0bc; color: #24180d; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.45;\">&ldquo;In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is protection against our enemies, in the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of mind, in the cross joy of spirit, in the cross the height of virtue, in the cross the perfection of sanctity.&rdquo;</blockquote>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0; color: #5d4320; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.45;\">Thomas à Kempis, Of the Imitation of Christ, Book II, chapter 12, §2</p></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Novena in Progress</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><h2 style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.1;\">Novena to the Holy Ghost - Day 3 of 9</h2>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Preparing for Pentecost on 2027-05-16.</p>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Ask the Holy Ghost for truth, fortitude, docility, and zeal without novelty or disorder.</p>\n                  \n                  <div style=\"margin-top: 12px; padding: 13px 15px; border-left: 3px solid #8c682a; background: #efe0bc;\"><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Pray for light to obey the truth already known and for courage to confess the Faith publicly.</p></div></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Roman Martyrology - May 9</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">At Nazianzus, the birthday of St. Gregory, bishop and doctor of the church, surnamed the Theologian, because of his remarkable knowledge of divinity. At Constantinople, he restored the Catholic faith, which was fast waning, and repressed the rising heresies. — At Rome, St. Hennas, mentioned by the apostle St. Paul in the epistle to the Romans. Generously sacrificing himself, he became an offering acceptable to God, and adorned with virtues took his departure for the heavenly kingdom. — In Persia, three hundred and ten holy martyrs. — At Caglio, on the Flaminian road, the passion of St. Gerontius, bishop of Cervia. — In the castle of Windisch, the decease of St. Beatus, confessor. — At Constantinople, the translation of the apostle St. Andrew and the evangelist St. Luke, out of Achaia, and of Timothy, disciple of the blessed apostle Paul, from Ephesus. The body of St. Andrew, long after, was conveyed to Amalfi, where it is honored by the pious concourse of the faithful. From his tomb continually issues a liquid which heals diseases. — At Rome, also, the translation of St. Jerome, priest and doctor of the Church, from Bethlehem of Juda, to the basilica of St. Mary of the manger. — At Bari, in Apulia, the translation likewise of the holy bishop Nicholas, from Myra, a town of Lycia.</p></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Gospel of the Day</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><h2 style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1;\">The Spirit of truth shall give testimony of me.</h2>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px; color: #6b4a18; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Sunday after the Ascension - John 15:26-27; 16:1-4</p>\n                  <blockquote style=\"margin: 0 0 14px; padding: 12px 14px; border-left: 3px solid #8c682a; background: #efe0bc; color: #24180d; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.45;\">&ldquo;Yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God.&rdquo;</blockquote>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Do not be surprised when fidelity is misread. Our Lord warned His friends gently beforehand so they would not be scandalized.</p></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">The Church&#39;s Reading of the Gospel</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><h2 style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1;\">What This Gospel Teaches</h2>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Christ prepares His disciples for persecution without taking away their peace.</p><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">The Holy Ghost gives testimony to Christ through the Church&#39;s faithful witness.</p>\n                  <div style=\"margin-top: 12px; padding: 13px 15px; border-left: 3px solid #8c682a; background: #efe0bc;\"><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Error corrected: The fear of persecution that tempts the soul to silence truth.</p></div>\n                  \n    <ul style=\"margin: 0; padding-left: 22px;\">\n      <li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">Where does this error tempt me in practice?</li><li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">What act does this Gospel require of me today?</li>\n    </ul></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Highlighted Saint</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><h2 style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1;\">Sunday after the Ascension</h2>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px; color: #6b4a18; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Witness under the promise of the Paraclete.</p>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">The Sunday after the Ascension keeps the Church between the Lord&#39;s departure and the coming of the Holy Ghost.</p><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Our Lord promises the Paraclete and warns of persecution, teaching that Catholic witness must be truthful, patient, and strengthened from above, not built on human approval.</p>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Live this interval faithfully. Christ has ascended, but He has not abandoned His Church; witness must wait upon the Paraclete.