Category: Liturgical Year

Today is Thursday of the 5th week of Easter. The liturgical color is white.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 10, in the Ordinary Form in the United States, we celebrate St. Damien de Veuster, priest. It is an optional memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Antonius, OP, bishop, and confessor, who died in A.D. 1459. It is a Class III day.

In the Extraordinary Form, we also celebrate St.s Gordian and Epimachus, martyrs, who died in A.D. 360 and 250. This celebration is a commemoration.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Damien de Veuster, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Antonius, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St.s Gordian and Epimachus, 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:

We continue our series on the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

192. This is not the place to reproduce the list of Marian exercises approved by the Magisterium. Some, however, should be mentioned, especially the more important ones, so as to make a few suggestions about their practice and emendation.

Prayerfully Hearing the Word of God

193. The Council’s call for the “sacred celebration of the word of God” at significant moments throughout the Liturgical Year, can easily find useful application in devotional exercises made in honor of the Mother of the Word Incarnate. This corresponds perfectly with the orientation of Christian piety and reflects the conviction that it is already a worthy way to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, since it involves acting as she did in relation to the Word of God. She lovingly accepted the Word and treasured it in her heart, meditated on it in her mind and spread it with her lips. She faithfully put it into practice and modeled her life on it.

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Today is Wednesday of the 5th week of Easter. The liturgical color is white.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 9, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Gregory Nazianzen, bishop, confessor, and doctor of the Church, who died in A.D. 389. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Gregory Nazianzen, 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:

We continue our series on the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

191. In relation to the western custom of observing a “Marian month” during the month of May (or in November in some parts of the Southern hemisphere), it would seem opportune to take into account the demands of the Liturgy, the expectations of the faithful, their maturity in the faith, in an eventual study of the problems deriving from the “Marian months” in the overall pastoral activity of the local Church, as might happen, for example, with any suggestion of abolishing the Marian observances during the month of May.

In many cases, the solution for such problems would seem to lay in harmonizing the content of the “Marian months” with the concomitant season of the Liturgical Year. For example, since the month of May largely corresponds with the fifty days of Easter, the pious exercises practised at this time could emphasize Our Lady’s participation in the Paschal mystery (cf. John 19, 25-27), and the Pentecost event (cf, Acts 1, 14) with which the Church begins: Our Lady journeys with the Church having shared in the novum of the Resurrection, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The fifty days are also a time for the celebration of the sacraments of Christian initiation and of the mystagogy. The pious exercises connected with the month of May could easily highlight the earthly role played by the glorified Queen of Heaven, here and now, in the celebration of the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist.

The directives of Sacrosanctum Concilium on the need to orient the “minds of the faithful…firstly to the feasts of the Lord, in which, the mysteries of salvation are celebrated during the year”, and with which the Blessed Virgin Mary is certainly associated, should be closely followed.

Opportune catechesis should remind the faithful that the weekly Sunday memorial of the Paschal Mystery is “the primordial feast day.” Bearing in mind that the four weeks of Advent are an example of a Marian time that has been incorporated harmoniously into the Liturgical Year, the faithful should be assisted in coming to a full appreciation of the numerous references to the Mother of our Savior during this particular period.

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Today is Tuesday of the 5th week of Easter. The liturgical color is white.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 8, 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 the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

190. With regard to the observance of “Marian months”, which is widespread in the Latin and Oriental Churches, a number of essential points can be mentioned.

In the West, the practise of observing months dedicated to the Blessed Virgin emerged from a context in which the Liturgy was not always regarded as the normative form of Christian worship. This caused, and continues to cause, some difficulties at a liturgico-pastoral level that should be carefully examined.

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Today is Monday of the 5th week of Easter. The liturgical color is white.

In the Extraordinary Form, the liturgical color for today is red.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 7, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Stanislaus, bishop of Cracow, martyr, who died in A.D. 1079. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Stanislaus, 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:

We continue our series on the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

189. Since it is a significant moment, a feast day is frequently preceded by a preparatory triduum, septinaria or novena. The “times and modes of popular piety”, however, should always correspond to the “times and modes of the Liturgy.”

Tridua, septinaria, and novenas can be useful not only for honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary through pious exercises, but also to afford the faithful an adequate vision of the positions she occupies in the mystery of Christ and of the Church, as well as the the role she plays in it.

Pious exercises cannot remain indifferent to the results of biblical and theological research on the Mother of Our Savior. These should become a catechetical means diffusing such information, without however altering their essential nature.

Tridua, septinaria and novenas are truly preparations for the celebration of the various feast days of Our Lady, especially when they encourage the faithful to approach the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist, and to renew their Christian commitment following the example of Mary, the first and most perfect disciple of Christ.

In some countries, the faithful gather for prayer on the 13th. of each month, in honor of the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima.

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Today is the 5th Sunday of Easter. The liturgical color is white.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 6, 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 the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

188. Saturdays stand out among those days dedicated to the Virgin Mary. These are designated as memorials of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This memorial derives from carolingian time (ninth century), but the reasons for having chosen Saturday for its observance are unknown. While many explanation have been advanced to explain this choice, none is completely satisfactory from the point of view of the history of popular piety.

Prescinding from its historical origins, to-day the memorial rightly emphasizes certain values “to which contemporary spirituality is more sensitive: it is a remembrance of the maternal example and discipleship of the Blessed Virgin Mary who, strengthened by faith and hope, on that great Saturday on which Our Lord lay in the tomb, was the only one of the disciples to hold vigil in expectation of the Lord’s resurrection; it is a prelude and introduction to the celebration of Sunday, the weekly memorial of the Resurrection of Christ; it is a sign that the “Virgin Mary is continuously present and operative in the life of the Church.”

