Did You Know? The Roman Emperor Tiberius died Mar. 16, A.D. 37–possibly at the instigation (or even at the hands) of his successor, Caligula. Tiberius is mentioned in the New Testament. It was in the 15th year of Tiberius (A.D. 28) that John the Baptist began to preach (Luke 3:1-2) and during his reign that Jesus was crucified. LEARN MORE.
Today is Friday of the 3rd week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.
Saints & Celebrations:
On March 16, 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:
We continue our series on St. Joseph. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:
220. Popular piety has grasped the significance, importance and universality of the patronage of St. Joseph “to whose care God entrusted the beginning of our redemption”, “and his most valuable treasures.” The following have been entrusted to the patronage of St. Joseph: the entire Church was placed under the patronage and protection of this Holy patriarch by the Blessed Pius IX; those who are consecrated to God by celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Mt 19, 12): “in St Joseph they have […] a type and a protector of chaste integrity”; workers and craftsmen, for whom the carpenter of Nazareth is a singular model; the dying, since pious tradition holds that he was assisted by Mary and Jesus in his last agony.
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Did You Know? Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators on Mar. 15, 44 B.C. (the “Ides of March”). His death led to the rise of Octavius, who later became the first Roman emperor–Augustus. Julius’s last words do not seem to have been “Et tu, Brute,” however. LEARN MORE.
Today is Thursday of the 3rd week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.
Saints & Celebrations:
On March 15, 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:
We continue our series on St. Joseph. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:
219. The virtues of St. Joseph have been the object of ecclesial reflection down through the centuries, especially the more recent centuries. Among those virtues the following stand out: faith, with which he fully accepted God’s salvific plan; prompt and silent obedience to the will of God; love for and fulfillment of the law, true piety, fortitude in time of trial; chaste love for the Blessed Virgin Mary, a dutiful exercise of his paternal authority, and fruitful reticence.
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Sign up for the ULTIMATE Low Carb Club and get a special set of recipes on Friday for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day low carb style!
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Did You Know? The awesome Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera The Mikado had its firs performance in London on March 14, 1885. Among other things, this opera gave us the word “pooh-bah” as a fanciful term for a high official. Great plot, hilarious dialogue, beautiful music, and the potential for stunning costumes and set design. It’s no surprise that this has been continuously in production ever since. (At one time I basically memorized the whole opera. I especially like the Canadian Stratford Festival production, available on DVD.) LEARN MORE.
Today is Wednesday of the 3rd week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.
Saints & Celebrations:
On March 14, 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:
We are coming up on the solemnity of St. Joseph. Let us take the occasion to begin a series on devotion to St. Joseph. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:
St. Joseph
218. In activating His plan of salvation, God, in His sapient providence, assigned to Joseph of Nazareth, “the just man” (cf. Mt 1, 19), and spouse of the Virgin Mary (cf. ibid; Lk 1, 27), a particularly important mission: legally to insert Jesus Christ into the line of David from whom, according to the prophets, the Messiah would be born, and to act as his father and guardian.
In virtue of this mission, St. Joseph features in the mysteries of the infancy of Jesus: God revealed to him that Jesus had been conceived by the Holy Spirit; (cf. Mt 1,20-21); he witnessed the birth of Christ in Bethlehem (cf. Lk 2, 6-7), the adoration of the shepherds (cf. Lk 2, 15-16), the adoration of the Magi (cf. Mt 2, 11); he fulfilled his mission religiously with regard to the rearing of Christ, having had him circumcised according to the discipline of the Covenant of Abraham (Lk 2, 21) and in giving him the name of Jesus ( Mt 1, 21); in accordance with the Law of the Lord, he presented Christ in the Temple and made the offering prescribed for the poor (cf. Lk 2,22-24; Ex 13, 2. 12-13), and listened in wonder to the prophecy of Simeon (cf Lk 2, 25-33); he protected the Mother of Christ and her Son from the persecution of Herod by taking them to Egypt (cf. Mt 2, 13-23); together with Mary and Jesus, he went every year to Jerusalem for the Passover, and was distraught at having lost the twelve year old Jesus in the Temple (Lk 2, 43-50); he lived in Nazareth and exercised paternal authority over Jesus who was submissive to him (Lk 2, 51); he instructed Jesus in the law and in the craft of carpentry.
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A high school theology teacher writes:
I had a student ask me quite blunty “was Jesus ugly?” He cited some early Fathers quoting Isaiah 53:2, and gave me several other sources that expanded on this topic as well. From what I understand and have read, the verse from Isaiah seems to (me anyways) point towards Jesus at his Passion and Death – the Suffering Servant. Am I on the right track or have you heard anything on this?
Let’s start by looking at the text in question. It is part of the fourth “Servant Song” in Isaiah, which runs from 52:13-53:12. Here’s the verse in context:
Isaiah 52:13–53:12
13 Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. 14 As many were astonished at him— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the sons of men— 15 so shall he startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they shall see, and that which they have not heard they shall understand.
1 Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand; 11 he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
There are several things that can be said here.
One is that we have to be a bit careful when looking at Messianic passages in the Old Testament and applying them directly to Jesus. It is clear that there are multiple passages in the Old Testament that point forward to Christ, but they do not all do so in a way that allows us to take every detail of the original text and apply it directly to Jesus.
Did You Know? One of the largest, best-documented UFO sightings ever took place on March 13, 1997 over Arizona, Nevada, and northern Mexico. The conventional explanation of the event–known as “the Phoenix lights”–is airplanes and flares dropped from airplanes as part of a military exercise. The exotic explanation is, of course, aliens. LEARN MORE.
Today is Tuesday of the 3rd week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.
Saints & Celebrations:
On March 13, 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:
69. Equally important subjects of popular piety are the confraternities and other pious associations of the faithful. In addition to their charitable and social endeavours, they have an institutional commitment to foster Christian devotion, in relation to the Trinity, to Christ in his mysteries, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the Angels and Saints, in relation to the Beati, and in promoting suffrage for the souls of the faithful departed.
The Confraternities often observe, side by side with the liturgical calendar, their own proper calendars which indicate particular feasts, offices, novenas, setptenaria, tridua, penitential days, processions, pilgrimages, and those days on which specific works of mercy are to be done. They also have their own devotional books and insignia such as medals, habits, cinctures, and even their own places of worship and cemeteries.
The Church recognizes the confraternities and grants juridical personality to them, approves their statutes and fosters their [ritual] ends and activities. They should, however, avoid conflict and isolation by prudent involvement in parochial and diocesan life.
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