</p></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Secondary Saint Assigned to This Date</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><h2 style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1;\">St. Gregory Nazianzen</h2>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px; color: #6b4a18; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase;\">The Theologian, restorer of Catholic faith at Constantinople.</p>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">St. Gregory Nazianzen, bishop and Doctor of the Church, is surnamed the Theologian because of his remarkable knowledge of divinity.</p><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">At Constantinople he restored the Catholic faith when it was fast waning and repressed the rising heresies.</p>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Ask St. Gregory for speech worthy of holy mysteries. Theology is safest when wonder and exact doctrine kneel together. Today, speak of God with more reverence and less carelessness.</p></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Breviary Witness</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><h2 style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1;\">The Paraclete shall give testimony.</h2>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px; color: #6b4a18; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Matins - Sunday after the Ascension</p>\n                  \n    <ul style=\"margin: 0; padding-left: 22px;\">\n      <li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">The Sunday after the Ascension keeps the Church waiting for the Holy Ghost while hearing Christ&#39;s warning of persecution.</li><li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">Its witness teaches that faithful testimony depends on the Paraclete: the truth must be confessed, but with strength received from above.</li>\n    </ul>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Do not let opposition surprise you. Christ foretold it and promised the Spirit of truth to strengthen His witnesses.</p>\n                  <h2 style=\"margin: 18px 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.1;\">Instruction from the Breviary</h2><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">The Breviary witness for Sunday after the Ascension is part of the Church&#39;s daily teaching. It should not be read as a list of isolated facts. In the Divine Office, Scripture, the lives of the saints, doctrine, and the Church&#39;s prayer are placed together so that the mind learns what the Church remembers and the heart learns how a Catholic ought to judge and live.</p><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Today&#39;s witness is gathered under The Paraclete shall give testimony.. Its first point is this: The Sunday after the Ascension keeps the Church waiting for the Holy Ghost while hearing Christ&#39;s warning of persecution. Its next point develops the lesson: Its witness teaches that faithful testimony depends on the Paraclete: the truth must be confessed, but with strength received from above.</p><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">The practical instruction is: Do not let opposition surprise you. Christ foretold it and promised the Spirit of truth to strengthen His witnesses. Ask what truth is being guarded, what virtue is being praised, and what danger or forgetfulness is being corrected. In this way the Breviary becomes instruction for the present day rather than information that is quickly passed over.</p>\n    <ul style=\"margin: 0; padding-left: 22px;\">\n      <li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">What truth does this Breviary witness teach or defend?</li><li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">What virtue does the Church place before me through it?</li><li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">What judgment or action should change because I have received this lesson?</li>\n    </ul></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">From Matins</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><h2 style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1;\">The Spirit of truth and witness under hatred.</h2>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px; color: #6b4a18; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Matins - Third Nocturn - Sunday after the Ascension</p>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px; color: #5d4320; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.45;\">St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Tract 92 on St. John</p>\n                  <blockquote style=\"margin: 0 0 14px; padding: 12px 14px; border-left: 3px solid #8c682a; background: #efe0bc; color: #24180d; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.45;\">&ldquo;The Spirit of truth... shall testify of Me.&rdquo;</blockquote>\n                  \n    <ul style=\"margin: 0; padding-left: 22px;\">\n      <li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">The Breviary keeps the Church between Ascension and Pentecost, hearing Christ promise the Comforter and warn His disciples of persecution.</li><li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">St. Augustine teaches that the world which hates Christ also persecutes His holy ones, yet the disciples are what they are by the grace of God.</li><li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">The Spirit of truth gives irrefragable testimony to Christ and converts even some who had seen and hated, drawing them into the faith that worketh by love.