DAILY LITURGY

Friday October 29: Thirtieth Friday in Ordinary Time

Green vestments

First Reading: Romans 9: 1-5
Psalms: Psalm 147: 12-15, 19-20
Gospel Reading: Luke 14: 1-6

Saturday October 30: Thirtieth Saturday in Ordinary Time
Observance of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday

Green or white vestments

First Reading: Romans 11: 1-2, 11-12, 25-29
Psalms: Psalm 94: 12-15, 17-18
Gospel Reading: Luke 14: 1, 7-11

    Honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary is a custom first promoted by the Benedictine Monk Saint Alcuin back in the days of Charlemagne (see archives December 23, no. 25 issue). He composed different formulas for Votive Masses for each day of the week, with two set aside to honor Our Lady on Saturday. This practice caught on with great enthusiasm and eventually the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday became the Common of the Blessed Virgin. This Mass was a favorite with retired priests and those whose sight was failing for most had memorized this Mass and were able to say it by heart without having to read the Lectionary or Sacramentary. One reason Saturday was dedicated to Mary was that Saturday held a special meaning in Mariology. First of all, as Genesis accounts for, God rested on the seventh day. In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was Saturday. Jesus, Son of God rested in the womb and then, when He became incarnate, in the loving arms of Mary from birth until she held His lifeless body at the foot of the Cross. Thus the God-head rested in Mary. It was also on Saturday after Good Friday that Jesus gave His Mother a special gift and reward for keeping her faith in His Divinity intact by making an exceptional appearance to her. Thus, because of these reasons, the devotion spread by St. Alcuin and other liturgies that evolved within the Church, Saturday took on a special Marian significance. Saturday took on even more significance in honoring Mary when Our Lady imparted to visionary Lucia in her third apparition at Fatima on July 13, 1917, "Our Lord wishes that devotion to my Immaculate Heart be established in the world. If what I tell you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace; the war will end...I ask the consecration of the world to my Immaculate Heart and Communion of reparation on the First Saturday of each month...If my requests are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be peace...In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph, and an era of peace will be conceded to humanity." As we draw nearer to that wonderful event, it is more important than ever to honor Mary's request on the First Saturday as well as each Saturday that her feast is commemorated in the Church calendar, not to mention responding to her call daily with the Rosary and attending Daily Mass, nourished by her Divine Son present body and blood, soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament. It is in the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary where she remains in the background in the liturgy of the Word so that her Divine Son's words and His Presence take the spotlight as He should while Mary remains the chief intercessor before the Holy Trinity as she should and serves as the ideal for all Catholics to strive for, as we should. The Dictionary of Mary states quite succinctly, "Through these liturgical acts, (honoring Mary on Saturday) Christians exalt the person of Mary in the action that renews the sacrifice of Christ and in the action that prolongs His prayer."

SUNDAY October 31: THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Green vestments

First Reading: Malachi 1: 14; 2: 2, 8-10
Psalms: Psalm 131: 1-3
Second Reading:1 Thessalonians 2: 7-9, 13
Gospel Reading: Matthew 23: 1-12

MONDAY November 1: SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS

White vestments

First Reading: Revelation/Apocalypse 7: 2-4, 9-14
Psalms: Psalm 24: 1-6
Second Reading:1 John 3: 1-3
Gospel Reading: Matthew 5: 1-12

    Many believe this feast originated in Ireland with the Martyrology of Tallaght with April 17 set aside to commemorate all the martyrs and April 20 was earmarked to celebrate all the saints of Europe. However, at the end of the 8th Century and beginning of the 9th Century, St. Bede's Martyrology in England notated the feast of All Saints on November 1. Saint Alcuin around the year 800 celebrated All Saints on this date. Rome first began celebrating this feast with a vigil as well as a fast. Thus, evolved the term "All Hallow's Eve" which eventually translated into Halloween. Unfortunately Halloween today is not what it was meant to be, but rather a day given over to evil spirits. We need to return to the true meaning of what "All Hallows" means - gaining inspiration from the heroic example of the saints who intercede for us. Originally the Holy See celebrated All Saints Day on May 13, the same date as it was commemorated in the East as decreed by Pope Boniface IV around 615. This feast was commemorated during the Easter season, in order to bring home the paschal triumph of the martyrs and the golden-voiced Saint John Chrysostom, from his writings, indicated this feast was held on the First Sunday following Pentecost. In 731 Pope Gregory III consecrated a chapel to all the saints in St. Peter's Basilica and established the date found in St. Bede's Martyrology. It is considered a Holy Day of Obligation in many countries, especially here in the United States. Celebrating this feast is part of the Triduum of the Communion of Saints for on this day we celebrate the Church Triumphant - all those in Heaven who we pray to for intercession and who, in turn can pray for the Church Militant on earth. It is left to the Church Militant to pray for the Church Suffering - those souls in Purgatory whose feast is commemorated the following day.