Popular piety is also sensitive to the Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The statutes of many religious communities and associations of the faithful prescribe that special devotion be paid to the Holy Mother of God on Saturdays, sometimes through specified pious exercises composed precisely for Saturdays.

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Today is Saturday of the 4th week of Easter. The liturgical color is white.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 5, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Pius V, OP, pope, confessor, and doctor of the Church, who died in A.D. 1572. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Pius V, 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:

We continue our series on the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

187. Practically all Marian devotions and pious exercises are in some way related to the liturgical feasts of the General Calendar of the Roman Rite or of the particular calendars of dioceses and religious families. Sometimes, a particular devotion antedates the institution of the feast (as is the case with the feast of the Holy Rosary), in other instances, the feast is much more ancient than the devotion (as with the Angelus Domini). This clearly illustrates the relationship between the Liturgy and pious exercises, and the manner in which pious exercises find their culmination in the celebration of the feast. In so far as liturgical, the feast refers to the history of salvation and celebrates a particular aspect of the relationship of the Virgin Mary to the mystery of Christ. The feast, however, must be celebrated in accordance with liturgical norm, and bear in mind the hierarchal difference between “liturgical acts” and associated “pious exercises.”

It should not be forgotten that a feast of the Blessed Virgin, in so far as it is popular manifestation, also has important anthropological implications that cannot be overlooked.

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Today is Friday of the 4th week of Easter. The liturgical color is white.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 4, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Monica, widow, who died in A.D. 387. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Monica, 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:

We continue our series on the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

186. The fundamental principle of the Magisterium with regard to such pious exercises is that they should be derivative from the “one worship which is rightly called Christian, because it efficaciously originates in Christ, finds full expression in Christ, and through Him, in the Holy Spirit leads to the Father.” Hence, Marian devotions, in varying degrees and modes, should:

• give expression to the Trinitarian note which characterises worship of the God revealed in the New Testament, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the pneumatological aspect, since every true form of piety comes from the Spirit and is exercised in the Spirit; the ecclesial character, in virtue of which the faithful are constituted as the holy people of God, gathered in prayer in the Lord’s name (cf. Mt 18, 20) in the vital Communion of Saints;
• have constant recourse to Sacred Scripture, as understood in Sacred Tradition; not overlook the demands of the ecumenical movement in the Church’s profession of faith; consider the anthropological aspects of [ritual] expressions so as to reflect a true concept of man and a valid response to his needs; highlight the eschatological tension which is essential to the Gospel message; make clear missionary responsibility and the duty of bearing witness, which are incumbent on the Lord’s disciples.

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Today is Thursday of the 4th week of Easter. The liturgical color is red.

In the Extraordinary Form, the liturgical color for today is white.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 3, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St.s Philip and James, apostles. It is a feast.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Alexander, pope, and his companions, Eventius and Theodulus, martyrs, and of St. Juvenal, who died in A.D. 117 and 376. It is a commemoration.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Philip, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. James the Less, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Alexander, Eventius and Theodulus, you can click here.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Juvenal, 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:

We continue our series on the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

185. Here, it will be useful to recall some pronouncements of the Church’s Magisterium on Marian devotions. These should always be adhered to when elaboration new pious exercises or in revising those already in use, or simply in activating them in worship. The care and attention of the Pastors of the Church for Marian devotions are due to their importance, since they are both a fruit and an expression of Marian piety among the people and the ecclesial community, and a significant means of promoting the “Marian formation” of the faithful, as well as in determining the manner in which the piety of the faithful for the Blessed Virgin Mary is moulded.

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Today is Wednesday of the 4th week of Easter. The liturgical color is white.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 2, in both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Athanasius, bishop and doctor of the Church who died in A.D. 373. In the Ordinary Form, it is a memorial, and in the Extraordinary Form, it is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Athanasius, 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:

We continue our series on the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

184. The relationship between the Liturgy and popular Marian piety should be regulated by the principles and norms already mentioned in this document. In relation to Marian devotion, the Liturgy must be the “exemplary form”, source of inspiration, constant reference point and ultimate goal of Marian devotion.

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Today is Tuesday of the 4th week of Easter. The liturgical color is white.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On May 1, in both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Joseph the Worker, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Ordinary Form, it is an optional memorial, and in the Extraordinary Form, it is a Class I day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Joseph, 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:

Since May is a “marian month,” let us take the occasion to begin a series on devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

183. Popular devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is an important and universal ecclesial phenomenon. Its expressions are multifarious and its motivation very profound, deriving as it does from the People of God’s faith in, and love for, Christ, the Redeemer of mankind, and from an awareness of the salvific mission that God entrusted to Mary of Nazareth, because of which she is mother not only of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but also of mankind in the order of grace.

Indeed, “the faithful easily understand the vital link uniting Son and Mother. They realise that the Son is God and that she, the Mother, is also their mother. They intuit the immaculate holiness of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and in venerating her as the glorious queen of Heaven, they are absolutely certain that she who is full of mercy intercedes for them. Hence, they confidently have recourse to her patronage. The poorest of the poor feel especially close to her. They know that she, like them, was poor, and greatly suffered in meekness and patience. They can identify with her suffering at the crucifixion and death of her Son, as well as rejoice with her in his resurrection. The faithful joyfully celebrate her feasts, make pilgrimage to her sanctuary, sing hymns in her honor, and make votive offerings to her. They instinctively distrust whoever does not honor her and will not tolerate those who dishonor her.”

The Church exhorts all the faithful – sacred minister, religious and laity – to develop a personal and community devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary through the use of approved and recommended pious exercises. Liturgical worship, notwithstanding its objective and irreplaceable importance, its exemplary efficacy and normative character, does not in fact exhaust all the expressive possibilities of the People of God for devotion to the Holy Mother of God.

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