Feasts of June....

Here are some of the interesting and wonderful feastdays coming up this month....let's not forget to honor Our Lord's Sacred Heart...Saint Margaret Mary, pray for us!

6/8-Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces-non-standard feast

6/9-The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus-non-standard feast

6/13-Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest & Doctor of the Church-Patron of the poor, invoked for lost objects (it really works!)

6/15-Saints Vitus, Modestus & Crescentia, Martyrs-St. Vitus invoked against storms

6/16-Saint John Francis Regis, Priest-Patron of Kansas City, Missouri-non-standard feast

6/20-Our Lady of Consolation-non-standard feast

6/22-Saint Thomas More, Martyr-Patron of Lawyers/Saint Paulinus of Nola, Bishop-invoked against demons

6/23-Vigil of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

6/24-Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

6/27-Our Lady of Perpetual Help-non-standard feast

6/28-Vigil of Saints Peter & Paul

6/29-Saints Peter & Paul, Apostles & Martyrs, St. Peter the First Pope

6/30-Commemoration of Saint Paul, Apostle & Martyr/First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church

(this blog provides both new and trad feasts)

June is the Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus!

I said in my previous post that you would hear from me again when I could catch my breath.  Actually, I haven't caught my breath yet.  My son came home from college for the summer and its been hectic.  I'm also planning a few trips and just juggling a lot right now.  So I thank you for your patience.  There is nothing I like better than writing blog posts, because I love to hear myself talk, but sometimes the duties of the Long Island housewife must take precedence.  I'm pretty swamped for the next 2 weeks, then I do expect I'll be able to catch my breath again.

I always post the interesting (according to me) feasts of the month on the first day of the month.  I don't have time right now to do this, though I'll get to it within the next few days.  It is the month of the Sacred Heart...please take note that this Friday, June 3rd, is the feast of the Sacred Heart, a solemnity (Friday penance is not required), in both the new and old calendars.  Let us give the Sacred Heart of Our Lord, burning with love for the whole world, special honor this Friday and during the coming month in as many ways as we can....use your creativity (or, as I like to say to my son, "Use the brain God gave you!")....:)  I also always post a special prayer related to the theme of the month on the Home page, usually from a novena...please have a look!  Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy upon us!

May-Month of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima is May 13th, the date she first appeared to the three children in 1917....next year is the 100th anniversary of this historic event!  Nomen Christi Apostolate is dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima.  Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

Probably the most common celebration of May as the Month of Our Lady, is the May Crowning, which is done in many parishes and Catholic schools.  A wreath of flowers is placed upon the head of a statue of Our Lady and is accompanied by prayer and song.  If your parish or school is not doing this, why not be the first to initiate it?  It does not matter which day in May you choose and the format of the Crowning does not matter either, as long as you are expressing love and reverence for the Mother of God.  It is also a wonderful activity to do at home with your children, either indoors or outdoors.  There are many other ways to give Our Lady special honor during the month of May....your imagination is the limit...learning more about the extraordinary events at Fatima, Portugal and Our Lady's requests would be a great benefit to us all.  Please see prayer in honor of the Holy Name of Mary, on our Home Page.

Some features of the coming month....we have the Rogation AND the Ember Days, similar days of fasting and prayer for God's mercy and blessings upon the coming season....each Sunday is a special and wonderful feast...please take note!

5/1-Saint Joseph the Workman-invoked for employment under this title

5/2 to 4-Rogation Days

5/4-Vigil of the Ascension/Feast of the Holy Shroud (non-standard feast)

5/5-Ascension Thursday-Holy Day of Obligation in some dioceses

5/8-Ascension of Our Lord (new)

5/10-Saint Solange, Virgin & Martyr-invoked for drought

5/13-Our Lady of Fatima

5/14-Vigil of Pentecost-trad meat at one meal

5/15-Pentecost Sunday/Saint Isidore the Farmer-patron of farmers

5/16-Saint Simon Stock-seer of Our Lady of Mount Carmel & the Brown Scapular (one of the requests of Our Lady of Fatima is to wear the Brown Scapular)

5/18, 20, 21-Ember Days after Pentecost (trad Sat meat at one meal)

5/22-Trinity Sunday

5/24-Our Lady Help of Christians (non-standard feast)

5/26-Corpus Christi (trad)

5/29-Corpus Christi (new)

5/31-The Visitation/Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Image courtesy https://www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/five-prayers-taught-at-fatima-by-mary-the-angels/

April: Month of the Holy Eucharist!

Traditionally, as of Easter Sunday, we are in "Eastertide," "Easter Time," or "Paschal Time."  This extends to the Saturday after Pentecost.  In the New, "Easter Time" begins Easter Sunday and ends on Pentecost.  We continue to contemplate the Mystery of the Redemption.

