Day One ― Rejoice

Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus’ most faithful disciples. She followed him throughout his public ministry and to his death on the cross. John’s gospel tells us that after Jesus was buried, Mary Magdalene went all by herself to the tomb early in the morning. There she encountered the risen Christ and rejoiced! She ran to where the apostles and other disciples were hiding and proclaimed, “I have seen the Lord!” Mary Magdalene was indeed blessed as the first person to encounter Jesus after his resurrection.

Day Two ― Pray

Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821) was the first native-born American to be canonized. Widowed with five small children to raise, she was introduced to Catholicism at the age of 30. She prayed and prayed for the gift of faith, and when she received the Eucharist for the first time in 1805, she literally ran for joy through the streets of New York. In 1809, she opened the first American parochial school and founded the Sisters of Charity. She is known for her deep devotion to prayer, as she said, “We must pray literally without ceasing ― without ceasing ― in every occurrence and employment of our lives … that prayer of the heart which is independent of place or situation, or which is rather a habit of lifting up the heart to God as in a constant communication with Him.”

Day Three ― Ask

Martin de Porres (1579-1639) was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579. His father was a Spanish nobleman and his mother was a free woman of African descent. At a young age, Martin was apprenticed to a professional who taught him basic medical skills. At the age of 15, he was admitted to a Dominican monastery where he tended to the sick both within and outside of the order. Martin asked for God’s help in healing everyone without regard to race or social status. He lovingly treated the poorest of the poor, social outcasts, homeless people, widows ― he even helped sick animals!

Day Four ― Tell

The Apostle Paul, whose Hebrew name was Saul, was known for his persecution of the early Christians. He first “met” Jesus on the road to Damascus, where it is said he was thrown from his horse and heard a voice, the voice of Jesus, cry out, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” From this moment forward, Paul’s life mission became to tell the Good News of Jesus Christ throughout the world. He was a missionary in the early Church at Antioch, where he preached about Jesus to Jews and Gentiles alike. Paul endured shipwrecks and illness, imprisonment and humiliation, but he believed that God was guiding him in his mission of evangelization: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Paul also wrote many letters to the early church communities ― letters we still read at Mass most Sundays!

Day Five ― Seek

Kateri Tekakwitha’s (1656-1680) father was part of the Mohawk tribe of Native Americans, and her mother was a Catholic Algonquin woman. Shortly after her birth, smallpox swept through the region, and she lost both of her parents and her brother to the disease. Kateri survived, but for the rest of her life she bore terrible scars on her face and body. She was adopted by her uncle and began to take an interest in Christianity. Much of her youth was spent seeking the Lord; she made crosses out of sticks in the wilderness and prayed for the gift of faith. She died at the age of 24. Many eyewitness accounts say that at the time of her death, Kateri’s face was transfigured to reveal a woman of immense beauty. Many people who attended her funeral were healed of their ailments as well.