Today, May 12
Feast of the Day
No feast of the day
Saint of the Day
Nereus and Achilleus were soldiers in the imperial (Roman) army. While they may have lived in the 1st century, all that is known of them originates from a 4th century inscription by Pope Damasus which attests to the fact that these soldiers had experienced conversion and been martyred as a consequence.
Saint Pancras
It is believed that Pancras was a Syrian orphan brought to Rome by his uncle where both were converted to Christianity. At the age of 14, Pancras was beheaded during the Diocletian persecution of Christians, about the year 304.
©2011 Living with Christ, Novalis - Bayard Press Canada Inc., http://www.livingwithchrist.ca/. Reprinted with permission.
Readings of the Day
Acts of the Apostles 16,22-34.
The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas, and the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely. When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and secured their feet to a stake. About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened, there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew (his) sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, "Do no harm to yourself; we are all here." He asked for a light and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved." So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized at once. He brought them up into his house and provided a meal and with his household rejoiced at having come to faith in God.
Psalms 138(137),1-2ab.2cde-3.7c.8.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart, for you have heard the words of my mouth; in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise; I will worship at your holy temple. I will give thanks to your name, because of your kindness and your truth. for you have made great above all things your name and your promise. When I called, you answered me; you built up strength within me. Your right hand saves me. The LORD will complete what he has done for me; your kindness, O LORD, endures forever; forsake not the work of your hands.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 16,5-11.
Jesus said to his disciples: "Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned."
Daily Reflection
Courage, my Brothers, let us not let ourselves be overcome either by the sin committed, nor by any illusion, any temptation of the devil. Although the road may be rough and muddy, Christ, our physician, has given us a remedy for all our infirmities, a baptism of blood and fire, in which the soul purifies and washes away all its sins, consumes and destroys all the temptations and illusions of the devil. (…) Man, as long as he lives in the corruptible prison of his body, experiences a perverse law, which always invites and solicits him to sin, the sweet goodness of God has given him a continual remedy, which strengthens his reason and his freedom. This continual remedy is the fire of the Holy Spirit, which never goes out, and always spreads its grace and its benefits, so that every day we can apply to ourselves this sweet baptism, which is given to us by grace and not by merit. So, when the soul looks and sees in itself this treasure and this fire of the Holy Spirit, it becomes so intoxicated with the love of its Creator that it renounces itself entirely. (…) She sees and considers only her nothingness and the goodness of God towards her; she sees that this infinite Goodness wants nothing other than her good, and then her love becomes perfect towards God. She has no other thought, no other affection, and she cannot restrain the impulse of her desire; but she runs without burden and without bond, because she has freed herself from all the obstacles that could stop her.