CMA

April 2026 Embers

April 3, 2026

Today is Good Friday and we suggest using the story of the Good Thief to comfort the dying who may feel it is too late to be reconciled with God. We would like to encourage everyone to begin the Divine Mercy Novena today seen here and to receive the plenary indulgence on Divine Mercy Sunday seen here.

Our theme for this month is The Mystery of Faith, and we suggest meditating from Holy Thursday to Divine Mercy Sunday on these three acclimations at Mass which reveal the Mystery of Faith:
We proclaim your Death, O Lord and profess your Resurrection until you come again. 
When we eat this Bread and Drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.
Save us, Savior of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.

We also consider the events of Holy Saturday when Christ “descended into hell” or the abode of the dead. “Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep… He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him – He who is both their God and the son of Eve… ‘I am your God, who for your sake have become your son… I order you, O sleeper to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead.'” (CCC 635)

The next CMA ZOOM Prayer Group will be Saturday, April 11 at 2:00 PM EDT. Come pray with us! The 14th annual Sacred Liturgy Conference will be held June 29 – July 3 in Portland, OR. The theme this year is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane: The Will of God in the Eucharist. To learn more, click here.

Registration is open for the CMA’s 95th Annual Educational Conference Sept. 10-12 in Phoenix, AZ. The theme is Mysteries and Miracles: Restoring the Practice of Medicine to Heal the Whole Person. Click here for more information.

St. Mark, Evangelist (April 25), the patron saint of Venice where he is buried, composed the shortest, most concise Gospel from St. Peter’s personal teachings. He defended the divinity of Christ and detailed the betrayal and repentance of St. Peter. Peter’s Barque has a short video on Mark’s Gospel here. Read about his missionary efforts here.
Blessed Hanna Chrzanowska (April 29) exemplified divine mercy throughout her nursing career and was a great influence on Pope St. John Paul II. Learn more here.

Suggested reading for this month include: Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul now in a compact edition, Conversion by Fr. Donald Haggerty, You Visited Me by Robert Collins, M.D., the series In Conversation with God by Francis Fernandez and The Mass Explained by Dan Gonzales.