</li>\n    </ul>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Wait for Pentecost without softness. The Ascended Lord does not hide the world&#39;s hatred, but promises the Spirit of truth so that witness may remain clear, charitable, and unconquered.</p>\n                  </div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">The Pilgrim&#39;s Spiritual Conference</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><h2 style=\"margin: 0 0 12px; color: #24180d; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1;\">Hold the Traditions</h2>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">The Church places this truth before you today: Apostolic tradition is not nostalgia. It is the handing down of what the Church received from Christ and the Apostles. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. Tradition protects the faithful from the tyranny of the present moment and from teachers who mistake novelty for life.</p><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">The grace to be practiced is Patient witness under the Holy Ghost, drawn from today&#39;s saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Imitate Mary&#39;s humility by allowing God, rather than human notice, to be the sufficient witness of a good act.</p><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">There is also an enemy to recognize: Resist innovation that claims continuity while contradicting what was handed down. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing patient witness under the Holy Ghost when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.</p><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Do the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God&#39;s wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady&#39;s hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Receive obscurity without treating it as rejection. Hidden fidelity is precious before God. Perform the least noticed duty with the same care you would give it under the eyes of the whole household.</p>\n                  <div style=\"margin-top: 14px; padding: 13px 15px; border-left: 3px solid #8c682a; background: #efe0bc;\"><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">The Church&#39;s witness: this truth manifests the Church&#39;s mark of apostolic; the witness placed beside it is St. Paul.</p></div>\n                  <h2 style=\"margin: 18px 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.1;\">Your Resolution Before God</h2>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Read John 15:26-16:4. Ask for grace to state necessary truths calmly, without fear or hostility.</p>\n                  <blockquote style=\"margin: 16px 0 8px; padding: 12px 14px; border-left: 3px solid #8c682a; background: #efe0bc; color: #24180d; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.45;\">Christ prepares His witnesses for opposition and promises the Holy Ghost to strengthen them.</blockquote></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">The Pilgrim&#39;s Mirror</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><h2 style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1;\">How shall I imitate Christ today?</h2>\n                  <blockquote style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; padding: 12px 14px; border-left: 3px solid #8c682a; background: #efe0bc; color: #24180d; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.45;\">&ldquo;I had liefer be poor with Thee, than rich without Thee.&rdquo;</blockquote>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 14px; color: #5d4320; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.45;\">Thomas à Kempis, <em>The Imitation of Christ</em>, Book III, chapter 59, p. 173</p>\n                  <p style=\"margin: -6px 0 14px; color: #5d4320; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.45;\"><em>Older English: “liefer” means “rather.”</em></p>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">No created success compensates for separation from Christ. Prefer His friendship, His truth, and His Cross to every advantage gained by compromise.</p><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Temptation often presents the price first and hides the loss. It tells you what obedience may cost in comfort, reputation, companionship, or opportunity, while concealing the poverty of possessing these things without peace with God. Look beyond the immediate bargain and choose with eternity in view.</p>\n                  <h2 style=\"margin: 18px 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.1;\">Today&apos;s Practice</h2>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Refuse every compromise made for comfort, gain, or human respect.</p></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Daily Examen</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><h2 style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 25px; line-height: 1.1;\">Three questions before night prayer</h2>\n                  <p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Ask whether you sought to be seen, thanked, or vindicated. Place that hunger quietly into Mary&#39;s hands.</p>\n                  \n    <ul style=\"margin: 0; padding-left: 22px;\">\n      <li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?</li><li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?</li><li style=\"margin: 0 0 8px;\">What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?</li>\n    </ul></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Prayer</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">O Lord Jesus Christ, keep me from surprise or bitterness when truth is opposed. Grant me patient courage while I await and obey the Spirit of truth.