FEASTS OF THE WEEK
The celebration of Easter is prolonged throughout the Easter season.
The fifty days from Easter Sunday (20/04/'25) to Pentecost Sunday (08/06/'25) are celebrated as one feast day, the "great Sunday".
Pentecost Sunday, when the gift of the Holy Spirit to the apostles, the beginnings of the Church, and the start of its mission to all tongues and peoples and nations are commemorated.
CHRIST IS RISEN, ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA!
Sunday 11th May : 4th Sunday of Easter
Day of Prayer for Vocations
This is Good Shepherd Sunday, a day of special prayer for vocations to the work of service in the Church. There is the enduring command of Christ to his Church to go out and preach to all people. There is need for people of faith to respond to that command, people who are prepared to dedicate their lives to this work for the sake of the Gospel.
Monday 12th May : Ss Nereus, Achilleus and Pancras
Ss Nereus & Achillelus were martyred in 304 under Diocletian. They were Roman soldiers who, on conversion, refused further military service.
St. Pancras as a boy of fourteen suffered at the same time and was martyred in Rome in 304.
Tuesday 13th May : Our Lady of Fatima
The apparitions to the three children of Fatima took place in the summer of 1917, beginning on 13 May when the "Lady" asked them to pray for sinners and an end to the World War. In the final apparition on 13 October, the "Lady" identified herself as Our Lady of the Rosary and called for prayer and conversion.
Wednesday 14th May : St. Matthias, Apostle
Like all the apostles, he was chosen to become a "witness with us of Christ's resurrection". The story of his election as one of the apostles is given in the first reading on this day. He seems to have spent a great deal of time working in Judea; then he travelled east to Cappadocia (now Turkey), where it is said that he was the vital instrument in bringing many pagans to the faith. He is said to have been martyred at Colchis on the Black Sea and his relics brought to Rome by St. Helena.
Thursday 15th May : St. Carthage
From a rich family in Kerry. As he loved the chanting of the psalms, the local king arranged for him to become a priest. Having spent a year possibly at Bangor he founded his own monastery at Rahan in 595; it grew rapidly. However, opposition made him move southwards around 637. Along with hundreds of monks and their patients from the leper colony, he finally arrived at Lismore, where he made a foundation. He died in 638.
Friday 16th May : St. Brendan
Born in 486 in Kerry. He studied at Clonard under Finnian. His name is connected with many places in Kerry such as Ardfert and Mount Brandon. He visited Scotland and reached the Hebrides and possibly areas beyond. He founded a monastery at Clonfert in 568 and died there in 578.
Sunday 18th May : 5th Sunday of Easter
Love shown in the members of the Church enables the community to be seen as disciples of Christ. Mutual love within the community overflows to the whole world. Christian charity helps to ease the burden of suffering and eliminate many of its causes.
Tuesday 20th May : St. Bernardine
He was born in Siena in 1380. He became a Franciscan, travelled through Italy, preaching with great success. He promoted devotion to the Holy Name and to St. Joseph. He died in 1444.
Thursday 22nd May : St. Rita of Cascia
She was married for eighteen years. Her husband, an ill-tempered and abusive man, was murdered. Later Rita entered the Augustinian convent in Cascia in the diocese of Spoleto in Italy, and spent forty years in prayer and charity, and working for peace in the region.