The Daily Pilgrimage

Good Morning, Pilgrim

Receive this day as a child of Holy Mother Church.

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's promise of resurrection and eternal life and gives the faithful a reason to persevere in obedience today.

Thank God for Our Lady's divine and spiritual maternity and receive every grace as Christ's gift ministered within His holy order.

Formation in True Devotion - Day 141: Second Motive: The Example of Jesus and the Divine Order

“‘Mary has two sons, the one a God-man, the other, mere man. She is Mother of the first corporally and of the second spiritually’ (St. Bonaventure and Origen). ‘This is the will of God who willed that we should have all things through Mary. If then, we possess any hope or grace or gift of salvation, let us acknowledge that it comes to us through her’ (St. Bernard).”
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 141

Ora — Begin with Prayer

Offer the day before spending it

Prayer gives the day its right beginning and its right end. Before work, conversation, news, or distraction claims the mind, adore the Blessed Trinity and offer every prayer, work, joy, suffering, and temptation to Jesus through Mary. Ask your Guardian Angel for help, and place the souls and needs entrusted to you beneath God's will.

Begin simply. Make the Morning Offering through the hands of Our Lady. Pray the Three Hail Marys for purity and final perseverance, ask your Guardian Angel to govern the senses and imagination, and name the soul or intention for which today's prayers and sacrifices will be offered. Do not rush these acts merely because they are familiar; let them place the whole day beneath God before the world begins to claim it.

O Lord, make doctrine fruitful in habit. Let truth become patience, courage, purity, recollection, penance, charity, and perseverance.

Quote of the Day

“Pray without intermission.”
Holy Scripture, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Original Douay-Rheims

Keep this word in the Wisdom Treasury

Today's Full Breviary Sermon or Proper Lesson

The Good Shepherd and the hireling exposed.

Matins - Third Nocturn - Second Sunday after Easter

The verified Breviary witness for this observance is identified below. A complete English transcription has not yet been admitted, so no excerpt or summary is presented as though it were the full appointed text.

Pope St. Gregory the Great, Homily 14 on the Gospels

“The Good Shepherd gave His life for the sheep.”

• The Breviary contemplates Christ as the Good Shepherd, who knows His sheep, gives His life for them, and feeds them with His own Body and Blood.
• St. Gregory teaches that the shepherd must first spend outward goods for the sheep and, if need be, give even his life for them.
• The hireling is exposed by love of earthly gain, comfort, precedence, and safety more than the salvation of souls.

Learn the difference between shepherding and religious employment. The mark of the true shepherd is costly charity for souls, patterned after Christ who laid down His life.

Walk with Holy Mother Church

Holy Mother Church has already begun praying. Enter her prayer.

Today the Roman year keeps Second Sunday after Easter. Receive the observance from the Church's hands: first understand what is commemorated, then let its doctrine and worship shape the day.

Roman Martyrology

April 19

The birthday of St. Timon, one of the first seven deacons, who taught first at Berea. Afterwards while preaching the word of the Lord at Corinth, he was delivered to the flames by the Jews and the Greeks; but remaining uninjured, he ended his martyrdom by crucifixion. — At Melitine, in Armenia, the holy martyrs Hermogenes, Caius, Expeditus, Aristonicus, Rufus and Galatas, crowned on the same day. — At Collioure, in Spain, the holy martyr Vincent. — The same day, the holy martyrs Socrates and Denis, who were tarnspierced with lances. — At Jerusalem, St. Paphnutius, martyr. — At Canterbury, in England, St. Elphege, bishop and martyr. — At Antioch, in Pisidia, St. George, a bishop, who died in exile for the worship of sacred images. — At Rome, pope St. Leo IX., illustrious for his virtues and miracles. — In the monastery of Lobbes, St. Ursmar, bishop. — At Florence, St. Crescent, confessor, disciple of the blessed bishop Zenobius.

Gospel of the Day

I am the good shepherd.

Second Sunday after Easter - John 10:11-16

“The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep.”

Let yourself be shepherded. The sheep is not safe by being clever, but by staying near the voice that gave itself for him.

Learn from Today's Saint or Feast

Second Sunday after Easter

The Good Shepherd knows His sheep.

The Second Sunday after Easter places the faithful under Christ the Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for the sheep.

The day teaches that the Church is not a crowd gathered by feeling, but a flock held by the voice, sacrifice, and authority of the Shepherd.

In exile, do not confuse isolation with fidelity. The sheep live by knowing the Shepherd's voice and staying within His truth.

Breviary Witness for the Day

The Good Shepherd lays down His life.

Matins - Second Sunday after Easter

• The office of the Second Sunday after Easter contemplates Christ as the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep and gives His life for them.
• Its witness teaches that the flock is gathered by sacrifice, voice, doctrine, and authority; the sheep are safe by hearing and following Him.

Do not wander under the name of freedom. The sheep live by the Shepherd's voice, especially when many strange voices call.