Fourth Sunday of Easter

Prayer Pope Leo XIV

"Peace be with you all.
Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the flock of God. I too would like this greeting of peace to enter our hearts, to reach your families: to all people wherever they may be, to all nations, to the whole earth: peace be with you. This is the peace of the Risen Christ: a disarmed peace, a disarming peace, humble and persevering, it comes from God, God who loves us all unconditionally.”
Words spoken from the balcony after his election
 
Almighty God, shepherd and guardian of all,
we pray for your servant Pope Leo.
Grant him grace to follow in the footsteps
of the Good Shepherd,
to preach the Gospel with boldness,
to build up your people in unity and peace,
and to serve them with humility and love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

​The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima
 
May 13 is the anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady to three shepherd children in the small village of Fatima in Portugal in 1917.   An apparition of ‘a woman all in white, more brilliant than the sun’ presented itself to the three children saying “Please don’t be afraid of me, I’m not going to harm you.” Lucia asked her where she came from and she responded,  “I come from Heaven.”  The woman wore a white mantle edged with gold and held a rosary in her hand. The woman asked them to pray and devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to “say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.” She also revealed that the children would suffer, especially from the unbelief of their friends and families, and that the two younger children, Francisco and Jacinta would be taken to Heaven very soon but Lucia would live longer in order to spread her message and devotion to the Immaculate Heart.  In the last apparition the woman revealed her name in response to Lucia’s question:   “I am the Lady of the Rosary.” Perhaps the most well known utterance of the apparition of Our Lady at Fatima was her confident declaration that  “My Immaculate Heart will triumph”. 
 
Reflecting on this Pope Benedict the 16th wrote “The Heart open to God, purified by contemplation of God, is stronger than guns and weapons of every kind. The fiat of Mary, the word of her heart, has changed the history of the world, because it brought the Saviour into the world—because, thanks to her Yes, God could become man in our world and remains so for all time. The Evil One has power in this world, as we see and experience continually; he has power because our freedom continually lets itself be led away from God. But since God himself took a human heart and has thus steered human freedom towards what is good, the freedom to choose evil no longer has the last word. From that time forth, the word that prevails is this: “In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). The message of Fatima invites us to trust in this promise.