Understanding the Day
Season
Septuagesima
Week
Week 2 of Septuagesima
Rank
Major feast
Introit (Daily Prayer)
I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
Ps 44:2
My heart overflows with a goodly theme; as I sing my ode to the King.
Glory Be to the Father…
Through the same Christ our Lord…
Weekly Prayer
Morning Offering
in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in thanksgiving for Your favors, in reparation for my sins,
for the intentions of all my associates, and in particular for the intention recommended by the Holy Father this month.
Weekly Formation
Hatreds, Rivalry, Jealousy, and Fury
The Works of the Flesh
Hatreds
Hatred deliberately wills evil to another person or rejects the good that charity requires for him. Dislike or painful emotion is not identical with hatred; the sin lies in the settled choice against another’s true good.
Rivalry
Sinful rivalry turns another person’s success into a threat and seeks victory, attention, or superiority without regard for justice and charity. Good competition can pursue excellence, but rivalry becomes a work of the flesh when defeating the other matters more than the common good.
Jealousy
Jealousy anxiously guards a good, relationship, or honor as though another person’s good necessarily deprived one of it. It becomes sinful when suspicion, possessiveness, or resentment overrides truth, trust, and charity.
Outbursts of fury
Outbursts of fury are eruptions of anger in which reason and self-command are surrendered to harmful words or actions. Their disorder lies in allowing passion to punish, frighten, or wound without the measure required by justice and charity.
The Fruits of the Holy Spirit
Peace
Peace is the tranquility produced when desires are rightly ordered within the soul and charity unites persons in the good. It is more than quiet or lack of conflict, since true peace depends on union with God, justice, and ordered love.
Saint & Feast
Our Lady of Lourdes
The Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Lourdes
Title of Mary, mother of Jesus, related to her alleged apparitions in Lourdes
Our Lady of Lourdes is one of the devotional names or titles under which the Catholic Church venerates the Virgin Mary. The name commemorates a series of 18 apparitions reported by a 14-year-old girl, Bernadette Soubirous, in Lourdes, France in 1858. After the first reported apparition on 11 February 1858, Bernadette told her mother that a "Lady" had spoken to her in the cave of Massabielle while Bernadette, her sister, and a friend were gathering firewood. Bernadette reported similar apparitions of the "Lady" over the ensuing weeks, in the last of which the "Lady" identified herself as "the Immaculate Conception". On 18 January 1862, the local Bishop of Tarbes Bertrand-Sévère Laurence endorsed the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes.
Learn more about Our Lady of LourdesToday in Church History
Pope Pius X's Encyclical Vehementer Nos
1906DoctrineIn 1906, Pope Pius X published the encyclical Vehementer Nos, which condemned the separation of church and state and reaffirmed the Catholic Church's role in public life. This document emphasized the importance of Catholic principles in governance and societal issues, reflecting the Church's stance against modernist ideologies.
The encyclical calls us to integrate our faith into all aspects of life, including politics.
Pope Benedict XVI Resignation Announcement
2013PapalIn 2013, Pope Benedict XVI made history by resigning from the papacy, citing his advanced age and declining strength. This unprecedented decision marked the first papal resignation in nearly 600 years, prompting discussions on the role and responsibilities of the papacy in the modern world.
The resignation reminds us of the importance of humility and recognizing our limitations in service to God.