Thursday in the Sixth Week of Easter

We move through Easter joy into Ascension joy, letting Saint Leo the Great show how Christ’s going out of sight strengthens faith, hope, and love. We pray the day as an offering, then end with a direct invitation to keep growing through the Cristeros community and resources.
• opening prayers and the grounding rhythm of Trinitarian worship
• Morning Offering through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, uniting the day to the Mass
• Saint Leo the Great on the Ascension lifting human nature to the Father’s throne
• faith beyond what the bodily eye can see, with hope and charity held steady
• Christ’s visible presence passing into the sacraments as a new mode of closeness
• the apostles moving from fear to joy as they grasp Christ’s divinity
• approaching our high priest with sincerity, cleansed hearts, and firm hope
• closing thanksgiving, surrender, and devotions to the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Guadalupe
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 And Invocation

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Thursday in the sixth 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.

Morning Offering Through Mary

SPEAKER_00 0:29

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.

Saint Leo On Ascension Joy

SPEAKER_00 0:50

From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, Pope. At Easter, beloved brethren, it was the Lord's resurrection which was the cause of our joy. Our present rejoicing is on account of his ascension into heaven. With all due solemnity, we are commemorating that day on which our poor human nature was carried up in Christ above all the hosts of heaven, above all the ranks of angels, beyond the highest heavenly powers to the very throne of God the Father. It is upon this ordained structure of divine acts that we have been firmly established, so that the grace of God may show itself still more marvelous, when, in spite of the withdrawal from men's sight of everything that is rightly felt to command their reverence, faith does not fail, hope is not shaken, charity does not grow cold. For such is the power of great minds, such is the light of truly believing souls, that they put unhesitating faith in what is not seen with the bodily eye, they fix their desires on what is beyond sight. Such fidelity could never be born in our hearts, nor could anyone be justified by faith if our salvation lay only in what was visible. And so our Redeemer's visible presence has passed into the sacraments. Our faith is nobler and stronger because sight has been replaced by a doctrine whose authority is accepted by believing hearts, enlightened from on high. This faith was increased by the Lord's ascension and strengthened by the gift of the Spirit. It would remain unshaken by fetters and imprisonment, exile and hunger, fire and ravening beasts, the most refined tortures ever devised by brutal persecutors. Throughout the world, women, no less than men, tender girls as well as boys, have given their life's blood in the struggle for this faith. It is a faith that has driven out devils, healed the sick, and raised the dead. Even the blessed apostles, though they had been strengthened by so many miracles and instructed by so much teaching, took fright at the cruel suffering of the Lord's Passion and could not accept his resurrection without hesitation. Yet they made such progress through his ascension that they now found joy in what had terrified them before. They were able to fix their minds on Christ's divinity as he sat at the right hand of his father, since what was presented to their bodily eyes no longer hindered them from turning all their attention to the realization that he had not left his father when he came down to earth, nor had he abandoned his disciples when he ascended into heaven. The truth is that the Son of Man was revealed as Son of God in a more perfect and transcendent way. Once he had entered into his Father's glory, he now began to be indescribably more present in his divinity, to those from whom he was further removed in his humanity. A more mature faith enabled their minds to stretch upward to the Son, in his equality with the Father. It no longer needed contact with Christ's tangible body, in which as man he is inferior to the Father. For while his glorified body retained the same nature, the faith of those who believed in him was now summoned to heights, where, as the Father's equal, the only begotten Son is reached not by physical handling, but by spiritual discernment.

Approaching Christ With Full Faith

SPEAKER_00 4:37

We have such a high priest who sits at the right hand of the throne of majesty in heaven. Let us approach him in true sincerity and full of faith, with our hearts cleansed and freed from an evil conscience. Let us stand firm in the profession of our hope, for he who made the promise is faithful. Let us approach him in true sincerity and full of faith, with our hearts cleansed and freed from an evil conscience.

Closing Collect And Devotions

SPEAKER_00 5:08

O God, who made your people partakers in your redemption, grant we pray that we may perpetually render thanks for the resurrection of the Lord, 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.

Invitation To Join The Cristeros

SPEAKER_00 5:51

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.