April 26 through May 2, 2026
*
(April 26, 2026: Fourth Sunday of Easter)
*
“If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God.”
We hear echoes of this first Letter of Peter in one of St. Jane de Chantal's exhortations to the members of her community, the Sisters of the Visitation. She remarked:
“Let us look to our Savior in the excess of his sufferings and the excess of his love. Let us keep our hearts always on these things, so that our divine Savior may communicate and give us the strength to suffer the things that his adorable hand may send us.” (Conferences, page 255)
How can our suffering ever compare with the suffering that Jesus experienced? If we are speaking about the suffering of the last day of his human life, there really is no comparison. However, if we consider the suffering that accompanies the efforts to suffer - that is, to bear with - others, we actually have a great deal more in common with Jesus' suffering than we might otherwise think.
Look at the word “suffering” itself. Suffering is not only about “putting up” with something difficult, harmful or painful. Suffering comes from the Latin sufferre, meaning, “to carry, to bear, to give birth…or life.”
Made in the image and likeness of God, redeemed by the love of Christ and inspired by the Spirit, we all have a responsibility to carry - to live our lives for others. We are called to carry the responsibility to love one another, to help one another, to challenge one another, to heal one another, to forgive one another and to encourage one another. Children of God, brothers and sisters of Christ, we carry the burdens and inconveniences that come with living lives of generous service.
In short, we are called to live as Jesus lived……and to carry, to bear with whatever may come with that life choice. “It was for this that you were called, since Christ suffered for you and left you an example, to have you follow in his footsteps.”
St. Jane clearly recognized the suffering, the inconvenience, the stretching that living for others will bring:
“We must have a large heart toward our neighbor, which means in affection, love and help, being ever ready to serve, to assist, to comfort, bear with and support in every way in our power, but cheerfully and cordially. A large heart is a heart ready for all sorts of inconveniences, an open heart that loves before all things the will of God.” (Conferences, page 174)
This is God's will for us - that we should not endure a suffering that leads to death, but a suffering that leads, as St. Jane observed, “to a new life, in God's grace and in God's love, in this world, and then forever in glory…,” the suffering that comes from bearing with - carrying - one another in love. (Conferences, page 117 - 118) Or, as St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians, (4:2) let us live a life worthy of our calling, being completely humble and gentle, bearing with one another lovingly.
Today and every day!
*
(April 27, 2026: Monday, Fourth Week of Easter)
*
“I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold…”
Jesus wants us to “have life, and to have it to the full” (John 10:10). That’s why Jesus cares so much for us. That’s why Jesus is the good shepherd who loves us so much that he is willing to lay down his life for us.
And lay down his life is exactly what the Good Shepherd did!
But the people saved by the Good Shepherd are not some exclusive club. There is no “in” group or “out” group when it comes to God’s love. Whether of his “fold” or not, Jesus lays down his life for everyone. Note that he says: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
Truth be told, all of us are members of Jesus’ flock. Truth be told, Jesus is for all of us – without exception – our one, Good Shepherd.
Just today, how might we listen to the voice of this Shepherd in ourselves and in one another?
*
(April 28, 2026: Tuesday, Fourth Week of Easter)
*
"He rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart...”
Firmness - or strength - of heart is an invaluable asset in the pursuit of devotion, especially as we deal with the ups and downs of daily life. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed:
“We must try to keep our heart steadily, unshakably equal during the great variety and inequality of daily events. Even though everything turns and changes around us, our hearts must remain unchanging and ever looking, striving and aspiring toward God.” (IDL, Book IV, Chapter 13, p. 256)
A little further along in this chapter, Francis de Sales makes a distinction between tenderness of heart and firmness of heart. He continues:
“Some men think about God’s goodness and our Savior’s passion, feel great tenderness of heart, and are thus aroused to utter sighs, tears and prayers, and acts of thanksgiving so ardently that we say that their hearts have been filled with intense devotion. But when a test comes, we see how different things can get. Just as in the hot summer passing showers send down drops that fall on the earth but do not sink into it and serve only to produce mushrooms, so also these tender tears may fall on a vicious heart but do not penetrate and are therefore completely useless to it.” (IDL, Book IV, Chapter 13, pp. 257-258)
With respect to tenderness of heart and firmness of heart, both have their place in the pursuit of holiness. Tenderness of heart can help us to enjoy the good times; firmness of heart can help us get through the tough times.
What kind of heart might you need to have today?
*
(April 29: Catherine of Siena, Virgin & Doctor of the Church)
*
“His commandment is eternal life…”
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Many men keep the commandments in the same way that sick men take medicine – more from fear of dying in damnation than for the joy of living according to our Savior’s will. Just as some people dislike taking medicine – no matter how pleasant it may be – simply because it is called medicine, so there are some souls who hold in horror things commanded simply because they are commanded. On the contrary, a loving heart loves the commandments. The more difficult they are the sweeter sand more agreeable it finds them since this more perfectly pleases the beloved and gives him greater honor. It pours forth and sings hymns of joy when God teaches it his commandments. The pilgrim who goes on his way joyously singing adds the labor of singing to that of walking, and yet by this increase of labor he actually lessens his weariness and lightens the hardship of the journey. In like manner the devout lover finds such sweetness in the commandments that nothing in this mortal life comforts and refreshes him so much as the precious burdens of God’s precepts.” (TLG, Book XIII, Chapter 5, pp. 67-68)
In this observation from Francis de Sales, we can hear the echo of Jesus’ words from Matthew 11: 29 – 30: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart.”
