Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Spring Campaign in Full Swing!Join us to reach our $60,000 goal Mass Propers for Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter: says the Lord; whoever comes to me will never hunger Preface II of Easter: It is truly right and just but in this time above all to laud you yet more gloriously when Christ our Passover has been sacrificed Through him the children of light rise to eternal life and the halls of the heavenly Kingdom are thrown open to the faithful; for his Death is our ransom from death and in his rising the life of all has risen every people exults in your praise and even the heavenly Powers sing together the unending hymn of your glory we believe that we shall also live with Christ Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter: O God who open wide the gates of the heavenly Kingdom to those reborn of water and the Holy Spirit pour out on your servants an increase of the grace you have bestowed they may lack nothing that in your kindness you have promised who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit » Enjoy our Liturgical Seasons series of e-books! After taking part in the Crusades against the Albigensians he used his inheritance to free Christian prisoners held by the Moors He later founded the Order of Our Lady of Mercy (Mercedarians) beginning in 1218 devoted to ransoming Christians John the Apostle was taken to Rome under the Emperor Domitian and plunged into a cauldron of boiling oil; by a striking miracle he came out safe and sound from this torture This disposition to forgive did not die with St but has continued to be one of the most characteristic virtues of the saint Benedict as related in the Dialogues of St that he was continuously and severely persecuted by a delinquent priest who lived in the neighborhood of the monastery in order to protect the virtue and the vocations of his disciples Benedict decided to abandon the site of his monastery and move to another location He and his monks had hardly left their monastery when word was brought that the persecutor had died suddenly Contrary to the expectation of the messenger who brought the news Benedict broke out in loud lamentations that his enemy had died suddenly and had not had an opportunity to repent The saints see so much more clearly than we the relative unimportance of the hardships and injustices we suffer in this world and the importance before all else of the sinner's being converted and repenting of his sins How long and how persistently we harbor grudges in our hearts against those who have offended us How difficult we find it to forgive freely and from our hearts Yet we proclaim ourselves to be Christians and to practice all the Christian virtues Do we forget that our Lord told us that if we expect our prayers to be heard and our sacrifices to be pleasing in the sight of God and go first and make peace with our brother Nor is the disposition to forgive our enemies peculiar only to the saints and martyrs of the ancient Church; nor should we expect it to be and if His disciples were commanded to forgive their enemies in His day Father Pro was executed in Mexico some years ago he was asked by his executioner if he had anything he wished to do or anything he wished to say before the sentence was executed Father Pro said that there was; he wished to be given an opportunity to pray for his executioners and to give them his blessing before he died During the persecutions in Spain during the late civil war one of the religious who was to be put to death by the communists was led to his death with his hands bound asked to be allowed to give his blessing to the members of the firing squad It is said that the officer in charge of the guard untied his hands and then swiftly struck off the hands of the priest with his sword raised his right arm and traced the sign of the cross over the heads of his murderers This is the true sign of the authentic martyr the characteristic mark of the true saint of the Church Who His own self bore our sins in His body upon the tree" (Epistle) The redemption of man as accomplished by Christ might have been accomplished in other ways but none of them would have been as perfect as the way Christ chose God might have forgiven man outright without requiring any satisfaction for sin This would have been a splendid manifestation of the infinite mercy of God but it would have ignored His infinite justice God might have refused redemption and forgiveness altogether and this would have been in complete conformity with His justice but it would not have satisfied His infinite mercy Perfect redemption required that both God's mercy and justice be satisfied Any act of satisfaction on his part would only have been of limited and finite value An act of reparation offered by a divine person would have been adequate since it would not have been offered by the offending party The only possibility of a perfect redemption was for the divine person to become incarnate could perform acts of infinite value; since he was a human being He could act in the name of the human race and offer an act of reparation which would be both adequate and authentic But the martyrdom of the latter Apostle called for a scene worthy of the event was not a sufficiently glorious land for such a combat whither Peter had transferred his Chair and where he died on his cross and where Paul had bowed down his venerable head beneath the sword alone deserved the honor of seeing the beloved disciple march on to martyrdom with that dignity and sweetness which are the characteristics of this veteran of the Apostolic College In the year 95 John appeared before the tribunal of pagan Rome the worship of a Jew who had been crucified under Pontius Pilate