Sacred Calendar
The Roman year ordered for memory, penance, feasts, saints, and the daily pilgrimage of the faithful.
Calendar standard
Pre-1955 Roman usage
The calendar follows the universal Roman year under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X, with the Roman Martyrology preserved as a distinct daily witness.
The day is presented for prayer, recollection, study, and perseverance in the City.
Daily observance
Today in the City of God
The Church keeps this day in holy time. The Pilgrim's Companion gathers the feast, daily quote, Martyrology, meditation, prayer, and related chapters into one daily path through the City.
Choose a date
Daily observance
Third Sunday after Easter
Sunday, April 18, 2027
Season: Eastertide
The day is set within the Roman year so its feast, Martyrology, daily quote, prayer, and reading path may be received together without blurring their proper sources.
Today's pilgrimage
Third Sunday after Easter
Rank: Semi-Double Sunday
Color: white
Octave: Within the Common Octave of the Solemnity of St. Joseph (Common Octave).
Quote for the day
Holy Scripture
“In this is charity: not as though we have loved him, but because he hath loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins.”
1 John 4:10, Original Douay-Rheims
The pilgrim's devotional rhythm
Keeping the month and the weekday in prayer
This chosen devotional rhythm does not change the feast, rank, or obligations shown above. It gives the passing days a steady intention, helping the pilgrim honor God, intercede for souls, and carry one Catholic practice into the day. It is a household aid to devotion, not another law of the Roman Calendar.
April intention
The Most Blessed Sacrament
Our Lord remains truly, really, and substantially present beneath the sacramental appearances. Let this month deepen Eucharistic faith, reverence at Mass, and reparation for neglect of the altar.
Intention
For worthy Communions, holy priests, reparation for sacrilege, and the restoration of faith in the Real Presence.
A faithful act
Make a reverent visit to the Blessed Sacrament, or pause for a deliberate spiritual Communion when a visit is not possible.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament, increase our faith and receive our adoration and reparation.
Sunday remembrance
The Most Holy Trinity
Sunday belongs first to the worship of God and the commemoration of the Resurrection. Adore the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, from Whom every grace descends and to Whom the whole Christian life must return.
Intention
For the worthy worship of God, fidelity to Sunday Mass, and the restoration of Christian observance of the Lord's Day.
A faithful act
Protect the day from unnecessary servile work and give God an unhurried period of worship, doctrine, or spiritual reading.
Prayer
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and forever.
Roman Martyrology
Roman Martyrology - April 18
At Rome, St. Apollonius, a senator under the empe ror Commodus and the prefect Perennius. Having been denounced as a Christian by one of his slaves, and being commanded to give an account of his faith, he composed an able work which he read in the Senate. He was nevertheless decapitated for Christ by the sentence of that body. — At Messina, the birthday of the holy martyrs, Eleutherius, bishop of Illyricum, and Anthia, his mother. Illustrious by his holiness of life and his power of working miracles, he was, in the reign of Adrian, laid on a bed of red-hot iron, on a gridiron, in a pan filled with boiling oil, pitch and rosin; he was cast to the lions, but, remaining unhurt, he finally had his throat pierced with a sword. His mother suffered a similar punishment. — In the same place, St. Corebus, prefect, who was converted to the faith by St. Eleutherius, and died by the sword. — At Brescia, St. Calocerus, a martyr, who was converted to Christ by Saints Faustinus and Jovita, and under the same Adrian terminated his glorious combat for the confession of the faith. — At Cordova, St. Perfect, priest and martyr, killed by the Moors for inveighing against the followers of Mahomet. — At Milan, St. Galdini, cardinal and bishop of that city, who, at the conclusion of a discourse against heretics, gave up his soul to God. — In Tuscany, on Mount Senario, blessed Amideus, one of the seven Founders of the Order of the Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, very celebrated for an ardent love of God.
Highlighted saint
Third Sunday after Easter
A little while, and you shall see Me.
The Third Sunday after Easter gives Our Lord's promise that the disciples' sorrow shall be turned into joy.
The day teaches the rhythm of Christian exile: Christ may seem hidden for a little while, but faithful sorrow borne in Him becomes joy no enemy can take away.
This promise does not make sorrow unreal. It teaches the soul not to build its whole judgment from the present pain.
Virtue to practice
Patient hope in promised joy.
Error to resist
The despair that treats present sorrow as final and forgets the Lord's promise.
For the pilgrim in exile
Hold fast through the little while. Exile is real, but it is not the last word spoken by the risen Christ.
Imitate today
- Bear present sorrow without bitterness.
- Keep hope when consolation is delayed.
- Measure trial by eternity, not by feeling.
- Renew hope while sorrows are still present.
Sources
- John 16:16-22, Douay-Rheims.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Third Sunday after Easter.
Breviary Witness
Your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
Matins - Third Sunday after Easter
Breviary witness
- The office of the Third Sunday after Easter keeps Our Lord's promise that the disciples' sorrow will become joy.
- Its witness forms the exiled soul in patience: the little while of Christ's hiddenness is not abandonment, and the joy He gives cannot be taken away.
For the pilgrim in exile
Do not call present sorrow final. Christ measures the little while, and He promises joy beyond the reach of enemies.
Sources
- Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for the Third Sunday after Easter.
- John 16:16-22, Douay-Rheims.
Gospel of the day
Your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
Third Sunday after Easter - John 16:16-22
“Your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”
What Our Lord teaches
- Christ teaches that Christian sorrow is real but not final.
- The Church passes through absence, longing, and labor pains toward joy no man can take away.
Virtue to practice
Endure present sorrow with supernatural hope.
Error to resist
The despair that mistakes the passing hour for the final word.
For the pilgrim in exile
Do not force joy before its time, but do not surrender hope. Our Lord knows the hour of sorrow and the hour of its turning.
Sources
- John 16:16-22, Douay-Rheims.
- Traditional Roman Gospel for the Third Sunday after Easter.
Meditation
Victory Seen in Christ
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.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
Prayer
The day should become prayer.
O Lord, do not let me seek more knowledge while neglecting known duty. Make me prompt, recollected, humble, and faithful to grace.
Thought for the pilgrim
The illuminative way asks whether the soul obeyed the light already given.
Practice
The day should become obedience.
Ask what light God has already given you, then obey it visibly throughout your conduct.
Source notes
Universal Roman Calendar under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X
Fasting and abstinence according to the laws observed in 1952
Daily quotations and pilgrimage excerpts ordinarily come from eligible Catholic sources issued no later than December 31, 1954: Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, saints, Roman Pontiffs, traditional catechisms, approved devotional works, and received liturgical texts. Legitimate additions promulgated under Pope Pius XII may be retained when identified precisely; this does not adopt the reformed Holy Week or later rubrical changes.
The Roman Martyrology, Baltimore, 1916, published by John Murphy Company; the local 1916 text is displayed and traceable to its source lines.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, p. xv: the Ascension falls on the Thursday after the fifth Sunday after Easter.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, p. xv.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B., 1953 edition; proper Mass or devotion named in this entry.
- John 6:52-59, Douay-Rheims.
- Matthew 28:19, Douay-Rheims.