Seeing the commandments of God as strong medicine that cures our sickness can surely weigh us down, but seeing the commandments of God as that which keep us healthy can surely lift us up.
How will you see – and experience – God’s commandments today - as burden or bounty?
*
(April 30, 2026: Thursday, Fourth Week of Easter)
*
“Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.”
In his Conference on Three Spiritual Laws, Francis de Sales remarked:
“Never was there a time when people studied as they do now. Those great Saints (Augustine, Gregory and Hilary whose feast we are keeping today!) and many others did not study much. They could not have done so, writing as many books as they did, preaching and discharging all the other duties of their office. They had, however, such great confidence in God and in God’s grace that they neither placed their dependence nor their trust in their own skill or labor, so that all the great works which they did were done purely by means of their reliance on God’s grace and almighty power. ‘It is You, O Lord,’ they said, ‘Who gives us the work and it for you that we work. It is You who will bless our labors and give us a rich harvest.’ Therefore, their books and their sermons bore marvelous fruit. By contrast, we who trust in our fine words, in our eloquent language and in our knowledge labor for that which ends up in smoke. We yield no fruit other than vanity.” (Conference VII, pages 116-117)
It is healthy to remind ourselves that however much good we may manage to accomplish today, it is God ‘who gives us the work.’ It is God who helps us to work. It is God who will bring His work in us to completion. In so doing, what we do gives witness to the goodness of the Lord at work in us and at work among us.
Together, let us sing the goodness of the Lord! But don’t stop there! Together, let us do – and be – the goodness of the Lord in the lives of one another today!
*
(May 1, 2026: Joseph the Worker)
*
In response to the annual “May Day” celebrations (which invariably included fearsome displays of military might) for the International Solidarity of Workers observed by the Soviet Union and other Communist countries, Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955 as a kind of Catholic expression of its own “Cold War” with atheistic Communism.
“The liturgy for this feast vindicates the right to work, and this is a message that needs to be heard and heeded in our modern society. In many of the documents issued by Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, the Second Vatican Council and Pope John Paul II, reference is made to the Christian spirit that should permeate one's work, after the example of St. Joseph. In addition to this, there is a special dignity and value to the work done in caring for the family. The Office of Readings contains an excerpt from the Vatican II document on the modern world: ‘Where men and women, in the course of gaining a livelihood for themselves and their families, offer appropriate service to society, they can be confident that their personal efforts promote the work of the Creator, confer benefits on their fellowmen, and help to realize God's plan in history.’” (http://www.passionistnuns.org/Saints/StJosephWorker/index.htm)
Of course, associating Joseph with the dignity of human work and enterprise was not solely a creation of the 20th Century. The Gospel itself identifies Jesus’ foster father as a carpenter, an artisan who needed to know as much about working with people as he did woodworking in order to provide for himself and his family. Therefore, Jesus is subsequently described as “the son of a carpenter” – not as a putdown, but rather as recognition of a “hands-on” profession that garnered no small modicum of respect.
In a conference to the Sisters of the Visitation, Francis de Sales observed:
“Oh, how faithful was the great Saint of whom we are speaking! Words fail when we try to express the perfection of his fidelity, for consider in what poor estate and abjection he lived throughout his entire life. With what great virtue and dignity he concealed within himself this same poverty and abjection! What a dignity to be the guardian of Our Lord, and not only that, but to be even His reputed father, to be the husband of His most holy Mother! Truly, I doubt not that the Angels, wondering and adoring, came thronging in countless multitudes to that simple workshop to admire the humility of him who guarded that dear and divine Child, and labored at his carpenter’s trade to support the Son and th4e Mother, who were committed to his care. (XIX, The Virtues of St. Joseph, pp. 365-366, 372-373)
It isn’t a stretch to suggest that Jesus’ ability to work with people of all stripes – and in particular, his being comfortable with common, ordinary, everyday working people – was a direct result of values and skills that he learned from his foster father.
Just this day what might St. Joseph teach us regarding the skills and virtues we need to build some of the most important things of all: loving and lasting relationships with others?
*
(May 2, 2026: Athanasius, Bishop & Doctor of the Church)
*
“The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit…”
One of the manifestations of living life in the Spirit is happiness and joy. In a conference to the Sisters of the Visitation, Francis de Sales observed:
“The virtue of cheerfulness requires that we should contribute to holy and temperate joy and to pleasant conversation, which may serve as a consolation and recreation to our neighbor so as to not weary and annoy him with our knit brows and melancholy faces…” (Conference IV, OnCordiality, Book IV, p. 59)
In a letter to St. Jane de Chantal written not long after their first encounter during the Lenten mission that he preached, Francis specifically cites the relationship between joy and religious liberty:
“No loss or lack can sadden one whose heart is perfectly free. I am not saying that it is impossible for such a person to lose his joy, but it will not be for long…” (Selected Letters, Stopp, p. 71)
In a letter to a young novice who attempted to live the life of a Benedictine sister (but who subsequently left the convent) Francis de Sales underscored the importance of being joyful…or, at least, of trying to be:
“Go on joyfully and with your heart as open and widely trustful as possible; if you cannot always be joyful, at least be brave and confident.” (Selected Letters, Stopp, p. 46)
It’s no accident that we as Christians frequently refer to the term “Easter joy”. The power of the Resurrection – and the gifts of the Spirit that flow from it– should go a long way in helping us to be – among other things – joyful! Life being what it is, however, we aren’t always joyful people. When we find it tough to be joyful, let’s do our best to at least be brave and confident.
And perhaps even find joy in that!
*