He was considered a superstitious and rebellious old man and it was time to rid Asia of his presence sentenced to an ignominious and cruel death A huge cauldron of boiling oil was prepared in front of the Latin Gate The sentence ordered that the preacher of Christ be plunged into this bath The hour had come for the second son of Salome to partake of his Master’s chalice the boiling liquid lost all its heat; the Apostle felt no scalding when they took him out again he felt all the vigor of his youthful years restored to him While visiting family in Cassano Delle Murge during the spring of 2012 I was asked if I could return in August of 2013 for a wedding I am also a distant cousin to the groom and was honored to return for the wedding and hope to convey to you a traditional wedding week in Puglia have been very gracious to us during each visit there a party took place in Alta Mura that included the friends and family of the Bride and Groom this party is similar to a combined Bachelor and Bachelorette party in the USA friends and relatives gathered secretly in the front of the Bride's parents' home the "Serenata" is the final declaration of love by the groom for the Bride before the wedding The Groom leads the group of friends and family This alerts the Bride to the gathering and she appears on the balcony then came downstairs and joined the well-wishers There were nearly 200 people in attendance and the Bridal couple and guests danced enjoyed food and beverage and celebrated for two hours close friends and family again gathered at the Bride's parents' home Each of us was invited to go inside to greet Maddalena as she was being photographed When she completed her photos in the house Before she crossed the threshold to leave her parents' home for the last time as an unmarried woman she cut a white ribbon which was held by two of her close friends The ribbon cutting at the door symbolizes the abandonment of the house of the bride and the advent of a new life together The Wedding Ceremony was held at 11:00 AM at St Mary Assunta Basilica located on Moro Piazza in central Cassano This was a Monday and it surprised me that the wedding was not held on a weekend as is common in the USA I was told that weddings typically are held on any day of the week.Another significant difference in comparison to weddings I've attended was that there were only two witnesses in the bridal party and both were females The only other person in the bridal party was a young flower girl Her father escorted the Bride down the aisle where the groom greeted her when she reached the altar railing A Mass ensued and then the vows and rings were exchanged much as is done in America.After the wedding the guests greeted the new Husband and Wife on the steps of the Church and they were soon motored away to the reception to be held in Canossa Canossa is about an hour's drive from Cassano The reception facility was unlike any I have ever seen anywhere Giardino del Mago (Garden of Magic) is stunningly landscaped with fountains The facility itself is comprised of many different enclosures; this reception utilized four of them plus the outside area adjacent to the waterfall we were ushered to a large covered area with beautifully decorated tables Music was softly playing and we were served wine and too many different appetizers to count The Bridal couple made their appearance and came to each of the tables to welcome their guests we were all taken to another room and again seated at lovely tables the Bride and Groom along with both sets of parents were standing at the front of the room and we made a line to meet and greet and offer our gifts Several more courses of food were delivered to our tables and of course more wine and other libations there was a live band playing and many joined in to dance after Maddalena and Giuseppe led the way We were then moved a third time to another room set up very similarly to the one we vacated Course after course of food was delivered to each table with more liquid refreshments This portion of the meal was finished off with espresso a live band was playing and many participated in very energetic dancing Finally we were taken to another room that was draped and backlit in purple The entire length of the room was taken up with tables of an infinite variety of sweets The desserts were delivered to the table along with wedding cake fruits of every variety and of course any drink of your choosing About 30 minutes after arriving in this last room we were invited outside to the waterfall where the parents and the Bridal party were toasting each other and dancing a special dance Lanterns were lit and sent skyward in a beautiful twilight display Live music plus a disc jockey provided more music and there was much dancing toward the end of the evening there was the traditional bouquet and garter tossing we noticed that there was an extremely long table set up at the front of the room and beautifully wrapped gifts were piled high on it The bridal couple and their parents were standing in front of the gift- laden table We formed a line and once again moved forward to greet them we were each handed two gifts off of the table I later discovered one was a box of delectable Italian sweets and the other was a lovely figurine in porcelain The Bride and Groom had stayed to the very end of the reception that had started at about 1:00 PM and was ending at 10:00 PM this wedding and reception were on a grand scale that I could not have imagined While there are many similarities to American style weddings there were significant differences as well If you ever have the opportunity to attend a wedding in Italy it was an experience that I will never forget Discover all our subscription plans and become a member.