Tuesday November 2:
COMMEMORATION OF ALL SOULS

White, Violet or Black vestments

First Reading: Wisdom 3: 1-9
Psalms: Psalm 103: 8, 10, 13-18
Second Reading: Romans 14: 7-12
Gospel Reading: John 6: 37-40

     The Feast of All Souls is a continuum of the Triduum of the Communion of Saints with this day set aside to remember the Church Suffering, the poor souls in Purgatory who desperately need the Prayers of the Church Militant here on earth for the Church Suffering in Purgatory - the Poor Souls. Through our prayers the souls in Purgatory can be released into Heaven and, having joined the Church Triumphant, can then intercede before the Throne of God for those on earth, especially remembering those who remembered to pray for them. This feast originated in the 7th Century in the Benedictine abbeys of Europe. Saint Odilo around the end of the first millennium, instituted All Souls Day be celebrated immediately after All Saints day and by the 14th Century Rome had established November 2 as the official feast for the universal Church. A century later the Dominicans began the custom of saying three Masses on that day to accommodate all the requests but this privilege was not extended to the entire Church until August 10, 1915 when Pope Benedict XV gave permission to all priests to celebrate three Masses on this day - one for the faithful departed, one for the intentions of the Holy Father and the third for the priest's own personal intentions. The main reason for his actions were to accommodate and pray for all those who had died during World War I. Today if All Souls Day falls on a Sunday, then the day is transferable to November 3rd. Also, the difference today in the Novus Ordo Mass vs. the Latin Tridentine Mass is that the Mass of the Dead is not commemorated with black vestments in the former, rather white vestments and purple vestments are used celebrating "our resurrection through the Victory of Christ."

Wednesday November 3:
Thirty-first Wednesday in Ordinary Time and
Feast of Saint Martin de Tours, Religious

Green or white vestments

First Reading: Romans 13: 8-10
Psalms: Psalm 112: 1-2, 4-5, 9
Gospel Reading: Luke 14: 25-33

      Born on November 9, 1579 in Lima, Peru Saint Martin de Porres was brought into this world illegitimately by a black unmarried Panamanian slave woman Anna who had been impregnated by Spanish landowner John de Porres. Martin would not let his illegitimate birth deter him from following God's Will, which was to become a Dominican lay brother at the Rosary Convent in Lima in 1603. There, where he had first entered in 1594 at the age of 15, he became a contemporary and close friend of Saint Rose of Lima, Saint Turibius, Saint John Macias, and Saint Francis Solano. His mother had made sure Martin had a firm rooting in Catholicism and had hoped he would become a pharmacist or a surgeon, but his concern and love for the poor beckoned him to forego that career in favor of caring for hundreds of thousands of sick and black slaves who were brought to Lima in chains. His reputation as a holy man, healer and mystic, as well as his tremendous efforts in helping the downtrodden made him legend in Lima and throughout South America. He was gifted with the supernatural gifts of bilocation and aerial flights and had knock-down fights literally with the devil, but he would never give in. He gained his strength from spending all his free time before the Blessed Sacrament just as another holy person did during this century as the "Saint of the Gutters" - Mother Teresa. At the age of 60, Martin contracted the fatal fever and died at the Dominican's Rosary Convent on November 3, 1639. His death was mourned throughout the land as the patron of social justice. His deeds were officially recognized in 1962, when Pope John Paul XXIII declared Blessed Martin the charitable a saint, proclaiming him patron saint of interracial justice.