Category: +Religion

Today is a Saturday in Christmas. The liturgical color is white.

Saints & Celebrations:

Today, January 7, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St. Raymond of Penyafort, priest. It is an optional memorial.

There is no special liturgical day in the Extraordinary Form.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Raymond of Penyafort, 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:

Sacred Images

18. The use of sacred images is of major importance in the whole area of popular piety, since culturally and artistically they assist the faithful in encountering the mysteries of the Christian faith. Indeed, the veneration of sacred images belongs to the very nature of Catholic piety. Such is clear from its artistic patrimony, which can be seen in many churches and sanctuaries, and to which popular devotion has often contributed.

Here, the principles apply which govern the liturgical use of images of Christ, Our Lady, the Saints. These have been traditionally asserted and defended by the Church in the knowledge that “the honour rendered to the image is directed to the person represented.” The necessary rigour which has to be applied in drawing up the iconographic scheme of churches – in matters relating to the truths of the faith and their hierarchy, beauty an quality- must also be applied to images and objects destined for private and personal devotion.

So as to ensure that the iconography used in sacred places is not left to private initiatives, those with responsibility for churches and oratories should safeguard the dignity, beauty and quality of those sacred images exposed for public veneration. Likewise, they should avoid the de facto imposition on the community of pictures or statues inspired by the private devotion of individuals.

The Bishops, therefore, and the rectors of sanctuaries are to ensure that the sacred images produced for the use of the faithful, either in their homes or on their persons, or those borne aloft on their shoulders, are not reduced to banalities, nor risk giving rise to error.

Sacred Places

19. Apart from the church, sanctuaries -which are sometimes not churches- afford important opportunities for the expression of popular piety, which are often marked by particular devotional forms and practices, among which the most significant is that of pilgrimage. Together with these sacred places, which are clearly reserved for public and private prayer, others exist which are often not less important: e.g. homes, places of life and work. On certain occasions even the streets and squares can become places facilitating the manifestation of the faith.

Today is a Friday in Christmas. The liturgical color is white.

In some parts of the world (but not the United States), this is a holyday of obligation (Epiphany). If it is a holyday of obligation in your area, be sure to go to Mass if you didn’t go yesterday evening. (In the U.S. we celebrate Epiphany this Sunday.)

In the Extraordinary Form, it is Epiphany.

Saints & Celebrations:

Today, January 6, in the Ordinary Form in the United States, we celebrate St. Andre Bessette, religious. It is an optional memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate the Epiphany of Our Lord. It is a Class I day.

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

If you’d like to learn more about the Epiphany of Our Lord, 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:

Song and Music

17. Song, a natural expression of the soul of any nation, plays an important role in popular piety. The conservation of the received corpus of traditional songs must be linked with a biblical and ecclesial spirit which is open to the possibility, where necessary, of their revision or to the composition of new songs.

Among some peoples, song is instinctively linked with hand-clapping, rhythmic corporeal movements and even dance. Such are external forms of interior sentiment and are part of popular traditions, especially on occasions such as patronal feasts. Clearly, such should be genuine expressions of communal prayer and not merely theatrical spectacles. The fact of their prevalence in one area, however, should not be regarded as a reason for their promotion in other areas, especially where they would not be spontaneous.

Today is a Thursday in Christmas. The liturgical color is white.

Note: Tomorrow, in some parts of the world (but not the United States), is a holyday of obligation (Epiphany). If it is a holyday of obligation in your area, be sure to go to Mass either this evening or tomorrow. (In the U.S. we celebrate Epiphany this Sunday.)

Saints & Celebrations:

Today, January 5, in the Ordinary Form in the United States, we celebrate St. John Neumann, bishop. It is a memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Telesphorus, pope and martyr, who died in A.D. 137. It is a commemoration.

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

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

14. While conserving its simplicity and spontaneity, the verbal and gestural language of popular piety should be careful to ensure the transmission of the truth of the faith together with the greatness of the Christian mysteries.

Gestures

15. Popular piety is characterized by a great variety and richness of bodily, gestural and symbolic expressions: kissing or touching images, places, relics and sacred objects; pilgrimages, processions; going bare-footed or on one’s knees; kneeling and prostrating; wearing medals and badges… . These and similar expressions, handed down from father to son, are direct and simple ways of giving external expression to the heart and to one’s commitment to live the Christian life. Without this interior aspect, symbolic gesture runs the risk of degenerating into empty customs or mere superstitions, in the worst cases.

