Category: Liturgical Year

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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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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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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Today is Monday of the 3rd week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On March 12, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Gregory the Great (Gregory I), OSB, pope, confessor, and doctor of the Church, who died in A.D. 604. It is a Class III day.

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

68. Pope John Paul II has shown how the family can be a subject of popular piety. The exhortation Familiaris Consortio, having praised the family as the domestic sanctuary of the Church, emphasizes that “as preparation for worship celebrated in church, and as its prolongation in the home, the Christian family makes use of prayer, which presents a variety of forms. While this variety testifies to the extraordinary riches with which the Spirit vivifies Christian prayer, it serves also the various needs and life situations of those who turn to the Lord in prayer.” It also observes that “apart from morning and evening prayers, certain prayers are to be expressly encouraged,[…] such as reading and meditating on the word of God, preparation for the reception of the sacraments, devotion and consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the various forms of the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grace before and after meals, and observance of popular devotions.”

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Today is the 3rd Sunday of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On March 11, 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:

The Subject of Popular Piety

67. The Church’s Magisterium, mindful that “the spiritual life…is not limited solely to participation in the liturgy” and that “the Christian…must enter into his bedroom to pray to his Father in secret”, indeed, “according to the teaching of the apostle, he must pray without ceasing”, holds that the subject of the various forms of prayer is every Christian – clerics, religious and laity – both privately when moved by the Spirit of Christ, and when praying with the community in groups of different origins and types.

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Today is Saturday of the 2nd week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On March 10, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, martyrs, who died in A.D. 320. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, 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:

65. In its attempts to remedy such defects in popular piety, the contemporary Magisterium has insistently stressed the need to “evangelize” popular piety, and sees it in relation to the Gospel which “will progressively free it from its defects; purify it, consolidate it and clarify that which is ambiguous by referring it of the contents of faith, hope and charity.”

Pastoral sensibility recommends that the work of “evangelizing” popular piety should proceed patiently, tolerantly, and with great prudence, following the methodology adopted by the Church throughout the centuries in matters relating to inculturation of the Christian faith, the Sacred Liturgy and those inherent in popular piety.

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Today is Friday of the 2nd week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On March 9, in both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Frances of Rome, religious, widow, who died in A.D. 1440. In the Ordinary Form, it is an optional memorial, and in the Extraordinary Form, it is a Class III day.

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

Deviations in Popular Piety

64. While the Magisterium highlights the undeniable qualities of popular piety, it does not hesitate to point out dangers which can affect it: lack of a sufficient number of Christian elements such as the salvific significance of the Resurrection of Christ, an awareness of belonging to the Church, the person and action of the Holy Spirit; a disproportionate interest between the Saints and the absolute sovereignty of Jesus Christ and his mysteries; lack of direct contact with Sacred Scripture; isolation from the Church’s sacramental life; a dichotomy between worship and the duties of Christian life; a utilitarian view of some forms of popular piety; the use of “signs, gestures and formulae, which sometimes become excessively important or even theatrical”; and in certain instances, the risk of “promoting sects, or even superstition, magic, fatalism or oppression.”

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Today is Thursday of the 2nd week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On March 8, in both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. John of God, religious, confessor, and founder of the Brothers Hospitallers, who died in A.D. 1550. In the Ordinary Form, it is an optional memorial, and in the Extraordinary Form, it is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. John of God, 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:

64. The Magisterium also highlights the importance of popular piety for the faith-life of the People of God, for the conservation of the faith itself and in inspiring new efforts at evangelization.

It is impossible to overlook “those devotions practised in certain regions by the faithful with fervour and a moving purity of intention”; that authentic popular piety “in virtue of its essentially Catholic roots, is an antidote to the sects and a guarantee of fidelity to the message of salvation”; that popular piety has been a providential means of preserving the faith in situations where Christians have been deprived of pastoral care; that in areas in which evangelization has been deficient, “the people for the most part express their faith primarily through popular piety”; that popular piety is an important and indispensable “starting point in deepening the faith of the people and in bringing it to maturity.”

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Today is Wednesday of the 2nd week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On March 7, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St.s Perpetua and Felicity, martyrs. It is a memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Thomas Aquinas, OP, confessor, and doctor of the Church, who died in A.D. 1274. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St.s Perpetua and Felicity, you can click here.

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

137. This pious exercise [the Via Matris or “Way of the Mother”] harmonizes well with certain themes that are proper to the lenten season. Since the sorrows of Our Lady are caused by the rejection of her Son (cf. John 1,11; Lk 2, 1-7; 2, 34-35; 4, 28-29; Mt 26, 47-56; Acts 12, 1-5), the Via Matris constantly and necessarily refers to the mystery of Christ as the suffering servant (cf. Is 52, 13-53, 12). It also refers to the mystery of the Church: the stations of the Via Matris are stages on the journey of faith and sorrow on which the Virgin Mary has preceded the Church, and in which the Church journeys until the end of time.

The highest expression of the Via Matris is the Pieta which has been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Christian art since the middles ages.

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Today is Tuesday of the 2nd week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On March 6, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St.s Perpetua and Felicitas of Carthage, martyrs, who died in A.D. 202. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St.s Perpetua and Felicitas, 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:

The Via Matris [“Way of the Mother”]

136. As Christ and Our Lady of Dolours were associated in God’s saving plan (Lk 2, 34-35), so too they are associated in the Liturgy and popular piety.

As Christ was the “man of sorrows” (Is 53, 3) through whom it pleased God to have “reconciled all things through him and for him, everything in heaven and everything on earth, when he made peace by his death on the cross” (Col 1, 20), so too, Mary is “the woman of sorrows” whom God associated with his Son as mother and participant in his Passion (socia passionis).

Since the childhood of Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary’s life was entirely lived out under the sign of the sword (cf, Lk 2, 35). Christian piety has signalled out seven particular incidents of sorrow in her life, known as the “seven sorrows” of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Modelled on the Via Crucis [“Way of the Cross”], the pious exercise of the Via Matris dolorosae [“Way of the Mother of Sorrows”], or simply theVia Matris [“Way of the Mother”], developed and was subsequently approved by the Apostolic See. This pious exercise already existed in embryonic form since the sixteenth century, while its present form dates from the nineteenth century. Its fundamental intuition is a reflection on the life of Our Lady from the prophecy of Simeon (cf. Lk 2, 34-35), to the death and burial of her Son, in terms of a journey in faith and sorrow: this journey is articulated in seven “stations” corresponding to the “seven dolours” of the Mother of Our Savior.

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