Don’t Miss the Transit of Venus!

The transit of Venus is an eclipse of the Sun by the planet Venus (only it’s not a total eclipse because the distances are wrong).

The transit of Venus is a rare event. This won’t happen again until 2117! So, last chance to see it (probably)!

This is only the 7th time humans have seen the transit of Venus.

Watch continuous, live coverage at http://events.slooh.com/!

As always, DO NOT STARE AT THE SUN WITH YOUR NAKED EYES (OR EVEN WITH REGULAR SUNGLASSES).

Here’s a current shot (at time of posting):

 

The Church Year: June 5, 2012

Today is Tuesday of the 9th week of Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is red.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Pentecost.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On June 5, in both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Boniface, apostle of Germany, bishop and martyr, who died in A.D. 755. 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. Boniface, 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 Letter on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation:

16. The majority of the great religions which have sought union with God in prayer have also pointed out ways to achieve it. Just as “the Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions,”18 neither should these ways be rejected out of hand simply because they are not Christian. On the contrary, one can take from them what is useful so long as the Christian conception of prayer, its logic and requirements are never obscured. It is within the context of all of this that these bits and pieces should be taken up and expressed anew. Among these one might mention first of all that of the humble acceptance of a master who is an expert in the life of prayer, and of the counsels he gives. Christian experience has known of this practice from earliest times, from the epoch of the desert Fathers. Such a master, being an expert in “sentire cum Ecclesia,” must not only direct and warn of certain dangers; as a “spiritual father,” he has to also lead his pupil in a dynamic way, heart to heart, into the life of prayer, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

First Science Fiction Ever! (Maybe!)

Did You Know? The earliest (known) story that is frequently classified as science fiction (involving outer space travel, as opposed to merely battling supernatural monsters, which would be fantasy) is “True History” by Lucian of Samosata. It was written between A.D. 100 and 200, and it was a satire of popular literature of the day. It includes outer space battles. (Yay! Outer space battles!) It also includes a trip to the Moon, where the travellers “find themselves embroiled in a full-scale war between the king of the Moon and the king of the Sun over colonisation of the Morning Star, involving armies which boast such exotica as stalk-and-mushroom men, acorn-dogs (“dog-faced men fighting on winged acorns”), and cloud-centaurs.” (Of course, in reality, the first story that we would classify as science fiction is undoubtedly lost to history, but I hope you enjoy this first surviving one.) Check it out! LEARN MORE.

Dear John Paul II, What Is Heaven Like?

Now that he is in heaven, wouldn’t it be cool to ask Bl. John Paul II what it’s like?

Well, conjuring or channelling the dead is not allowed by our faith.

But we can ask what Bl. John Paul II taught about heaven while he was still among us.

So that’s what I’m doing!

I’m composing a special “interview” with John Paul II where I ask questions and draw the answers from his writings.

If you’d like to receive the special interview, you should sign up for the Secret Information Club by Friday, June 8th, and you’ll have the interview in your email inbox Saturday morning!

You should sign up using this here handy, dandy signup form:

(If you have any trouble, just email me at Jimmy@SecretInfoClub.com.)

The Church Year: June 4, 2012

Today is Monday of the 9th week of Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is green.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Pentecost, and the liturgical color for today is white.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

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

In the Extraordinary Form, we celebrate St. Francis Caracciolo, confessor, who died in A.D. 1608. It is a Class III day.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Francis Caracciolo, 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 Letter on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation:

15. A consideration of these truths together brings the wonderful discovery that all the aspirations which the prayer of other religions expresses are fulfilled in the reality of Christianity beyond all measure, without the personal self or the nature of a creature being dissolved or disappearing into the sea of the Absolute. “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). This profoundly Christian affirmation can reconcile perfect union with the otherness existing between lover and loved, with eternal exchange and eternal dialogue. God is himself this eternal exchange and we can truly become sharers of Christ, as “adoptive sons” who cry out with the Son in the Holy Spirit, “Abba, Father.” In this sense, the Fathers are perfectly correct in speaking of the divinization of man who, having been incorporated into Christ, the Son of God by nature, may by his grace share in the divine nature and become a “son in the Son.” Receiving the Holy Spirit, the Christian glorifies the Father and really shares in the Trinitarian life of God.

The Weekly Benedict: 3 June, 2012

This  version of The Weekly Benedict covers material released in the last week from 23 May – 3 June 2012  (subscribe here; get as an eBook version for your Kindle, iPod, iPad, Nook, or other eBook reader):

Regina Caeli

General Audience

Homilies

Messages

Speeches

Prayer Intentions from Pope Benedict XVI for June 2012

His general prayer intention is: “That believers may recognize in the Eucharist the living presence of the Risen One who accompanies them in daily life”.

His missionary intention is: “That Christians in Europe may rediscover their true identity and participate with greater enthusiasm in the proclamation of and participate with more enthusiasm in the Gospel”.

Notes

  • Note 1: English translation linked on Vatican site is missing. Vatican Link

The Church Year: June 3, 2012

Today is the 9th Sunday of Ordinary Time. The liturgical color is white.

In the Extraordinary Form, this is the season after Pentecost.

It is Most Holy Trinity Sunday.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On June 3, in the Ordinary Form, we celebrate St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, martyrs. It is a memorial.

There is no special fixed liturgical day in the Extraordinary Form.

If you’d like to learn more about St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, 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:

Commenting on today’s celebration, the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety states:

159. Together with the little doxology (Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit….) and the great doxology (Glory be to God in the highest), pious exercises addressed directly to the Most Blessed Trinity often include formulas such as the biblical Trisagion (Holy, Holy, Holy) and also its liturgical form (Holy God, Holy Strong One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us), especially in the Eastern Churches, in some Western countries as well as among numerous religious orders and congregations.

The liturgical Trisagion is inspired by liturgical hymns and its biblical counterpart. Here mention could be made of the Sanctus used in the celebration of the Mass, the Te Deum, theimproperia of Good Friday’s veneration of the Cross, all of which are derived from Isaiah 6, 3 and Apocalypses 4, 8. The Trisagion is a pious exercise in which the faithful, united with the Angels, continually glorify God, the Holy, Powerful and Immortal One, while using expressions of praise drawn from Scripture and the Liturgy.

There Is No Joy in Mudville

Did You Know? The poem “Casey at the Bat” was published June 3, 1888 in the San Francisco Examiner. The author was Ernest Thayer, though since he published it under a pen name, there was originally confusion about this. It’s a highly entertaining poem. So much so that even I, a non-sports fan, can quote parts of it. LEARN MORE.

Question About “The Church Year”

For about half a year I’ve been running a daily feature on “The Church Year” as part of JimmyAkin.com, which offers information and links about the current liturgical day in the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the Latin rite.

I’m thinking about splitting this off into it’s own site, with its own web address.

If you like getting this feature by email or RSS, those options would still be available. It would just come under its own banner rather than JimmyAkin.com.

So I wanted to get reader feedback on this subject.

Please take a moment to use the poll below to let me know your thoughts.

NOTE: You don’t have to be a fan of “The Church Year” to vote. I’m trying to get a sense of what readers in general would like, Church Year fans and non-fans included.

Thanks much!

Would you like “The Church Year” to continue as part of JimmyAkin.com or be separated into its own thing?
  
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