Monday, Ord Time Wk 8: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"

... who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

-- 1 Pt 1:3-9

The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God's grace, "so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace. It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ's brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: "Go and tell my brethren." We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.

-- CCC 654

Saint Desiderius, pray for us.

The passion of Saint Desiderius from among the Lingones in Lyons, Gaul, a bishop, who, as it is told, when he perceived that his people were being harassed by Vandals, approached their king in order to plead on his people�s behalf; wherefore, ordered at once to be slain, willingly offered himself for the sake of the sheep entrusted to him.