Monday in the Fifth Week of Easter

We pray through Monday of the fifth week of Easter and hear Saint Gregory of Nyssa proclaim the end of death’s tyranny and the start of a new life in Christ. We reflect on faith, baptism, and the Church’s care as the path to a renewed heart and a new creation shaped by virtue and hope. 
• opening prayers and the Morning Offering in union with the Mass 
• Saint Gregory of Nyssa on the reign of life overcoming death 
• faith as the womb of new life and baptism as rebirth 
• the Church as nurse through teaching, bread from heaven, and virtue 
• the new heaven as faith in Christ and the new earth as a good heart 
• purity, virtues, sound doctrine, and commandments as marks of the new creation 
• Christ as firstborn of the dead and the promise of resurrection for all in him 
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 and Google Play Store. More information on the Cristeros can be found at theCristeros.org. 

Transcript

Opening Prayer And Offering

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Monday, in the fifth 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 a sermon by Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Bishop. The reign of life has begun, the tyranny of death is ended. A new birth has taken place. A new life has come, a new order of existence has appeared. Our very nature has been transformed. This birth is not brought about by human generation, by the will of man, or by the desire of the flesh, but by God. If you wonder how, I will explain in clear language. Faith is the womb that conceives this new life. Baptism, the rebirth by which it is brought forth into the light of day. The church is its nurse. Her teachings are its milk. The bread from heaven is its food. It is brought to maturity by the practice of virtue. It is wedded to wisdom. It gives birth to hope. Its home is the kingdom, its rich inheritance, the joys of paradise, its end not death, but the blessed and everlasting life prepared for those who are worthy. This is the day the Lord has made, a day far different from those made when the world was first created, and which are measured by the passage of time. This is the beginning of a new creation. On this day, as the prophet says, God makes a new heaven and a new earth. What is this new heaven, you may ask? It is the firmament of our faith in Christ. What is the new earth? A good heart, a heart like the earth, which drinks up the rain that falls on it, and yields a rich harvest. In this new creation, purity of life is the sun, the virtues are the stars, transparent goodness is the air, and the depths of the riches of wisdom and knowledge the sea. Sound doctrine, the divine teachings are the grass and plants that feed God's flock, the people whom he shepherds, the keeping of the commandments is the fruit borne by the trees. On this day is created the true man, the man made in the image and likeness of God, for this day the Lord has made, is the beginning of this new world. Of this day the prophet says that it is not like other days, nor is this night like other nights. But still we have not spoken of the greatest gift it has brought us. This day destroyed the pangs of death, and brought to birth the firstborn of the dead. I ascend to my father and to your father, to my God and to your God. Oh, what wonderful good news! He who for our sake became like us in order to make us his brothers now presents to his true Father, his own humanity, in order to draw all his kindred up after him. Death came through a man, and through a man the resurrection of the dead has also come. Just as in Adam all men die, so in Christ all men will be brought to life. Hallelujah. We await the fulfillment of his promise, a new heaven and a new earth. Just as in Adam all men die, so in Christ all men will be brought to life. May your right hand, O Lord, we pray, encompass your family with perpetual help, so that, defended from all wickedness by the resurrection of your only begotten Son, we may make our way by means of your heavenly gifts, through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever 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 and Google Play Store. More information on the Cristeros can be found at theCristeros.org.