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Pentecost Sunday. When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together, when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and their appeared to them tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves. Acts of the Apostles 2: 1-4. Coming fifty days after Easter Sunday, Pentecost is the third of the great feasts of the Church’s year alongside Christmas and Easter – in fact it ranks before Christmas and only second to Easter in importance. It recalls the day when the Holy Spirit came down on Our Lady and the Apostles in the form of tongues of fire. This changed them from the group of frightened individuals that they were after the Ascension of the Lord into courageous preachers of the good news about Jesus Christ. This is what the Catholic Church has been doing ever since and Pentecost can be regarded as the ‘birthday’ of the Church. The Gospel Acclamation of the Mass invites the Holy Spirit to fill the hearts of the faithful and to kindle within them the fire of His love. Because it is regarded as the crowning close to the Easter Season, the Mass celebrated on that Sunday has a special character. The liturgical colour is red recalling the tongues of fire that came down on Our Lady and the apostles as we join then watching in urgent prayer awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Gospel Acclamation is preceded by a said or a sung sequence - be aware of this if you are the thurifer. It is not part of the Gospel Acclamation but a separate prayer – do not emerge from the sacristy until it is over. Because Pentecost marks the end of the Easter Season the Mass, as it did at the Easter Vigil and throughout the Easter Octave ends with a double “Alleluia” at the dismissal to which the people respond: “Thanks be to God Alleluia, Alleluia”. Afterwards the Paschal Candle, that has stood on the sanctuary throughout Easter and has been lit at all liturgical celebrations, is removed to stand close to the font where it is lit whenever the Sacrament of Baptism is celebrated. It is also lit whenever a Funeral Mass or Service is celebrated when it stands close to the coffin. See also: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15614b.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentecost https://www.christianiconography.info/goldenLegend/pentecost.htm |
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Memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church. “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, “Woman, this is your son.” Then to the disciple he said, “This is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” John 19: 25-27. “By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith and charity.” Catechism of the Catholic Church: 967 See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_of_the_Church http://www.catholicdigest.com/faith/spirituality/mother-of-the-church/ |
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11th June - Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle. Born: unknown. Died: 61. Feast day - 11 June Venerated in - Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church Canonized - Pre-Congregation Attributes - Red Martyr, Pilgrim's staff; olive branch; holding the Gospel of Matthew Patronage - Cyprus, Antioch, against hailstorms, invoked as peacemaker, peacekeeping missions Shrines - Monastery of St Barnabas in Famagusta, Cyprus There was a Levite of Cypriot origin called Joseph whom the apostles surnamed Barnabas (which means ‘son of encouragement’). He owned a piece of land and he sold it and brought the money and presented it to the apostles.” (Acts of the Apostles 4: 36-37). Although called an apostle, he was not one of the twelve but may have been one of the seventy-two disciples mentioned in Luke 10. He is known to have introduced Paul to the sceptical and fearful apostles in Jerusalem, “Barnabas, however, took charge of him, introduced him to the apostles, and explained how he had preached fearlessly at Damascus in the name of Jesus”. (Acts of the Apostles 9: 27). Together Paul and Barnabas travelled to Antioch and on the first of Paul’s missionary journeys where, at Lycaonia, because of the miracles they worked there, they were taken as the gods Zeus and Hermes come to earth in human form (Acts of the Apostles 14: 11-13). Together with Paul he spoke up for the gentile Christians at the Council at Jerusalem mentioned in Acts 15. Later, he and Paul quarrelled and parted company, Barnabas returning to his native Cyprus with John Mark to preach the Gospel there although references in Paul’s letters to the Galatians and Corinthians hint at a wider ministry and that the rift may have been healed (1 Corinthians 9: 6). Later in Paul’s ministry, he Barnabas and Titus are known to have returned to Jerusalem (Galatians 2: 1). Barnabas is believed to have been martyred by being burnt alive at Salamis in 61. Almighty and ever living God, you decreed that Saint Barnabas, filled with faith and the Holy Spirit, should be set apart to convert the nations, grant that the Gospel of Christ which he fearlessly preached, may be faithfully proclaimed by word and by deed. See also: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02300a.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnabas https://catholicsaints.info/saint-barnabas-the-apostle/ https://www.christianiconography.info/goldenLegend/barnabas.htm https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/lives-of-the-saints/volume-vi-june/st-barnabas-apostle https://saintscatholic.blogspot.com/2014/06/st-barnabas.html |
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Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ Eternal High Priest Thursday after Pentecost The Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Eternal High Priest, according to the order of Melchizedek. The Feast of Christ the Priest is a Roman Catholic moveable liturgical feast celebrated annually on the first Thursday after Pentecost. Approval for this feast was first granted by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 1987. DECREE To ensure more effectively that the grace of the Year of the Priest might endure for a longer time among the People of God, the Supreme Pontiff BENEDICT XVI graciously provided that liturgical formularies for the celebration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Eternal High Priest should be prepared to be offered for the use of the individual Conferences of Bishops that request them. This Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, by virtue of the special faculties granted by the same Supreme Pontiff, willingly approves and declares to be typical the Latin text of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, and the Roman Martyrology relating to Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Eternal High Priest as they appear in the attached exemplar. All things to the contrary notwithstanding. From the offices of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 23 July 2012. Ñantonio Card. Cañizares Llovera Prefect Rev. Msgr. Juan Miguel Ferrer Grenesche Undersecretary See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_Christ_the_Priest https://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Calendar/Sanctoral/OLJC-full.pdf |
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13th June - Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest, Doctor of the Church.
