Welcome to the traditional Catholic Daily Devotional.

Today's Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025, the Wednesday of the fourth week of Lent,

with a commemoration of St. Francis of Paola, third class with the color of violet.

In this episode, the meditation 40 steps to Easter.

Today's news from the church, the German church, has lost 4 million faithful in 10 years.

A preview of the sermon, God works through human instruments, and today's thought from Archbishop

Marcel Lefev.

But first the collect of today's Mass.

O God, the greatness of the humble, who raised Blessed Francis, thy confessor, to the glory of

thy saints, grant we beseech thee that, by his merits and our

imitation of his life, we may happily attain the rewards promised to the humble.

At just 15 years old, Francis of Paola walked away from home and took up life as a hermit

in a seaside cave in southern Italy. Definitely the plan for most

15-year-old boys. Word of His Holiness spread fast, and soon others joined him. So in 1436, he founded a

new order called the Minims, meaning the least. That name wasn't for show. They really lived it.

These men ate no meat, no eggs, no dairy, ever. Francis

himself slept on a rock, wore a hair shirt, and lived on boiled herbs. But what withered his

body only strengthened his spirit. He healed the sick, cast out demons, even raised the dead,

and always pointed the glory to God.

Not everyone was impressed, though.

One preacher convinced Francis was a fraud, set out to expose him.

But when he finally met the humble hermit and launched into his accusations,

...