April is dedicated to the Holy Eucharist (see prayer on Home page).  It is a great time, as the earth comes back to life, to celebrate the Bread of Life.  There are innumerable ways to do this-your imagination is the only limit!  More frequent reception of Holy Communion, Eucharistic prayers and devotions, spiritual reading, a Eucharistic emphasis in catechesis, exercises in reparation to the Real Presence, etc.  Here are some notable feasts of this month (preppers take note that Saint Catherine of Siena in invoked for fire protection!):

4/1-Easter Friday, Solemnity-no penance

4/3-Divine Mercy Sunday/Quasimodo Sunday

4/4-The Annunciation (moved from 3/25 this year)

4/5-Saint Vincent Ferrer, Angel of the Apocalypse

4/10-Saint Ezechiel, Old Testament Patriarch

4/16-Saint Bernadette, Seer of Lourdes

4/25-Saint Mark, Evangelist/The Greater Litanies

4/26-Our Lady of Good Counsel

4/28-Saint Louis de Montfort, Founder Sisters of Divine Wisdom & Missionaries of the Company of Mary

4/29-Saint Catherine of Siena, Patroness of Italy and Fire Protection (New)

4/30-Saint Catherine of Siena (Trad)

Ash Wednesday...Its Lent!

Dear Friends...I'm busy today (the chiropractor, ashes, the Rosary, shopping...) and I know I need to do a post. There are a few I'm working on simultaneously and a few more that are bouncing around in my head. Lent is such a great time! So much to think about. For today, I'll just share a thought that came to me, that can become a continual Lenten meditation...

I asked Jesus today, "How are you on this Ash Wednesday?" Then I wondered to myself, "No really, I wonder how He feels looking down upon the world right now." And I thought of all the reasons for Him to be sad...or mad. I said to Him,"I wish You could look down on my little corner of the world and smile."

So maybe that's something we could all resolve to do this Lent...do one thing each day that will make God smile. I think that would be a Lent...and a life...well lived.

A holy and blessed Lent to all! :):):)

Month of the Passion of Our Lord

February is the month of the Passion of Our Lord (see prayer on Home Page). Here are some feasts and notes you may wish to keep in mind this month. Wishing all a Lent which brings you closer to Jesus!

2/2-Presentation of Our Lord/Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary/Candlemas

2/3-Saint Blaise/Blessing of Throats

2/7-Quinquagesima Sunday

2/9-Shrove Tuesday

2/10-Ash Wednesday-Fast & Abstinence (Fridays in Lent-abstinence, trad-all other days except Sunday are days of partial abstinence-meat at one meal)

2/11-Our Lady of Lourdes

2/14-Saint Valentine, Priest & Martyr

2/17-Ember Wednesday in Lent

2/19-Ember Friday in Lent

2/20-Ember Saturday in Lent/Blesseds Francisco & Jacinta Marto (Nomen Christi Apostolate is dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima)

2/22-The Chair of Saint Peter at Antioch

2/29-Leap Day! (What will you do with this extra day?)

(this blog provides both old & new feasts)

Septuagesima, etc....at "Catholic Answers".....

Someone over at "Catholic Answers" started a thread the other day on Septuagesima, which he called "Pre-Lent." Of course, I had to chime in with my 2 cents. And when the Ember and Rogation Days were mentioned...I got really excited. You can view the thread here. So far it has had 23 replies and 437 views.

Where are we now in the Liturgical Year?

First, let's answer a question that some of you may have about this blog..."Why do you post both old and new calendars?" For the uninitiated, the new calendar, along with its feasts, is the one that has been in effect for about the last 50 years...and the old is the one before that, going WAY back.

I post both because both are valid and respectable in the Roman Catholic Church. I believe the gap between the old and new is becoming more and more unacceptable, difficult, sad, awkward and untenable. We need to start bridging the gap. Instead of existing in one camp or another, we need people who can occupy both sides and work toward unity. I consider myself one on those people....on the cutting edge!

However, you will see an emphasis here on the traditional (if you're not sure what I'm talking about, its probably the trad). This all began when I attended my first Tridentine Mass at the age of 21, when it became more widely celebrated due to the papal pronouncement (1988). I cried. I cried because I saw for the first time all that I had been deprived of for 21 years. I felt the presence of countless angels at that glorious Holy Mass at Saint Agnes Church in New York City, as I knelt and wept. This was Archbishop Fulton Sheen's church at one time-a church attended by my own mother and grandmother as well. If you don't know what I mean, go to a Tridentine Mass (preferably a "high" Mass, for full effect). If you still don't see it, I don't know how to help you.

So, while I respect the new, I simply prefer the old. And I think the old ways can be of great spiritual benefit for every Catholic. "Mainstream" Catholics would do well to attend an old Mass once in a while and trad Catholics would do well to exercise some humility, stop judging and reach out to the "Novus Ordo" Catholics, many of whom are simply confused about the Faith. The moral seismic quake which tore apart western civilization in the mid 20th century, somehow seems to have done the same to the Church. The new need the old and the old need the new because they complete us somehow...they are our brothers and sisters.