Born - 15 August 1195, Lisbon, Portugal Died - 13 June 1231 (aged 35), Padua, Italy Venerated in - Catholic Church, Anglican Communion Beatified - 30 May 1232 Canonized - 30 May 1232, Spoleto, Italy by Pope Gregory IX Major shrine - Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua, Church of Saint Anthony of Lisbon Attributes - Franciscan habit, lily, book, tonsure, holding the Infant Jesus, mule. Patronage - Custody of the Holy Land, miracles, travellers, finding one's spouse, pregnancy, harvests, animals, lost items, lost people, lost souls, poverty, sterility, the sick, the disabled, the oppressed, the hungry, the elderly, faith in the Blessed Sacrament, sailors, fishermen, watermen, swineherds, mail carriers, counter-revolutionaries, indigenous peoples of the Americas, Tigua, Padua, Lisbon, Portugal, Brazil, Albania, Pila, Laguna, Iriga, Camarines Sur, Camaligan, Camarines Sur, Gubat, Sorsogon, Tuburan, Cebu, Cusco, Peru Born to a noble Portuguese family at Lisbon in 1195, Antony first joined the Order of Austin Canons at an early age. Impressed by the Franciscans who were martyred at Coimbra he joined the friars in 1220 and sailed for Africa. His stay was short. Ill-health forced him to return to Europe. He took part in the General Chapter of 1221 presided over by Brother Elias during the lifetime of St. Francis. He was subsequently sent to the small hermitage of Sao Paolo near Forli where his exceptional intellectual and oratorical gifts were soon discovered. He was appointed to the new post of lector in theology and is known to have taught at: Bologna, Montpellier and Toulouse. His charismatic presence would attract huge crowds often forcing him to preach in the open air. He rose to the rank of Provincial before retiring to Padua to devote himself more fully to preaching. He died at the early age of thirty-six in 1231 and was canonised in 1232 and was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1946. Since the seventeenth century he has been invoked as the finder of lost articles. This is possibly because as a novice he borrowed his psalter without permission and was obliged to return it because of a fearful apparition. Almighty and ever living God, you gave Saint Anthony of Padua to your people as an outstanding preacher and intercessor in their need, grant that, with his assistance, we may follow the teachings of the Christian life, and may know your help in every trial. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_of_Padua https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01556a.htm https://catholicsaints.info/saint-anthony-of-padua/ https://saintscatholic.blogspot.com/2014/06/st-anthony-of-padua.html https://www.christianiconography.info/anthonyPadua.html https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/lives-of-the-saints/volume-vi-june/st-antony-of-padua-confessor |
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Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Historically, devotion to the Heart of Mary grew up in parallel, but at a lesser intensity than that of devotion to the Heart of Jesus, only starting to become more prominent during the time of St John Eudes. John Eudes was born in 1601 in Normandy, France. He entered the Congregation of the Oratory of France, founded in 1611 by Cardinal de Berulle and was ordained to the priesthood on 20th December 1625. St. John brought people to love Christ and the Virgin Mary by speaking tirelessly about their Heart, the sign of the love God shows for us and the communion to which we are called. Nevertheless, it was not until after the Apparitions at Rue du Bac concerning the "Miraculous Medal" made to Catherine Labouré in 1830, and the establishment of a society dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, at the Church of Our Lady of Victories in Paris in 1836, that this particular devotion became really well known. In the midst of the Second World War Pope Pius XII put the whole world under the special protection of our Saviour’s Mother by consecrating it to her Immaculate Heart, and in 1944 he decreed that in the future the whole Church should celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The main difference between the devotions to the hearts of Jesus and Mary is that the one concerned with Jesus emphasizes his divine heart as being full of love for mankind, but with this love for the most part being ignored or rejected, while devotion to Mary's heart is essentially concerned with the love that her heart has for Jesus, for God. Therefore, it is not an end in itself, so the love of her heart is meant to be a model for the way we should love God. The fact that her heart is immaculate, that is sinless, means that she is the only fully human person who is able to really love God in the way that he should be loved. Honouring Mary's Immaculate Heart is really just another way of honouring Mary as the person who was chosen to be the Mother of God, recognizing her extraordinary holiness and the immense love she bestowed on Jesus as his mother, the person who was called to share in and co-operate in his redemptive sufferings. The aim of the devotion is to unite mankind to God through Mary's heart, and this process involves the ideas of consecration and reparation. A person is consecrated to Mary's Immaculate Heart as a way of being completely devoted to God. This involves a total gift of self, something only ultimately possible with reference to God; but Mary is our intermediary in this process of consecration. See also: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2021-06-12 |