</p></div>\n      </div>\n                \n      <div style=\"padding: 20px 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n        <p style=\"margin: 0 0 8px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Daily Rule for the Pilgrim</p>\n        <div style=\"color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.55;\"><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">A brief rule to keep every day:</p>\n                  <h2 style=\"margin: 16px 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.1;\">Begin with morning prayer</h2><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Adore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.</p><h2 style=\"margin: 16px 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.1;\">Keep the Angelus</h2><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Pause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.</p><h2 style=\"margin: 16px 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.1;\">Seek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament</h2><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Attend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.</p><h2 style=\"margin: 16px 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.1;\">Return to Jesus and Mary</h2><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Use frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.</p><h2 style=\"margin: 16px 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.1;\">Pray the Rosary</h2><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Keep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.</p><h2 style=\"margin: 16px 0 8px; color: #24180d; font-size: 22px; line-height: 1.1;\">End with night prayer and examen</h2><p style=\"margin: 0 0 12px;\">Give thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.</p></div>\n      </div>\n                <div style=\"padding: 22px 0 0; border-top: 1px solid #d9bf8b;\">\n                  <div style=\"padding: 18px 18px 20px; border: 1px solid #c8a766; background: #efe0bc; text-align: center;\">\n                    <p style=\"margin: 0 0 7px; color: #6b4a18; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.25px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Continue Study</p>\n                    <p style=\"margin: 0 0 16px; color: #3a2a18; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;\">Carry today&apos;s lesson into a focused chapter from the library.</p>\n                    <a href=\"https://cityofgodinexile.com/scripture-treasury/2-thessalonians-2-14-15-hold-the-traditions-and-refuse-the-innovators?entered=1\" style=\"display: inline-block; padding: 11px 18px; border: 1px solid #7b581d; background: #12213a; color: #fff1c6; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.25; text-decoration: none;\">Hold the Traditions and Refuse the Innovators</a>\n                  </div>\n                  <div style=\"padding: 20px 0 0;\">\n                    <p style=\"margin: 0 0 10px; color: #7a5a21; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 1.2px; text-transform: uppercase;\">Continue Today&apos;s Pilgrimage</p>\n                    <p style=\"margin: 0 0 9px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;\"><a href=\"https://cityofgodinexile.com/sacred-calendar?date=2027-05-09&amp;entered=1\" style=\"color: #5a3a10; font-weight: bold;\">Open this day in the Sacred Calendar</a></p>\n                    <p style=\"margin: 0 0 9px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;\"><a href=\"https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch?date=2027-05-09&amp;entered=1\" style=\"color: #5a3a10; font-weight: bold;\">Open this day&apos;s Daily Pilgrimage</a></p>\n                    <p style=\"margin: 0; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5;\"><a href=\"https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch/formation?entered=1\" style=\"color: #5a3a10; font-weight: bold;\">Browse the Formation Index</a></p>\n                  </div>\n                </div>\n                </div>\n              </td>\n            </tr>\n            <tr>\n              <td style=\"padding: 0 26px 22px; background: #12213a;\">\n                <!-- DAILY_DISPATCH_MANAGEMENT_FOOTER -->\n              </td>\n            </tr>\n            <tr>\n              <td style=\"padding: 20px 26px 18px; background: #061124; text-align: center; border-top: 1px solid rgba(201,167,102,0.55);\">\n                <p style=\"margin: 0 0 5px; color: #f0d184; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 21px; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.3;\">Persevere, pilgrim.</p>\n                <p style=\"margin: 0; color: #d9cfb8; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.45;\">The gates remain open to the faithful.</p>\n              </td>\n            </tr>\n            <tr>\n              <td style=\"padding: 0; background: #061124;\">\n                <img src=\"https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-pilgrimage-email-gate-footer.png\" alt=\"The gates of the City of God remain open to the faithful.\" width=\"680\" style=\"display: block; width: 100%; max-width: 680px; height: auto; border: 0;\" />\n              </td>\n            </tr>\n          </table>\n        </td>\n      </tr>\n    </table>\n  </body>\n</html>","links":{"sacredCalendar":"/sacred-calendar?date=2027-05-09","webPreview":"/daily-dispatch?date=2027-05-09","emailPreview":"/daily-dispatch/email?date=2027-05-09","formationIndex":"/daily-dispatch/formation","subscribe":"/daily-dispatch/subscribe"},"included":{"martyrology":true,"gospelReflection":true,"saintlyWitness":true,"breviaryReading":true,"patristicBreviaryLesson":true,"faithPoint":"Hold the Traditions"}}