Did You Know? Catholic Emancipation took a big step forward in the British Isles with the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829 (passed March 24 of that year). It ended many of the Penal Laws that had been enacted against Catholics by the British government. LEARN MORE.
Today is Saturday of the 4th week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.
Saints & Celebrations:
On March 24, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.
In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Gabriel the archangel. It is a Class III day.
If you’d like to learn more about St. Gabriel, 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:
According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:
General Principles for the Renewal of Pious Exercises
75. The Apostolic See has not failed to indicate those theological, pastoral, historical, and literary principles by which a renewal of pious exercises is to be effected. It has also signaled the manner in which they should reflect a biblical and liturgical spirit, as well as an ecumenical one. The criteria established by the Holy See emphasize how the essential nucleus of the various pious exercises is to be identified by means of an historical investigation, and also reflect something of contemporary spirituality. Pious exercises are also required to take due account of the implications of a healthy anthropology. They should respect the culture and expressive style of the peoples who use them without, however, losing those traditional elements that are rooted in popular customs.
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According to something on Yahoo called “Shine,”
Last week, Nadine Schweigert married herself in a symbolic wedding ceremony. The 36-year-old divorced mom of three wore blue satin and clutched a bouquet of white roses as she walked down the aisle before a gathering of 45 friends and family members in Fargo, North Dakota.
She vowed to “to enjoy inhabiting my own life and to relish a lifelong love affair with my beautiful self,” reports Fargo’s InForum newspaper . After the ring was exchanged with the bride and her inner-groom, guests were encouraged to “blow kisses at the world,” and later, eat cake.
Schweigert, who followed the ceremony with a solo honeymoon in New Orleans, claims the wedding was her way of showing the world she’s learned to love and accept herself as a woman flying solo.
“I was waiting for someone to come along and make me happy,” she told reporter Tammy Swift . “At some point, a friend said, ‘Why do you need someone to marry you to be happy? Marry yourself.'”
This display of clueless narcissism was not universally approved by those close to Schweigert. Among the critics, her remarkably clear-eyed eleven-year old son:
“He said, ‘I love you, but I’m embarrassed for you right now.'”
Did You Know? Elisha Otis’s first elevator was installed at 488 Broadway in New York City on March 23, 1857. LEARN MORE.
Today is Friday of the 4th week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.
Saints & Celebrations:
On March 23, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, bishop. It is an optional memorial.
There is no special fixed liturgical day in the Extraordinary Form.
If you’d like to learn more about St. Turibius, 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:
According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:
Liturgy and Pious Exercises
73. The Church’s teaching on the relationship of Liturgy and pious exercises may be summarized as follows: the Sacred Liturgy, in virtue of its very nature, is by far superior to pious exercises, and hence pastoral praxis must always accord to the Sacred Liturgy “that preeminent position proper to it in relation to pious exercises”; Liturgy and pious exercises must co-exist in accordance with the hierarchy of values and the nature specific to both of these [ritual] expressions.
74. Careful attention to these principles should lead to a real effort to harmonize, in so far as possible, pious exercises with the rhythm and demands of the Liturgy, thereby avoiding any “mixture or admixture of these two forms of piety.” This in turn ensures that no hybrid, or confused forms emerge from mixing Liturgy and pious exercises, not that the latter, contrary to the mind of the Church, are eliminated, often leaving an unfilled void to the great detriment of the faithful.
Did You Know? A couple in Pennsylvania regularly trap squirrels that get into their birdfeeders and then release the squirrels elsewhere. One day they trapped one that is purple! They and others say they have no idea why the squirrel is purple (dye, genetic anomaly, etc.). LEARN MORE.
Today is Thursday of the 4th week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.
Saints & Celebrations:
On March 22, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.
There is no special fixed liturgical day in the Extraordinary Form.
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:
According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:
72. Pious exercises are part of Christian worship. The Church has always been attentive to ensure that God is glorified worthily through them, and that man derives spiritual benefit from them and is encouraged to the live the Christian life.
The actions of Pastors in relation to pious exercises have been many. They have recommended and encouraged them, or guided and corrected them or simply tolerated them. Among the myriad of pious exercises, some must be mentioned, especially those erected by the Apostolic See, or which have been recommended by the same Apostolic See throughout the ages. Mention must also be made of the pious exercises of the particular Churches “that are undertaken by order of the bishops according to customs or books lawfully approved”; of the pious exercises that are practised in accordance with the particular law or tradition of certain religious families, or confraternities, or other pious associations of the faithful, since such have often received the explicit approbation of the Church; and of the pious exercises practised personally or in the home.
Some pious exercises which grew up among the community of the faithful and have received the approbation of the Magisterium, also enjoy the concession of indulgences.
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Did You Know? After the French pillaged Rome and took all the old papal tiaras, Pope Pius VII was crowned pope on March 21, 1800 using a papal tiara made of paper mache! LEARN MORE.
Today is Wednesday of the 4th week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.
Saints & Celebrations:
On March 21, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.
In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Benedict, abbot and founder of the Benedictines, who died in A.D. 543. It is a Class III day.
If you’d like to learn more about St. Benedict, 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:
According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:
71. In the light of the nature and of the characteristics proper to Christian worship, pious exercises, clearly must conform to the doctrine, legal discipline and norms of the Church. Moreover, they should be in harmony with the Sacred Liturgy, take into account the seasons of the liturgical calendar, in so far as possible, and encourage “conscious active participation in the prayer of the Church.”
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Did You Know? Albert Einstein published the general theory of relativity on March 20, 1916. LEARN MORE.