And now, to the topic at hand...

In the new...we are in "Ordinary Time" as of the Feast of Our Lord's Baptism, this past Sunday-this extends until Lent.

In the old...we are in "Time After Epiphany" as of the Feast of the Holy Family, also this past Sunday-this extends until Septuagesima Sunday, 2 1/2 weeks before Lent.

Father Alfred Delp told us about Advent....a time of waiting and preparing ourselves, making ourselves worthy to enter into the joyful Season of Christmastide. But what are we to contemplate now? Preparation for Lent? That is what the Season of Septuagesima is for. Perhaps it is something of a respite. This liturgical time gives us a bit of rest from the rigors of "The Mystery of the Incarnation," preparing us for the new rigors of "The Mystery of the Redemption."

As for the Sunday Gospels of this time, the Church teaches us of Christ's Ministry in Galilee-in both the old and new. So now is an ideal time to brush up on the Gospels, our primary "Instruction Manual of Life."

Month of the Holy Name of Jesus!

January is the month of the Holy Name of Jesus....NOMEN CHRISTI! See our Home Page for a special prayer. Here are some upcoming feasts this month that you may want to keep in mind....

1/6-Epiphany of Our Lord/Saints Caspar, Balthasar & Melchior

1/10-Baptism of Our Lord (New)/Feast of the Holy Family

1/13-Baptism of Our Lord (Trad)

1/22-Day of Prayer for Unborn Children (Anniversary of Roe vs. Wade Decision)

1/24-Septuagesima Sunday

1/25-Conversion of Saint Paul

1/31-Sexagesima Sunday

(this blog provides both old and new feasts)

Holy Name of Jesus / Epiphany (New)

Today is the traditional feast of the Holy Name of Jesus...."Nomen Christi!" From The New Marian Missal, Veritas Press:

"This Feast is kept on the First Sunday of the year; but [exceptions]...Its origin is traced to the XVIth century, when it was celebrated by the Franciscan Order. In 1721 Pope Innocent XIII made the keeping of this solemnity universal. The Name Jesus...the Savior of the world, was brought by the Angel Gabriel from God, for He shall save His people 'from their sins'...To the faithful who shall utter the Name of Jesus, with devotion, is granted: Indulgence of 300 days...Plenary, under the usual conditions, if this Name is recited daily during a month [there are further indulgences associated with this feast]."

Excerpts from this Holy Mass:

In the Name of Jesus let every knee bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: and let every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father...O Lord our Lord: how admirable is Thy Name in the whole earth!

O God, Who didst constitute Thine only-begotten Son the Savior of mankind, and didst bid Him to be called Jesus: mercifully grant, that we who venerate His holy Name on earth, may fully enjoy also the vision of Him in heaven.

...be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel: that by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God hath raised from the dead, even by Him this man standeth here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner: neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:8)

Save us, O lord our God, and gather us from among the nations: that we may give thanks to Thy holy Name, and may glory in Thy praise...Thou, O Lord, our Father and our Redeemer: from everlasting is Thy Name.

Alleluia, alleluia. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless His holy Name.

I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify Thy Name for ever...

May Thy blessing, O most merciful God, by which every creature lives, sanctify, we beseech Thee, this our Sacrifice, which we offer unto Thee to the glory of the Name of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that it may be well-pleasing to Thy Majesty for Thy praise, and profit us unto salvation...

All the nations Thou hast made shall come and adore before Thee, O Lord, and they shall glorify Thy Name: for Thou art great, and dost wonderful things: Thou art God alone. Alleluia.

O almighty and everlasting God, who didst create and redeem us, look graciously upon our prayer, and with a favorable and benign countenance deign to accept the Sacrifice of the saving Victim, which we have offered to Thy Majesty in honor of the Name of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: that through the infusion of Thy grace we may rejoice that our names are written in heaven, under the glorious Name of Jesus, the pledge of eternal predestination.

We are now in the joyful season of Christmastide, the waiting is over-the birth of Christ is such a great joy, Holy Church celebrates for a full 12 days!

Traditionally, the 12 Days of Christmas ended with Epiphany on January 6th, which is also a trad feast of the Three Wise Men. There is a beautiful blessing of the home which is performed on this day, which you can find elsewhere on the internet. We do this every year as a family (fortunately, our son will still be home from college on Wednesday)-it is one of those old Catholic customs which helps give children a love of the Faith. Actually, I originally learned of this, not from a trad church but from a mainstream church which had copies of the blessing. And as a Catholic prepper, anything that might help save my home from a demise, is more than welcome. During Hurricane Sandy, we were huddled away from the windows because we feared one of our many trees might come flying in. In spite of dozens of trees, not one came down!