Septuagesima is the early part of the pre-Lenten season, a time of spiritual preparation before Lent begins. A Feria — here, Tuesday of the third week of Septuagesima — is a simple weekday observance in the Church’s calendar. In plain terms, it means there is no special feast or memorial assigned to that day; the day’s prayers, readings, and liturgy belong to the season itself rather than to a particular saint. There is no octave or vigil attached to this celebration. The importance of observing a Feria in Septuagesima lies in its steady rhythm: these weekdays shape a faithful household’s routine of Mass, prayer, and works of love, cultivating humility and readiness for the more intense disciplines of Lent.
Introit (Daily Prayer)
Ps 30:3-4 Be my rock of refuge, O God, a stronghold to give me safety. You are my rock and my fortress; for Your name’s sake You will lead and guide me. Ps 30:2 In You, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In Your justice rescue me and deliver me. Glory Be to the Father…
O Lord, we beseech You, mercifully hear our prayers; loose us from the chains of our sins and keep us from all adversity. Through our Lord…
Weekly Prayer
Prayer to St. Joseph
Oh, St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so prompt, so strong, before the throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires. Oh, St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers.
Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while he reposes near your heart. Press him in my name and kiss his fine head for me and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.
St. Joseph, patron of departing souls - pray for me. Amen.
Weekly Formation
Selfishness and Division
The Works of the Flesh
Acts of selfishness
Acts of selfishness make private advantage the controlling rule of conduct. They oppose charity and the common good by treating the needs, rights, or salvation of others as unimportant whenever they conflict with personal preference.
Dissensions
Dissensions are needless divisions produced by stubborn disagreement, quarrels, or refusal of rightful unity. Disagreement about truth can be necessary, but dissension becomes sinful when pride or self-interest breaks peace without a just cause.
Factions
Factions form parties around persons or private interests in a way that fractures rightful unity. The fault is not ordinary association, but partisan attachment that places the group’s victory above truth, justice, charity, or the good of the whole.
Occasions of envy
Occasions of envy are attitudes or actions that cultivate sorrow at another’s good or pleasure in another’s loss. They keep comparison and resentment alive instead of recognizing every genuine good as something that can honor God.
Drinking bouts
Drinking bouts are occasions of deliberate excess in which sobriety, reason, and self-command are impaired or cast aside. The moral disorder comes from seeking intoxication or accepting the harms it brings to judgment, duty, health, and others.
Featured Saint
Modern saint
Featured saintCalendar title
Tuesday of Week 3 of Septuagesima
Saint Joseph Vaz
A biography or feast reflection has not yet been prepared.
Today in Church History
Battle of Rudau (1370) and the Northern Crusades
1370Event
The Battle of Rudau marked a significant conflict between the Teutonic Knights, a Catholic military order, and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This battle was part of the Northern Crusades, which aimed to convert pagan regions to Christianity, reflecting the Church's mission during this period.
The struggle for faith and territory reminds us of the ongoing call to evangelization.
Giordano Bruno's Execution and Its Implications
1600Persecution
The execution of Giordano Bruno in 1600 highlights the Catholic Church's struggle against heresy during the Counter-Reformation. Bruno's philosophical ideas, which challenged Church doctrines, led to his condemnation, illustrating the tension between faith and reason in this period.
The Church's commitment to truth can sometimes lead to difficult decisions in the face of heresy.
Catechism
Catechism of the Catholic Church
In the beauty of creation, all creatures share a profound solidarity, since they have one Creator and are ordered to his glory. The Sabbath marks the completion of God’s work and points creation toward worship and adoration of God, showing the right order of human concerns. As we reflect together, we can remember that God’s laws established in creation remain firm and are a sign of his covenant faithfulness; we are called to respect them. Angels are spiritual creatures who glorify God without ceasing, serve his saving plans, surround Christ, and help the Church on her earthly pilgrimage while protecting every human being. Respect for the laws inscribed in creation and for the relationships that arise from the nature of things is a principle of wisdom and a foundation for morality.
In the Catechism, we learn that mankind holds a unique place in God’s creation, made in his image and able to know and love him. Created male and female, human beings unite the spiritual and material worlds and possess the dignity of persons. This dignity is also a calling: each person can freely give himself or herself, enter into communion with others, and respond to God in faith and love. We were created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him. As a family, recognizing each person’s God-given worth and growing in love and respect can help us remember that, despite our rich differences, we belong to one human family.
¶ 352
The Church venerates the angels who help her on her earthly pilgrimage and protect every human being.
Charity as a fruit is the mature delight of loving God and neighbor under the action of the Holy Ghost. It is called a fruit because supernatural love has become not only right but spiritually fruitful and pleasing in its exercise.
Goodness
Goodness is the active inclination to do what is morally good and beneficial to others. As a fruit of the Spirit it reflects an interior uprightness that readily expresses itself in worthy deeds.
Generosity
Generosity in this English list renders the traditional fruit of longanimity, or greatness of soul in awaiting a delayed good. Under the Holy Ghost it sustains hope and steadiness through a long trial without allowing delay to produce discouragement or resentment.
Self-Control
Self-control is the Spirit-assisted mastery by which reason and grace govern impulses and appetites. It creates interior freedom, allowing a person to choose the good rather than being carried along by anger, fear, craving, or habit.
¶ 353
God willed the diversity of his creatures and their own particular goodness, their interdependence and their order. He destined all material creatures for the good of the human race. Man, and through him all creation, is destined for the glory of God.
¶ 354
Respect for laws inscribed in creation and the relations which derive from the nature of things is a principle of wisdom and a foundation for morality.
¶ 355
"God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them." Man occupies a unique place in creation: (I) he is "in the image of God"; (II) in his own nature he unites the spiritual and material worlds; (III) he is created "male and female"; (IV) God established him in his friendship.
¶ 356
of all visible creatures only man is "able to know and love his creator". He is "the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake", and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life. It was for this end that he was created, and this is the fundamental reason for his dignity: What made you establish man in so great a dignity? Certainly the incalculable love by which you have looked on your creature in yourself! You are taken with love for her; for by love indeed you created her, by love you have given her a being capable of tasting your eternal Good.
¶ 357
Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. and he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead.
¶ 358
God created everything for man, but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him: What is it that is about to be created, that enjoys such honour? It is man that great and wonderful living creature, more precious in the eyes of God than all other creatures! For him the heavens and the earth, the sea and all the rest of creation exist. God attached so much importance to his salvation that he did not spare his own Son for the sake of man. Nor does he ever cease to work, trying every possible means, until he has raised man up to himself and made him sit at his right hand.
Baltimore track
Baltimore Catechism No. 3
Lesson 3 — On the Unity and Trinity of God
Q. 184.What does "supreme" mean?
A."Supreme" means the highest in authority; also the most excellent or greatest possible in anything. Thus in all things God is supreme, and in the Church the Pope is supreme.
Q. 185.When are two persons said to be equal?
A.Two persons are said to be equal when one is in no way greater than or inferior to the other.
Q. 186.How many persons are there in God?
A.In God there are three Divine persons, really distinct, and equal in all things--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Q. 187.What do "divine" and "distinct" mean?
A."Divine" means pertaining to God, and "distinct" means separate; that is, not confounded or mixed with any other thing.