How happy my soul was, good Mother,
when I had the good fortune to gaze upon you!
How I love to recall the pleasant moments
spent under your gaze,
so full of kindness and mercy for us.
Yes, tender Mother, you stooped down to earth
to appear to a mere child.
You, the Queen of heaven and earth,
deigned to make use of the most fragile thing
in the world’s eyes.
April 16, 2021
April 15, 2021
How often in the down-sided moments of life
we can lose our sense of fun, and scowl and frown
around us.
We punish others for our lack of peace
and then feel a thousand times worse.
Lord, help me to smile, even clown.
Help me to see the sunny side of life,
to bathe in the glow of Your joy,
so I don’t take things out on others.
I don’t want to be glum.
Of course Life can be hard and full of woes,
but help me to see Your smile
in the face of a flower.
Amen.
— By Columban Fr. Patrick Sayles
April 14, 2021
Risen Lord, You prove the power
of love over death.
Help me to show love
in my thoughts, words and actions.
April 13, 2021
Some of us are very vulnerable at this time
of pandemic. We rely on the assistance of those who
are our neighbors.
Bless those who aid the sick.
Give your power to those who serve the
most severely ill from Covid.
Help us Lord God to be brothers and sisters
treating each with dignity.
We pray in Your Holy Name Jesus the Christ.
Amen.
— By a Columban Missionary
April 12, 2021
O glorious St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus,
you provided for the Holy Family.
We commit to your protection all our crops
and farm industries.
We humbly ask you, to intercede
in our behalf with Almighty God,
who rules the seasons, so that our fields,
being safe from pests and favored by the weather,
may yield abundant crops that will allow us
to supply the wants of life.
Thus freed from earthly worries
may we after your example
apply all our thoughts to eternal life.
We beseech you to instill
a love of the land into the hearts of our youth
for their own salvation and that of Christian unity
so that we may all share hereafter
in the same blissful life you enjoy in heaven.
Amen.
April 11, 2021
Lord, I wish to believe in You.
Let my faith be full and unreserved,
and let it penetrate my thought,
my way of judging Divine things and human things.
Let my faith be free.
Let my faith be strong;
let it not fear the difficulties or the problems
of which the experience of our life,
eager for light, is full;
let it not fear the hostility of those
who question it, attack it, reject it, deny it,
but let it be strengthened in the
intimate proof of Your truth;
let it resist the attack of criticism.
Let my faith be joyful and give peace
and gladness to my spirit,
and dispose it for prayer with God
and conversation with all.
Amen.
April 10, 2021
O Christ, our Morning Star,
Splendor of Light Eternal,
shining with the glory of the rainbow,
come and waken us
from the greyness of our apathy,
and renew in us your gift of hope.
Amen.
April 9, 2021
Mary, we sing our Alleluias today, for Jesus is risen.
Our souls proclaim the greatness of God,
our spirits rejoice in our Risen Savior.
May Your song be sung in our lives
at every moment of this day so that God's power,
which can do far more than we can ask or imagine,
may continue to call life from death and light from darkness,
transforming our meager efforts
into Your Son's victory over death.
Amen.
April 8, 2021
Risen Lord, Your life-giving presence
gives me hope, strength and peace.
Help me to be Your witness of love
and compassion in the presence of others.
Amen.
April 7, 2021
Father, You chose Saint John Baptist de la Salle
to give young people a Christian education.
Give your Church teachers who will devote themselves
to helping your children grow as Christian men and women.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
April 6, 2021
Heavenly Father, we praise You for Your Love
and Faith which You give to us.
Lead us to remember those who have this virus.
Free us from indifference.
Let all be healed and converted from our selfishness
so that your Kingdom of Light and Peace may surround us.
In Jesus Name, we pray.
Amen.
— By a Columban Missionary
April 5, 2021
Mary, God has worked a great wonder: Jesus is risen!
No longer are we caught in the cords of death,
For he has loosened our bonds.
No longer need we walk in fear,
For he has become our strong hope.
No longer are we alone and estranged,
For he has called us friends.
May your faith in the face of death - even death on the cross,
May your hope - almost buried with him in the tomb,
May your love - nearly staunched by the fear of his disciples,
May your joy in the Resurrected Savior be ours this day,
As we, in your name for your honor, live out our Easter mission
To go forth and teach all peoples.
Amen.
April 4, 2021
Today, we are thrilled to go with Mary Magdalen
as she finds her crucified Master now risen from the tomb
where she had expected Him to stay.
With the Apostles we are amazed as our risen Lord
takes food again in His pierced hands, filling us
with peace as He sends us out to tell all the world
about His mission of mercy from the Fathers.
We feel more bonded to the risen Jesus as He cooks
a fish breakfast for us back on the shore of Lake Galilee,
and we join with a humbled Peter as he exclaims,
“Lord, You know that I love You.”
With better understanding of Your being “lifted up”
on the cross as the way You returned to glory with the Father,
we now ask You, Lord Jesus, to draw us more fully into
Your friendship, peace and happiness of Easter.
Inspire us to be witnesses to You,
the conqueror of death itself and the Lord of life.
Help us to bring something of Your limitless compassion
to those suffering today as war victims, refugees,
the hungry, and the sick.
May we be inspired to share with them
the unshakable happiness of Easter people.
Amen.
— By Columban Fr. Christopher Baker
April 3, 2021
Lord, Your rising from the dead
increases my faith, hope and love.
May my belief in Your resurrection
change my attitude and behavior toward others.
Through Your Son, Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
April 2, 2021
O Jesus, who by reason of Your burning love for us
has willed to be crucified and to shed
Your Most Precious Blood for the redemption
and salvation of our souls,
look down upon in remembrance
of Your most sorrowful Passion and Death,
fully trusting in Your mercy;
cleanse us from sin by Your grace,
sanctify our toil, give us and all those
who are dear to us our daily bread,
sweeten our sufferings,
bless our families, and to the nations
so sorely afflicted, grant Your peace,
which is the only true peace,
so that by obeying Your commandments
we may come at last to the glory of heaven.
Amen.
The Columbans are a society of missionaries, including priests and lay people, who minister to people of various cultures as a way of witnessing to the universal love of God.