Monday in the Fourth Week of Easter

We pray through Easter with a daily offering and a reading from St Basil the Great on how baptism joins water and the Holy Spirit to bring us from sin’s death into new life. We reflect on the Spirit’s gifts in baptism, the peace brought like a dove, and the hope of a future harvest beyond the first fruits we taste now. 
• opening prayers, glory and daily offering through the Immaculate Heart of Mary 
• baptism as covenant for eternal life 
• water as a sign of death and burial to sin 
• the Holy Spirit as the pledge of life and rebirth 
• triple immersion and invocation of the Trinity 
• baptism as a pledge from a clear conscience, not mere outward washing 
• adoption as sons and daughters who call God Father 
• first fruits now and the promise of a full harvest 
• the Spirit descending like a dove and the Ark of Noah as a figure of the Church 
If you found this time of prayer and reflection fruitful and would like more opportunities to grow in your faith, consider joining the Cristeros and purchasing our publications now available on Amazon.com. The Cristeros app is available on the Apple app in Google Play Store. More information on the Cristeros can be found at theCristeros.org.

Transcript

St Basil On Baptism’s Meaning;

The Spirit Restores Our Adoption;

From The Waters To Peace;

Closing Collect And Final Blessing;

Join The Cristeros Community

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Monday, in the fourth week of Easter. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the remission of my sins, for the intentions of my family and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen. From the Book on the Holy Spirit by St. Basil the Great, Bishop. Our Lord made a covenant with us through baptism in order to give us eternal life. There is in baptism an image both of death and of life, the water being the symbol of death, the spirit giving the pledge of life. The association of water and the spirit is explained by the twofold purpose for which baptism was instituted, namely, to destroy the sin in us, so that it could never again give birth to death, and to enable us to live by the Spirit, and so win the reward of holiness. The water into which the body enters as into a tomb symbolizes death. The Spirit instills into us his life-giving power, awakening our souls from the death of sin to the life that they had in the beginning. This, then, is what it means to be born again of water and the Spirit. We die in the water, and we come to life again through the Spirit. To signify this death and to enlighten the baptized by transmitting to them knowledge of God, the great sacrament of baptism is administered by means of a triple immersion and the invocation of each of the three divine persons. Whatever grace there is in the water comes not from its own nature, but from the presence of the Spirit, since baptism is not a cleansing of the body, but a pledge made to God from a clear conscience. As a preparation for our life after the resurrection, our Lord tells us in the gospel how we should live here and now. Through the Holy Spirit, we are restored to paradise, we ascend to the kingdom of heaven, and we are reinstated as adopted sons. Thanks to the Spirit we obtain the right to call God our Father. We become sharers in the grace of Christ, we are called children of light, and we share in everlasting glory. In a word, every blessing is showered upon us, both in this world and in the world to come. As we contemplate them, even now, like a reflection in a mirror, it is as though we already possessed the good things our faith tells us that we shall one day enjoy. If this is the pledge, what will the perfection be? If these are the first fruits, what will the full harvest be? As we rise up from the baptismal waters, our sins are washed away, and the Holy Spirit comes down to us like a dove, bringing the peace of God from heaven, where the church is prefigured by the Ark of Noah. Hallelujah. The blessed waters of the sacrament of baptism free us for eternal life, and the Holy Spirit comes down to us like a dove, bringing the peace of God from heaven, where the church is prefigured by the Ark of Noah. Hallelujah. O God, perfect light of the blessed, by whose gift we celebrate the paschal mysteries on earth. Bring us, we pray, to rejoice in the full measure of your grace for ages unending, through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen. Let us praise the Lord and give him thanks. All that I have and all that I am I give to your hands, Jesus, through the heart of Mary, your blessed mother. Amen. Sacred heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. If you found this time of prayer and reflection fruitful and would like more opportunities to grow in your faith, consider joining the Cristeros and purchasing our publications now available on Amazon.com. The Cristeros app is available on the Apple app in Google Play Store. More information on the Cristeros can be found at theCristeros.org.