Today is Friday of the 6th week of Easter. The liturgical color is white.
In the Extraordinary Form, the liturgical color for today is red.
Saints & Celebrations:
On May 18, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St. John I, pope and martyr. It is an optional memorial.
In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Venantius of Camerino, martyr, who died in A.D. about 250. It is a Class III day.
If you’d like to learn more about St. John I, you can click here.
If you’d like to learn more about St. Venantius, you can click here.
For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.
Readings:
To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.
Or you can click play to listen to them:
Devotional Information:
On the nine days between (not including) Ascension Thursday and Pentecost, many pray a Pentecost Novena. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:
The Pentecost Novena
155. The New Testament tells us that during the period between the Ascension and Pentecost “all…joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers” (Acts 1, 14) while they awaited being “clothed with the power from on high” (Lk 24, 49). The pious exercise of the Pentecost novena, widely practiced among the faithful, emerged from prayerful reflection on this salvific event.
Indeed, this novena is already present in the Missal and in the Liturgy of the Hours, especially in the second vespers of Pentecost: the biblical and eucological texts, in different ways, recall the disciples’ expectation of the Paraclete. Where possible, the Pentecost novena should consist of the solemn celebration of vespers. Where such is not possible, the novena should try to reflect the liturgical themes of the days from Ascension to the Vigil of Pentecost.
In some places, the week of prayer for the unity Christians is celebrated at this time.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download