Beads of Joy Blog II (2025 - 2026)

May 4 Our Lady the Helper Normandy, France Original image created by Co-Pilot. "I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord." - Psalm 121:1–2 She Always Helps There is a title for Our Lady that requires no elaborate explanation, no pilgrimage story, no famous miracle to justify it. It is the simplest and perhaps the most honest thing the faithful have ever called her: the Helper. Auxiliatrix. Helper. The one you turn to when you need someone. In the ancient province of Normandy in northwestern France, a land of sea wind and deep Catholic roots, this title took hold among people who lived close to the edge. Farmers who depended on the weather, they could not control. Fishermen who knew the Channel had no mercy. Families who had learned through hard experience that human effort alone was never quite enough. They turned to Mary not as a theological exercise but as a practical truth: she helps. This is not a small thing. The entire ed...

May 3 Our Lady of Czestochowa Photo created by Co-Pilot. All generations will call me blessed." - Luke 1:48 The Black Madonna Who Would Not Break On a hill called Jasna Góra, the Bright Mountain, in the city of Częstochowa in southern Poland, there hangs an icon that has looked upon six centuries of Polish history and never looked away. She is called the Black Madonna. Her face is dark, deepened by centuries of candle smoke and the breath of prayer. On her right cheek are two scars, sword slashes left by raiders in 1430 who attacked the image in anger. The wounds bled, according to the tradition. The scars were left. They remain there still, visible for every pilgrim who enters, a permanent mark of violence survived. Our Lady of Czestochowa is not a delicate image in a gilded frame. She is a warrior's icon, scarred, ancient, immovable. Poland has returned to her through every catastrophe the centuries could bring: Mongol invasions, Swedish occupation, Nazi terror, Sovi...

May 2 Our Lady of Oviedo, Spain (711) Original image created with Co-Pilot. " I will be with you always, even to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:20 Faith That Would Not Be Left Behind In the year 711, the Moorish armies swept across Spain with stunning speed. Christian kingdoms fell one by one. Believers fled northward into the mountains with whatever they could carry, their children, their memories, and the sacred things they refused to abandon. Among those sacred things was their love for Our Lady. The faithful who reached the mountain stronghold of Oviedo in the region of Asturias brought their Marian devotion intact. They had lost homes, lands, and livelihoods. They had not lost her. Oviedo became one of the last Christian strongholds in Spain, a place where the faith survived when almost everything else had been taken away. And there, Our Lady of Oviedo took root, honored by a people who had carried her through the chaos and planted her on safer ground. There is someth...

May 1, 2026 Our Lady, Queen of the May Original image created with Co-Pilot. " A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." - Revelation 12:1 The Crown and the Child May belongs to Mary. It has for centuries. In parishes around the world today, a young girl dressed in white will walk slowly up the aisle carrying a crown of flowers. The congregation will sing. And with the simplest gesture imaginable, a child placing flowers on a statue, the Church will say everything May is meant to say: we love you, Mother. This month is yours. The May crowning is one of the oldest and most tender devotions in Catholic life. It asks nothing complicated of us. No theology degree required. Just flowers, a song, and a willing heart. Yet in that simplicity lives something profound, because Mary is not crowned by kings or councils. She is crowned by her children. That is exactly how she would want it. She is...

Thursday of the 4th Week of Easter April 30, 2026 Whoever Receives Me Receives the One Who Sent Me Acts 13:13-25  |  John 13:16-20 Photo created by Google AI Image Creator. Today's Readings Acts 13:13-25 Paul stood up in the synagogue and traced the entire history of Israel, the patriarchs, the Exodus, the judges, Saul, David, and then said: from David's descendants God has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus, as He promised. John the Baptist prepared the way. Now the time has come. John 13:16-20 At the Last Supper, Jesus said: no slave is greater than his master, no messenger greater than the one who sent him. Whoever receives the one I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives the One who sent me. Today's Thread: The whole story was pointing here. Paul's sermon in the synagogue is a masterpiece of sacred history. He takes his listeners from Abraham to David, then draws a straight line to Jesus. He is not announcing something new; he is revealing what th...

Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena April 29, 2026 I Came Into the World As Light Acts 12:24-13:5a  |  John 12:44-50 Photo created by Google AI Image Creator. Today's Readings Acts 12:24-13:5a The word of God continued to spread and grow. The community at Antioch was fasting and worshipping when the Holy Spirit said: Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them to. They laid hands on them and sent them off. So, they set out on their first missionary journey. John 12:44-50 Jesus cried out: whoever believes in me believes in the One who sent me. I came as light into the world so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. I did not come to condemn the world but to save it. My Father's commandment is eternal life. Today's Thread: Be who you are meant to be, and you will set the world on fire. Saint Catherine of Siena is credited with one of the most quoted lines in Catholic mysticism: "Be who you are meant to be, and you...

Tuesday of the 4th Week of Easter April 28, 2026 My Sheep Hear My Voice Acts 11:19-26  |  John 10:22-30 Photo created by Google AI Image Creator. Today's Readings Acts 11:19-26 Those scattered by the persecution went to Antioch and began speaking to Greeks about the Lord Jesus. A great number believed and turned to the Lord. The Church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas, who rejoiced at the grace of God and encouraged them to remain faithful. He brought Saul from Tarsus. For a whole year, they instructed the Church. In Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians. John 10:22-30 The Jews challenged Jesus to say plainly whether He was the Christ. He said: My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. The Father and I are one. Today's Thread: They were first called Christians. Something happened in Antioch that had not happened anywhere else; they were called Christians...

Monday of the 4th Week of Easter April 27, 2026 One Flock. One Shepherd. Acts 11:1-18  |  John 10:11-18 Photo created by Google AI Image Creator. Today's Readings Acts 11:1-18 Peter was criticized for eating with Gentiles. He explained his vision: a sheet lowered from heaven with all kinds of animals, and a voice saying what God has made clean you are not to call profane. The Spirit told him to go with the messengers. When he preached, the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles just as on the disciples at Pentecost. The community fell silent and praised God: God has granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too. John 10:11-18 Jesus said: I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. I lay down my life only to take it up again. Today's Thread: The flock is bigger than you think. Peter thought the covenant was for Israel alone. Then a ...

Fourth Sunday of Easter April 26, 2026 I Am The Gate Acts 2:14a, 36-41  |  1 Peter 2:20b-25 John 10:1-10 Photo created by Google AI Image Creator. Today's Readings Acts 2:14a, 36-41 Peter proclaimed: God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. The crowd asked what they must do. Peter said: Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the Holy Spirit. That day, three thousand were added. 1 Peter 2:20b-25 Christ suffered for you and left you an example. He committed no sin. He bore our sins in His body. By His wounds you have been healed. You had gone astray like sheep; you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. John 10:1-10 Jesus said: I am the gate for the sheep. Whoever enters through me will be saved. The thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy. I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. Today's Thread: Life in abundance, not in moderation. Good Sh...