Texts and Formulae

16. While drawn up in terms less exacting than those employed for the prayers of the Liturgy, devotional prayers and formulae should be inspired, nonetheless, by Sacred Scripture, the Liturgy, the Fathers of the Church and the Magisterium, and concord with the Church’s faith. The established public prayers attached to pious devotions and the various acts associated with pious exercises must always be approved by the local Ordinary.

Today is a Wednesday in Christmas. The liturgical color is white.

Saints & Celebrations:

Today, January 4, in the Ordinary Form in the United States, we celebrate St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, religious. It is a memorial.

There is no special liturgical day in the Extraordinary Form.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 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:

13. The objective difference between pious exercises and devotional practices should always be clear in expressions of worship. Hence, the formulae proper to pious exercises should not be commingled with the liturgical actions. Acts of devotion and piety are external to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, and of the other sacraments.

On the one hand, a superimposing of pious and devotional practices on the Liturgy so as to differentiate their language, rhythm, course, and theological emphasis from those of the corresponding liturgical action, must be avoided, while any form of competition with or opposition to the liturgical actions, where such exists, must also be resolved. Thus, precedence must always be given to Sunday, Solemnities, and to the liturgical seasons and days.

Since, on the other, pious practices must conserve their proper style, simplicity and language, attempts to impose forms of “liturgical celebration” on them are always to be avoided.

Today is a Tuesday in Christmas. The liturgical color is white.

Saints & Celebrations:

Today, January 3, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate the Most Holy Name of Jesus. It is an optional memorial.

There is no special liturgical day in the Extraordinary Form.

If you'd like to learn more about the Most Holy Name of Jesus, 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:

12. The optional nature of pious exercises should in no way be taken to imply an under estimation or even disrespect for such practices. The way forward in this area requires a correct and wise appreciation of the many riches of popular piety, of the potentiality of these same riches and of the commitment to the Christian life which they inspire.

The Gospel is the measure against which all expressions of Christian piety – both old and new – must be measured. The task of evaluating devotional exercises and practices, and of purifying them when necessary, must be conducted against this criterion so as to ensure their proper relationship with the Christian mystery. What is said of the Christian Liturgy is also true of popular piety: "it may never incorporate rites permeated by magic, superstition, animism, vendettas or sexual connotations."

Hence, the liturgical renewal willed by the Second Vatican Council must also inspire a correct evaluation and renewal of pious exercises and devotional practices. Popular piety should be permeated by: a biblical spirit, since it is impossible to imagine a Christian prayer without direct or indirect reference to Sacred Scripture; a liturgical spirit if it is to dispose properly for or echo the mysteries celebrated in the liturgical actions; an ecumenical spirit, in consideration of the sensibilities and traditions of other Christians without, however, being restricted by inappropriate inhibitions; an anthropological spirit which both conserves symbols and expressions of importance or significance for a given nation while eschewing senseless archaicisms, and which strives to dialogue in terms redolent with contemporary sensibility. To be successful, such a renewal must be imbued with a pedagogical awareness and realized gradually, always taking into consideration time and particular circumstances.

Today is a Monday in Christmas. The liturgical color is white. 

Saints & Celebrations:

Today, January 2, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St.s Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors of the Church. It is a memorial.

In the Extraordinary Form, it is Most Holy Name of Jesus.

If you'd like to learn more about St. Basil, you can click here.

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:

According to the Holy See's Directory on Popular Piety:

11. History shows that, in certain epochs, the life of faith is sustained by the forms and practices of piety, which the faithful have often felt more deeply and actively than the liturgical celebrations. Indeed, "every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the Priest and of his Body, which is the Church, it is a sacred action surpassing all others. No other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title or to the same degree." Hence, the ambivalence that the Liturgy is not "popular" must be overcame. The liturgical renewal of the Council set out to promote the participation of the people in the celebration of the Liturgy, at certain times and places (through hymns, active participation, and lay ministries), which had previously given rise to forms of prayer alternative to, or substitutive of, the liturgical action itself.

The faithful should be made conscious of the preeminence of the Liturgy over any other possible form of legitimate Christian prayer. While sacramental actions are necessary to life in Christ, the various forms of popular piety are properly optional. Such is clearly proven by the Church's precept which obliges attendance at Sunday Mass. No such obligation, however, has obtained with regard to pious exercises, notwithstanding their worthiness or their widespread diffusion. Such, however, may be assumed as obligations by a community or by individual members of the faithful.

The foregoing requires that the formation of priests and of the faithful give preeminence to liturgical prayer and to the liturgical year over any other form of devotion. However, this necessary preeminence is not to be interpreted in exclusive terms, nor in terms of opposition or marginalization.