The Daily Pilgrimage

Good Morning, Pilgrim

Receive this day from God.

Today the Church recalls that Christ entrusted His doctrine, sacraments, and authority to the apostles and commanded them to hand these gifts on. Catholics therefore receive the Faith from the Church rather than inventing it privately. They must also remember that sacred office is meant to serve revealed truth: holding an office and remaining faithful to its duties are related, but they are not identical.

Consecrate the senses and imagination to Jesus through Mary. Ask her to guard what you permit the eyes, ears, and memory to receive.

Formation in True Devotion - Day 156: Review and Deepening: Consecrated Life through Mary to Jesus

“We must put ourselves and leave ourselves in her virginal hands, like a tool in the grasp of a workman, like a lute in the hands of a skillful player.”
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 259

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 Jesus Christ, through Ss. Philip and James, make me humble before apostolic doctrine and willing to bring other souls to Thee.

Quote of the Day

“Lord, shew us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
St. Philip, John 14:8, Douay-Rheims

Today's Full Breviary Sermon or Proper Lesson

Two Apostles who bring souls to Christ and govern beneath Peter's judgment.

Matins - Second Nocturn - Ss. Philip and James, Apostles

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.

Roman Breviary and St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Proper lessons for Ss. Philip and James and Tract on St. John

“Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him: We have found Him.”

• The Breviary remembers St. Philip as one of the first called, bringing Nathanael to Christ, receiving the Greeks who desired to see Jesus, and preaching after Pentecost.
• St. James governed Jerusalem, followed St. Peter's judgment at the apostolic council, defended the calling of the Gentiles, and wrote one of the Catholic Epistles.
• Both Apostles carry the faithful toward the Father's house: apostolic mission, visible government, Scripture, martyrdom, and communion in Christ belong together.

Ask the Apostles for missionary obedience. Bring another soul to Jesus, receive apostolic judgment without rivalry, and live now as one preparing for a mansion in the Father's house.

Walk with the Church

The Church has already begun praying. Enter her prayer.

Today the Roman year keeps Ss. Philip and James, Apostles. Receive the observance as the Church gives it: first understand what is commemorated, then let its doctrine and worship shape the day.

Roman Martyrology

May 1

The birthday of the blessed apostles Philip and James. Philip, after having converted nearly all Scythia to the faith of Christ, went to Hierapolis, in Asia, where he was fastened to a cross, overwhelmed with stones, and thus terminated his life gloriously. James, who is also called the brother of our Lord, was the first bishop of Jerusalem. Being hurled down from a pinnacle of the temple, he had his legs broken, and being then struck on the head with a dyer's staff, he expired, and was buried near the temple. — In Egypt, St. Jeremias, prophet, wTho was stoned to death by the people at. Taphnas, where he was interred. St. Epiphanius relates that the faithful were wont to pray at his grave, and to take away from it dust to heal those who were stung by serpents. — In France, in the province of Vivarais, blessed Andeol, subdeacon, who was sent from the East into Gaul with others by St. Polycarp to preach the word of God. Under the emperor Severus he was scourged with thorny sticks, and having his head split with a wooden sword into four parts, in the shape of a cross, terminated his martyrdom. — At Huesca, in Spain, the holy martyrs Orentius and Patience. — At Sion, in Switzerland, St. Sigismund, king of the Burgundians, who was drowned in a well, and afterwards became renowned for miracles. — At Auxerre, St. Amator, bishop and confessor. — At Auch, St. Orientius, bishop. — In England, the Saints Asaph, bishop, and Walburge, virgin. — At Bergamo, St. Grata, widow. — At Forli, St. Peregrinus, of the Order of the Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Gospel of the Day

I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

Ss. Philip and James, Apostles - John 14:1-13

“Lord, shew us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

Let St. Philip's request become your own, but receive Our Lord's answer. To know Christ faithfully is already to be led to the Father.

Learn from Today's Saint or Feast

Ss. Philip and James

Apostles of Christ and witnesses to the received faith.

Ss. Philip and James are honored among the apostles, witnesses chosen by Christ and sent to preach the Gospel.

Their feast reminds the Church that apostolic doctrine is not a later invention. It is received from those sent by the Lord Himself.

Let St. Philip's request become your own, but receive Our Lord's answer. To know Christ faithfully is already to be led to the Father.

Breviary Witness for the Day

Apostles formed by the way, the truth, and the life.

Matins - Ss. Philip and James

• The Breviary honors Ss. Philip and James among the apostolic witnesses chosen by Christ.
• Their feast teaches that the faith is received from those sent by the Lord, not assembled from private preference.

Receive apostolic doctrine with humility. Christ is the way to the Father, not one religious option among contradictions.